Why Evaluate?

Lack of Guidelines

The World Wide Web is a lot like a flea market: there's a vast selection of sites to choose from but not a lot of order to it. Some sites are offered by reputable "dealers" and some from individuals who want to show off their personal favorite items. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's a hidden treasure, what's worth taking a look at, and what's a waste of time. ( ALA's ALSC children and Technology Committee )

The Internet by its very nature was designed to provide for unrestricted exchange of information. There are no rules or standards governing the type or quality of information which a writer can put on the Internet. Web sites may contain factual information, opinions, data, ideas, propaganda, self-promotion and/or commercialism. Anyone who can create their own web page or pay someone to create a web page can put information on the Internet. Each person not only selects the topic which she/he chooses to write about, but also the manner in which the web page is designed and the extent to which the information provided is credible.

An example of the lack of guidelines which exists on the Internet is the Global Encyclopedia. According to James Rettig in his article "Putting the Squeeze on the Information Firehose: the Need for 'Neteditors and 'Netreviewers", the Global Encyclopedia is a volunteer effort to compile an encyclopedia, and distribute it free of charge on the World Wide Web. A person need only choose a topic from the list of 1,300 possibilities, write an article about the chosen topic and email it to the unnamed "editors." The article is written without standards or guidelines describing structure, content, or reading level. The author of the article could be a middle school child or an authority on the chosen subject. The "editors" claim the information in the articles are checked for facts and corrected for spelling, however, it appears that the qualifications and expertise of the volunteer authors are not checked.

The lack of guidelines makes it necessary for those of us who use the Internet to constantly evaluate the quality and accuracy of the information we are reading. For example, millions of people access the Internet in search of health information.  Though the accuracy of the information online is fairly high, "many of the sites contain contradictory information" and there is no organization or standard that verifies the accuracy of the information. (Ubois, 2002)  

Lack of Representation

Although there are hundreds of millions of pages present on the Web today, these sites represent only the minority of the world's population. There is an absence of representation by many groups of people, such as poor, minorities, and females, as well as various ethnic groups from around the world. Furthermore, there are entire countries not represented on the Web due to a lack of access. This is in spite of the fact that the Clinton administration has placed a priority on developing a National Information Infrastructure. This is an initiative that would expand access in the United States but does not address this issue on a worldwide scale.

The diversity of our world today is simply not reflected on the Internet. Thus, one must evaluate Internet information in order to determine whether the limited viewpoints present on the Internet are completely accurate. Often times, the Internet simply may not present the whole picture, or the viewpoint may be quite skewed. As Dr. Bertram Bruce asserts in his article entitled My Grandmother in Kenya, "...the Web today is still far from worldwide. Its users include perhaps 3% of the world's population, and most of those are concentrated in the wealthy countries, and among the highly educated and wealthiest in those places" ( Bruce, B. ). (To find out more about access, go to White Pages Home.)

Lack of Monitoring

When reference books are added to a library they have been screened using reviewing mechanisms which have been in place for many years. These same books have also undergone critical evaluation by a publisher and an editor. In most cases, this evaluation assures the public that the new additions contain quality information. Internet sites are not subjected to this type or any type of monitoring before they become part of the World Wide Web. The United States government is struggling to create ways to monitor access to Internet sites. There are also many attempts to insure that users view quality, appropriate sites. However, none of these groups have the power to make people remove or correct web information, nor do these groups have the power to limit access to sites deemed inappropriate.

There are currently no laws in effect which govern the material which is placed on the Internet.Even if the United States is successful in eliminating certain web sites or access to those sites, our laws would not extend to other 190 plus countries which also have people designing sites for the World Wide Web. In addition,"restrictions of Web use in one country are quickly countered by the appearance of new Web sites in another." ( Bruce, B. ) (To find out more about freedom of speech and censorship, go to White Pages Home.)

Although there are many online review services available which evaluate the Internet sites in existence for quality, none of these have the power to make people remove or replace incorrect and/or bias information or materials which most people would deem objectionable. Nor do these services have the power to limit access to any sites. These services can only suggest which sites are credible and valuable to use in research.

Perhaps the most important development which is occurring on the Internet today is that certain business groups are starting to monitor commercial sites which seek to scam individuals by providing them with false and erroneous information. According to a recent article in April 26, 1999 issue of Newsweek magazine by Jane Bryant Quinn , "A cottage industry of passionate critics and sleuths is hunting down quick buck artists and disclosing their sins for the world to read." For example, www.stockdetective.com was created by an ex-stockbroker, Kevin Lichtman, to expose companies which are giving Internet clients incorrect information on stock promotions and/or praising certain stocks for pay; www.inventorfraud.com monitors firms which pretend new inventions are marketable, and encourage inventors to send them up to $30,000 for marketing data which is of no value. Perhaps businesses are realizing that in order to make information on the Internet more reputable, they must eliminate the unscrupulous within their own ranks.(To find out more about filtering, go to White Pages home.)

Technology has moved ahead of society's ability to regulate it for the good of all who use it. Attempts are being made to monitor the information on the Internet, however, at this point in time the best form of monitoring available for teachers and students is the use of critical thinking skills and constant questioning about the validity and quality of the information being encountered on the Internet.

