NSW HSC Online Professional Development Node
Home > NSW HSC Online Professional Development Node
Evaluating Internet resources
Another, very important consideration is 'Just how reliable is the information?', 'is the publisher of the site a reliable source? If you intend to use any information you find on the Internet you must ensure that the content is factual and not just someone's opinion.
Evaluating Internet resources is not that different from evaluating other kinds of resources, many of the same questions about such things as authority, bias, and currency should be asked. Anyone can put up a site on the Internet. That's one of the great things about the Web. It's also why you have to be careful. There is no editorial review board, no information fact checker, and no quality control expert. You have to be your own judge on the quality and validity of the information you receive.
Who is the author and who maintains the site?
The source of the material might give you a clue to its reliability. A site maintained by a university or government organisation might be more reliable than one maintained privately or by some one who may have financial interests or other motives. Judge whether they might have some reason other than pure helpfulness for posting information. Many special interest groups have web pages, and while this doesn't necessarily meant the material is biased it is worth thinking about.
Pay close attention to the source of any information you find on the Web. The status of the writer is often important in deciding the reliability of information. You can probably assume that material written or provided by a known expert in the field is likely to be reliable. If you have never heard of the author of the page doesn't mean that the information is inaccurate or unreliable. It’s the same as utilising other sources of information, you might have to do some cross-checking, either elsewhere on the net, or with books or articles.
For instance, for facts on ancient Egypt, a site created by National Geographic will be more reliable than a site put up by someone who's writing about their vacation at the pyramids. Don’t rely on just one source, but use several.
How long has this material been here?
If you need current statistics then check the age of the material you have found. In most areas anything more than five years old is probably out-dated. But a site that deals with historical information may not need updating as frequently as one that is about current events or trends. If information isn't regularly updated it doesn't mean you shouldn't use it, but you need to be aware that the information is not necessarily the most recent.
Site design
The design of an Internet resource usually influences how you use it. A site which is always too busy to access, too slow to download too difficult to navigate or too hard to read may not be worth your valuable time, no matter how useful and relevant the information.
Further links
Evaluation Worksheet 
The Department of Education Employment and Training Victoria
Evaluating Internet resources University of Iowa, USA
Additional sites with Web evaluation materials Widener University USA
Evaluating Web sites: Criteria and tools Cornell University, USA
Evaluation criteria New Mexico State University, USA
Thinking critically about discipline-based World Wide Web resources UCLA, USA
Thinking critically about World Wide Web resources, UCLA, USA
Selection criteria: Evaluating Internet resources Social Science Information Gateway, UK
Evaluating Internet information Virginia Tech, USA
Back to What is the Online Environment Back to Site Map
|