IntroductionA Webquest About the Reliability of Information Found on the Web
Introduction
The internet contains millions of pages and sites that contain information on just about every topic you can imagine. When it's time to write a research paper, many of us now start with a web search engine. Try typing in "cancer" in a search engine and see how many sites are available that address the topic. There will be thousands. The problem is, not every web site contains reliable, unbiased information. With the development of the internet, a medium became available for anyone to post information that can be accessed by anyone on the globe. You could go to yahoo and make a website yourself about anything you wanted. No one would check to see if the information you posted was accurate. So, how does a person know whether to trust the information found on websites. In this quest you are going to create an list offactors that can help a person sort out the information found on the internet.
Task
You will construct a list and ranking chart that will be used by you and others to determine the reliability of websites. Then you will use your list to judge a set of web addresses to determine which are the hoax sites and which are the real sites.
Process
1. Research sites related to website evaluation. You may use information on these sites to construct your list of attributes. Your list should have at least 15 attributes used to determine website reliability. For instance, one quality might be: "site uses correct grammar".
Access
the Google Directory on WebSite
Evaluation
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Education/Instructional_Technology/Evaluation/Web_Site_Evaluation/
Links here will help you create your list of attributes that will help others evaluate the reliability of a website. Click on links to go to sites that address web site reliability and use those sites to help you construct your list of attributes.
2. Now use your list to examine the following sites. In each grouping there is only ONE site that is the "real" site. The others are hoax sites, or sites of dubious information.
Make a chart for each section where you identify the real website. Then write a short description of each that explain why you identified them as hoax websites or valid websites.
3. Answer the following questions after you have reveiwed the sites
a)
What is the purpose of this activity?
b) Given the amount of "bad"
information on the web, do you think that someone should regulate what can be
posted on the internet? Why or why not?
| Zoos - Which one is a real zoo? Site
1: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Sellafield_Zoo/index.html |
Genetics - Which page gives real and accurate information about genetics? Site1:
http://www.genochoice.com/ | |
| Animals - Can you pick out the "real" animal? Site
1: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/about.htm | Endangered Animals - Which animal is really endangered? Site
1: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html | |
| Products - Which one would you give your money to? Site1:
http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html |
|
**You must turn in the following items
Grading
| Poor ( 0 pts ) | Unsatisfactory (3 pt) | Good (4 pts) | Excellent (5 pts) | |
| Number of items | Less than 5 | 5-9 | 10-14 | 15 or more |
| Quality of items | Lists will not likely result in an accurate analysis of website | Some items on the list are appropriate for analyzing websites | Items, as a whole can be used to evaluate websites, list is missing some minor areas that would help determine website reliability | Items as a whole can be used to evaluate website for reliability. Good degree of accuracy and covers all major points |
| Identified real websites | 0-1 Websites identified correctly | 2-3 websites identified correctly | 4 websites identified correctly | All five websites identified correctly |
| Reasoning | Not included | Reasons invalid, too much reliance on intuitive reasons without giving much concrete criteria for choices | Reasons mostly valid, some reliance on "intuitive" reasons, but concrete criteria are given in most cases | Reasons given for ruling out hoax websites are valid within the context of evaluating websites, though some can be intuitively ruled out, you should include tangible reasons for ruling pages out |