Immediate mobility of information

The most wonderful and useful aspect of the Internet is that a person can find the most up-to-date information immediately from almost anywhere in the world on almost any topic with the just the click of a mouse. Where else can one find the population of the world updated to the minute or news articles about today's headlines which change hourly or an interview with a military leader from an opposing country while the two countries are in the midst of a conflict? When the Crisis in Kosovo occupied the news media in the Spring of 1999 a person could contact four sites to offer to help the Albanian refugees, access NATO to report war crimes, listen to a live interview with Serb militia leader, Arkan, on msnbc.com , and view a propaganda site which was created by Kosovars, half a world away, to denounce the insanity and terrorism of NATO. ( Gajilan,A. ) Add to this the web sites of NATO , itself, ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN and we knew what was happening in Yugoslavia almost as it happened.

On September 11, 2002, four United States planes were hijacked by terrorists in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania killing more than 3,000 people in a matter of hours.  In both of these events, the Internet played similar roles.  On September 11, the Internet offered updated news of the occurring events on sites including msnbc.com, nbc.com, abc.com, and cnn.com.  In addition to these news sites, other sites offered information on the search for Osauma Bin Lauden, or on the most recent list of the number of people still missing in rubble buried under the Twin Towers.  The Internet provided instant links to more than 500 international newspapers.  There were links to pictures and video clips of events immediately after the tragedy occurred.  Some of these sites were intended to keep the public aware; however, less credible sites may have been posted maliciously or sadly for entertainment. 

After the September 11 attack, Bush heightened Internet security and hired anti-terrorism advisors to monitor the Internet.  In support of this, “The U. S. House of Representatives . . . handily approved an anti-terrorism bill that gives law enforcement officials expanded surveillance powers to monitor Internet behavior, and email as well as financial transaction, and provides for heavier punishment for terrorists” (Lyman, 2001).

All individuals in education must be aware that if something looks too good to be true, it probably isn't true, so questioning messages of this type is very important. It is also important to decide not to continue the circulation of such messages. This is especially true as evidenced by the proliferation of bogus email messages. Through the use of sites such as SNOPES.com, which offers researched information on the validity of many of the “stories” in circulation, one can determine the authenticity of a message before passing it on.

This immediate access with the click of a mouse helps educators make the most of teachable moments. However, teachers must be ready to supervise and discuss the information students view in these situations in the event that there is need for clarification of the information they are receiving. A great deal of information about current events must be evaluated with a very critical eye in an effort to separate the truth from propaganda. (To find out more about computer crime and technology misuse, go to White Pages home.)

Searching for information

There are several methods available to locate information on a particular topic on the Internet.

While finding information on the Internet would be a enormous task without the help of a search engine, a person must be a critical evaluator even when using these vehicles because the results of these searches can be manipulated. For example, there is a web tool available to web masters which lists key words and/or phrases, this can also be used to bring individuals to a site which is not useful to them for the purposes of advertisement or to circulate a political message. Also, often time the web master gets paid by the number of "hits" on each site he/she has designed. The owners of some unreliable site may even pay search engines for prominent placement. (Levine, 2005)

Bias/Objectivity of Information

Another reason to evaluate information found on the web is because of the bias or objectivity present in the content of the information. Determining if the Web site is biased or not can sometimes be difficult if one does not know what to look for. There are many guidelines to keep in mind when establishing the objectivity of a site. The overriding objective, as identified by Florida Community College Learning Resources Standing Committee, is to be aware that organizations, businesses, and individuals represent their own viewpoints. If organizations have a particular mission, they may publish only information that supports their point of view. Propaganda, as defined in Webster's II Dictionary, refers to the systematic widespread promotion of a particular idea; that is, material which is published with the purpose of winning people over to a particular idea. Businesses may only publish positive reviews of their products. Finally, personal Web sites many times reflect strong political, religious, or social opinions of that individual.

The Faculty of Education, in the article "Internet Source Validation Project", suggests that evaluating sites for bias conveys whether or not the author is deviating from the truth, applying his personal prejudices, opinions, or thoughts to the information presented. It also establishes whether or not the author has an unfair or unreasoned judgment or distortion in favor of or against the topic at hand. These indicators will enable you to judge the truthfulness of the information.

Obtaining unbiased news from any media source has always been a difficult task. News reporters on television provide an example of such a common problem. The world wide resources of the Internet have at least given us another avenue for acquiring information from other perspectives and other voices. But this is also becoming a place for this information to be biased, as service providers are now trading their reputations for dollars.

Two issues directly related to bias and objectivity of information are that of propaganda and commercialism. Commercialism is another topic of consideration when discussing bias or objectivity of information found on the Web. (To find out more information on commercialism, go to White Pages home). Lastly, the Federal Trade Commission will continue to enforce its consumer protection laws online. This will ensure that products and services promoted in online ads are truthful.  All of these attempts to regulate different components of the Internet suggest further possible regulation of the Internet in the future.  Further regulation would put significant limitations on the vastness of the Internet; however, it could also ensure that the information obtained from the Web was from a credible source.  This, in turn, could lessen the user’s responsibility for the evaluation of credibility that is necessary with today’s use of Internet information. Peter Levine (2005) indicates in his article titled “The Problem of Online Misinformation and the Role of Schools”, that “it is equally important to build and promote reliable intermediaries”, such as “government-sponsored Web portals and librarians.

As Robert Harris surmised, "Information pretending to objectivity but possessing a hidden agenda of persuasion or a hidden bias is among the most common kind of information in our culture." We must be careful and check our sources, and compare them with other sources, before believing the data the author is presenting or selling.