Overview

This is the unit page for the internet & Web 2.0 unit

Advanced Google Search

• Finding Advanced Search
• Exact words (name search)
• Exclude words (George Washington University)
• File type (data)
• Domain name (.gov)
• Using advanced search directly from the search bar

Validating information

Determining the quality of the information you have found is an important skill. In the age of printed materials we had a certain measure of confidence that books and encyclopedias were reliable, unbiased and up to date. With the internet we must reduce our measure of confidence and follow this process:

• R = Read and understand the URL
• E = Examine the content and design
• A = Ask about the author and owner
• L = Look at the inbound and outbound links

R = Read and understand the URL

URL stands for 'Uniform Resource Locator'[2] and is the web site address you see in your web browser. For example the URL of the site you are reading now is: 'newhampton.wikispaces.com/internet+research+tools'

Here are some things you can determine from the URL:

• Is the site a government, educational institution or commercial entity? (the suffix .gov, .edu or .com)
• Is the site hosted by another organization. For example the 'wikispaces' in the middle of this site indicates that it is hosted by 'wikispaces'
• Try erasing the back part of the site to visit the parent page(s) to see what you learn. For example try visiting www.opm.gov to determine the source of this article: http://www.opm.gov/news/president-george-w-bush-unveils-fy-2008-presidential-rank-award-winners,1436.aspx and assess it's validity
• What country does this site originate from? A site with the suffix .nz might not be interesting to you unless you are studying New Zealand

Note: URL's are purchased from a central governing non profit agency. Users self select the suffix they would like to have without a clear naming protocol. Our school site, for example, has a .org rather than a .edu suffix.

E = Examine the content and design

The content and design of a web site can tell you a great deal about the validity of the source:

• Can you find the author or publish date on the site? Is it recent?
• Is the contact email address located at gmail.com or yahoo.com?
• Is the design 'official' looking or of modern quality? Is it consistent with other sites like it?
• Is there a contact phone and address?
• Do you recognize the source: CNN, ABC, Smithsonian for example?

Note: it is relatively easy to publish a nice looking web site!

A = Ask about the site author and owner

• Can you find who owns or operates the site?
• Is their contact information at gmail.com or yahoo.com?
• Use EasyWhoIs to find out who owns or operates the site
• Do a search on the site owner to find out more about them

L = Look at inbound and outbound links

Outbound links are links on the web site that go to other sites, these can tell you a great deal about a site. The site owner controls where the site links out to.

• Does the site have outbound links?
• Do these links go to specific places that support the validity of the host site?
• Or do they go to general sites that don't mention the host site?

Inbound links are other sites that choose to link themselves to the site you are researching. The site you are researching cannot control who links to them.

• Using Advanced Google search expand the 'Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more' section
• Enter your site in 'Find pages that link to the page'
• The following search for example would return all the pages that link to newhampton.org

Inbound_links.png

• Consider the results of this search, how valid are the sites that link to your site? What clues do they provide?

Quiz

The quiz on 3/10 will cover:
The REAL method of web site assessment
Advanced Google Search
Web 1.0 & Web 2.0

Web 2.0

Notes from the board today:

Web 1.0	Web 2.0
Read only	Read / Write
Site owner creates content	Site visitors make content
Clear ownership	Highly unclear ownership (Fair Use)
Few media portals	Everyone is a media portal
Host / Client Relationship	Peer to Peer
Wild West	Wild West

OPVL

Origin - Where did this article come from? Who wrote it? What organization, site or content portal did it come from?
Purpose - What is the goal of this article and portal? What outcome do they say they want? Do they have a hidden agenda?
Value - What do we take from this article?
Limits - What are the limitations of this article? What is missing? What blanks do we need to fill in?

Let's try it.

Facebook Scavenger Hunt

Facebook. Everyone uses it - even DURING my class. SO, for our last class before spring break here's what we are going to do: go on Facebook. But it has to be educational, of course.

So we are going to create a users guide to the new Facebook by exploring it's features (new and old) and writing a guide to using it smarter. Of course we will do this here on the wiki.

How, you might ask? I'm glad you did, here's how:
Working in pairs each of you will research a feature of FB and create a page on the wiki describing how to use it. Your article must include:

• An introduction describing your feature
• A Table of Contents
• At least 4 steps
• Each step will have its own heading, at least one screen capture and a description of what to do
• Before uploading your screen capture please rename it something that has to do with your article
• A conclusion with a link to further reading (like the FB help page, their blog, a forum somewhere else on the internet)

Ready to go? Click here to get started!