9 module evaluating online sources

Notes de l'éditeur

1. Always question information you are given on the internet - don’t take anything at face value.
2. Can anyone name an urban legend? Instructor: i.e. pop rocks and coke, caller from inside the house, etc These types of stories are on the internet as well. We mostly get them as forwarded emails, often with credibility claims similar to urban legends, for example “I received this from a friend who knows someone who was a victim of this scam” Has anyone ever gotten or heard about one of these stories on the internet? Instructor: If students don’t know any internet rumors, use one of the urban legend examples.
3. Everyone visit snopes in your browser. Now type in [the story you decided on] into the search bar and hit go. Does it show up? Instructor: give everyone time to take a look at the results and encourage them to click through to the story. Point out the format “Claim” “Status” “Example” etc. Now click on the top 25. If you’ve been on email for a while, chances are you’ve seen some of these. If you’re just getting started on email, I’m sure you’ll see some of these soon!
4. Even though you may get many results for the story on a general google search, you can’t be sure of the credibility of the sites. Snopes is an established, credible place to find information on rumors and urban legends.
5. We just talked about a credible website to check the validity of rumors, but what if you are looking for another type of information? Instructor: walk through the handout. http://cycproject.basecamphq.com/projects/5008089/file/54756654/criteria%20evaluating%20webpages.pdf Instructor: Help participants find content from each source on the cats.about.com page. Discuss credibility of each source.
6. Instructor: Ask students the difference between this page and the about.com page about cats. The answer is there is no original content. The page is all advertising. This is referred to as a parked page, and in general, is all advertising with very little helpful content, if any.
7. Instructor - explain how ppc advertising works Instructor - Let the class discuss which results would be more credible. Point out that even though the ads are trying to sell them something, they might still be credible sources. They just have to keep in mind their information is likely slanted toward selling their products or services. In the house cat example, if you were looking for actual products to help care for your cat, some of the paid links might be helpful. But if you just wanted information, the organic links may be best.