1. using 5 basic criteria

2.  Putting stuff on the Web is easy, cheap and
often free so anyone can do it
 There are no editors on the Web to proof read
information or check whether it is valid so it’s
up to YOU to do the checking for any
information you find.
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on 3
September 2011

3. WEP Wheel
Purpose
Currency
Clarity Authority
Objectivity
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

4.  What type of site it is. Read the URL carefully,
what does the URL tell you about the creator
of the information? More information on URLs
can be found later in this presentation.
 Who wrote the page? If you can’t find the
name of the author or organization, try
truncating the URL to find its parent page.
 Does this organization claim responsibility
for the information?
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

5.  What sort of URL does the page have?
◦ Is it commercial, informative, educational or
personal?
◦ What type of domain name does it have? Look at
the final 3 letters of its URL?
 .gov & .mil – Government sites
 .net – Internet service provider
 .com – Commercial site
 .edu – Educational
 .mil – Military site
 ~ - personal site
 .org – Organizational – may be charitable, religious,
etc.
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

6. ◦ Country names appear as a two-letter
abbreviation at the end of the URL.
 Examples:
 www.amazon.co.uk – Amazon UK
 www.ebay.co.au – Ebay Australia
 www.fairview.edu.my – Fairview Intl
School in Malaysia
◦ However, these are no longer tightly
controlled and may be misused.
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

7.  Put your cursor in the address bar/location
box at the top of your browser’s window
 Delete the end characters of the URL stopping
before each / (Do not delete the /)
 Press “Enter” to see if you can find out more
about the author or the origins of the main
site
 You should continue this process until you
reach the first / that comes after the domain
name
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on 3
September 2011

8.  Who is the author of the site?
 What are his or her credentials?
 Is there any organizational or
corporate sponsor?
 Is there any way to contact this
person?
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on 3
September 2011

9.  Find information on author or creator of the
site by scanning the page and looking for
links that say “About us”, “Background” or
“Philosophy”
 Remember, anyone can put stuff on the web,
it’s your job to determine what information is
reliable and what is not.
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

10.  What goals or objectives does the information
meet?
 Is the information provided detailed enough?
 Does the identity of the author or sponsor
suggest a bias? For example, is the page
sponsored by a company promoting its
product?
 How does the bias impact the usefulness of
the information?
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

11.  Is the information clearly presented?
 Is the page well organized?
 Is the text formatted so that it can be read
easily?
 Do the graphics on the page distract from the
content?
 Are there mistakes in grammar or spelling?
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

12.  Is the information on the page up-to-date?
◦ Does it use recent data e.g. statistics from 2009 or
1999?
 Is the statistical source listed in the reference
list of bibliography?
 When was the page last updated?
 Are there dead links?
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on
3 September 2011

13. Check out the following site at
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus on the Pacific
Northwest Tree Octopus
And watch this video on YouTube
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU-
yq_IJhtU
Apply the 5 criteria in this presentation. How did
the page on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
fare? Then check out an article in the Daily Mail
that discusses this web page.
Created by Yvonne Krishnan on 3
September 2011