1. Critical Evaluation of World Wide Web Resources
Facilitator: Date:
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2. World Wide Web Environment
Print resources undergo a rigorous editorial process - experts writing on a topic.
Web information is mostly unfiltered.
Anyone can create a web page-no quality control.
Excellent resources reside alongside the dubious.
WWW is a volatile environment – pages are here today…revised or gone tomorrow.
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3. Search Engines and Quality
Relevancy ranking – how well does a web page meet the intent of the search terms? Criteria for ranking may include:
Popularity (link and click method)
Frequency of search terms located in page
Number of search terms that are matched
Sponsored web pages (companies or organizations who pay to get their pages rated higher in the search results of a search engine).
Search engine optimization (SEO) -web site development process that occurs at the design level.
All affect what is retrieved in a search and where it falls in the results.
results are not necessarily the best information on a topic.
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4. Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
Authority
Accuracy
Objectivity
Currency
Coverage
Structure
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5. Authority Who is the author(s) of the page?
What are their credentials or qualifications?
Are they affiliated with a reputable organization or institution (sponsor)?
Is contact information provided?
Is copyright clearly stated?
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6. Accuracy
Are sources for factual information clearly listed so they can be verified?
Are these sources reputable (i.e. US Bureau of Statistics)
Is information free of spelling, grammatical or typographical errors?
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7. Objectivity What is the purpose of the web site?
What is the intent of the information (i.e. sell, persuade, inform)
What type of web site is it? The domain of the URL can provide clues (i.e. edu-educational; gov=government; .com=commercial)
How detailed is the information? Who is the audience (i.e. novice, expert, traveller, etc.)
Is there advertising on the page – does it matter?
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8. Currency
Is the information dated? If so, is the information “time sensitive?
What type of dates are provided (i.e. date created, last updated)?
When was site last updated?
Are the links current and updated regularly or are they “dead”?
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9. Coverage What topics are covered?
Is information biased? If biased, is author reputable to speak on topic?
Does it provide/link to differing points of view?
How in-depth is information?
Are the links relevant and do they complement the page?
Who is the intended audience?
Does it take other software to read page?
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10. Structure Does the page take long to load?
Is there an effective balance of graphics and text?
Do the graphics serve a purpose?
Is there a link back to the homepage from subsequent pages and a link to the sponsoring institution?
Is the navigation (primary and secondary) effective?
Is there a consistent format to all pages on site?
Are all links inward pointing, outward pointing or a balance of both?
Is there a site map?
Does it take other software to read pages?
Is it free or is there a fee?
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