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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Getting the Best from the Web

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Getting the Best from the Web. Michael Hunter Reference Librarian Warren Hunting Smith Library Hobart and William Smith Colleges hunter@hws.edu x3552. Hunter’s Recommended Search Services and Subject Directories.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Getting the Best from the Web

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  1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:Getting the Best from the Web Michael Hunter Reference Librarian Warren Hunting Smith Library Hobart and William Smith Colleges hunter@hws.edu x3552

  2. Hunter’s Recommended Search Services and Subject Directories http://people.hws.edu/hunter/recomserv.htm

  3. Wikipedia:Authorship • No requirements • Most content contributed by a core of about 1,000 “regular, registered users” • IP addresses of anonymous editors are recorded in the page history • About ¼ of articles have only one author • Articles average 2.7 authors each

  4. Editorial Control (?) • Volunteer “administrators” • Monitor changes in a section or topic area • Arbitrate conflicts i.e. “edit wars” and decide when to “protect” an article from further revision • Peer Review Status - granted by a larger number of reviewers as a sign of higher quality • Featured Content Status (“The Best of W.”) -peer reviewed sites selected for this honor by further review and labeled with a Star (18-20 per month) • Featured Portals – Large subject metasites of high quality

  5. Google Scholarhttp://scholar.google.com • An undisclosed subset of journal articles, reports, books and citations available on Google • Google will not say what publishers, specific content or criteria for inclusion are used • Full text is rarely available, with links often leading only to abstracts, citations, pre-prints or post-prints.

  6. Website Citation Formats • Formats vary: MLA, APA, CBE • Elements include • Author(s) • Title • Date of publication or revision • Institutional affiliation (if any) • Date accessed • Full web address • Sites can disappear; when in doubt, print it out

  7. Web of Deception • Look-alike (parody) websites • Fraudulent claims • Disguised URLs • Disguised browser interfaces • Scripts that hide, falsify, redirect or infect

  8. www.wto.org

  9. gatt.org

  10. How to protect yourself • Don’t follow links to log-ins from e-mail • Don’t save login information with any online store, bank or financial institution • When in doubt, contact the source by phone • Use (and update) anti-virus software • Send personal information only to secure websites (look for the “lock” icon) • Check banking/cc statements • Stay alert!

  11. Social Networking SitesTwo-faced on Facebook? • Applications found there can mislead you into taking actions and clicking into sites you might not want to visit. • Personal information is subject to legal subpoena (It happened to Google, Yahoo and others) • Facebook is a potential goldmine for professional identity thieves • If you make your profile public to a network or the web in general, content could be used against you at some point

  12. Why evaluate websites?The Internot • Internet documents are NOT uniformly: • quality controlled • reviewed by editors or other experts • permanent or static • cataloged or indexed • free (mutual sharing of private resources) • a source for comprehensive, in-depthcoverage of a subject

  13. Older Domains edu educational hws.edu gov governmental loc.gov com commercial aol.com org non profit aclu.org net network internic.net mil military dla.mil New Domains aero air transport industry biz commercial coop cooperatives info unrestricted, unspecified museum museums name individuals pro accountants physicians lawyers

  14. DIAL: Evaluating Sites • Document:Verify factual accuracy Can it be corroborated by you or others? Is there scholarly support for assertions? Check the Format and Tone Is it well-organized and easily navigated? Is there an overt (or covert) bias, advocacy purpose or other hidden agenda?

  15. DIAL: Evaluating SitesCaveat lector • Be especially careful if you find yourself agreeing with the point of view of the author(s). You may not notice information that is • Incomplete • One sided • Poorly researched • Undocumented

  16. DIAL: Evaluating Sites • Institution or Sponsor: What is the reputation of the sponsor(s) or affiliated organization(s)? Check their identity if you have a question about the site Use Whois for domain ownership information: http://www.internic.net/ or http://www.networksolutions.com/whois

  17. DIAL: Evaluating Sites • Author(s): Check for credentials and accessibility (e-mail or other contact information) Navigate until you find this information; if you don’t, don’t use the document

  18. DIAL: Evaluating Sites • Linkage or Affiliations: Overt: Outgoing links and/or advertisements found on the page Covert: Incoming links (Use Google or Alltheweb and simply type the URL in the searchbox. You will be given a list of all incoming links and much more about the site) What other sites exist by the same author(s) or sponsoring organization(s)? (You many need Whois for this)

  19. Subject Directories:Sources for Scholarly Websites • WWW Virtual Library – http://vlib.org • Intute (UK-based) - http://intute.ac.uk • Internet Scout – http://scout.wisc.edu

  20. What were you surprised to learn today? • What did you find most useful about today’s session?

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