Diamonds In The Rough: Evaluating and Using the Web

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Diamonds In The Rough Evaluating and Using the
Web

• 1/14/02
• Lorrie Jackson
• Lausanne Collegiate School

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Why Evaluate Web Sites?

• Who really owns and controls the Internet?
• NO ONE!!
• Without any type of quality control, we must be
  critical of what see on the WWW.

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For QualityThink Cocoa P!

• C Coverage
• O Objectivity
• C Currency
• O Origin (Author)
• A Accuracy
• P Purpose

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Lets start from the beginning

• Coverage How much info is there on your topic
  and for what age? How relevant/enlightening is
  it?
• Objectivity Do you sense a bias from the
  author? Ads?

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Currency aint just bucks, babe!

• Currency When was it last updated? Are the links
  expired?
• Origin Who wrote it and are they experts on
  that topic? Do they present credentials?

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AP better than the Pig any day!

• Accuracy Are there grammatical or factual
  errors. (caveat some good international sites
  have errors from translation.)
• Purpose Why did the author create the site?
  (informing, persuading, entertaining)

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Extensions? Theyre not just for hair!

• .com commercial
• .org nonprofit
• .gov U.S. government
• .us state gov. (look for two initials before
  dot)
• .mil U.S. military
• .net or personal site
• .edu universities

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Time to use what weve learned!

• http//www.end.com/
• jynx/walrus
• http//zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html
• http//www.internet4classrooms.com/fact_fiction.ht
  m

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For Further Help in Evaluation

• Great evaluation tool for you and for grades
  7-12http/lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.htm
  l
• Useful for evaluating health-related
  siteshttp//www.sph.emory.Edu/WELLNESS/instrum
  ent.html

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Using the WWW Basic Terms

• Browser Used to view web sites (Internet
  Explorer, Netscape Navigator)
• Search Engine Used to search for relevant
  sites www.yahoo.com www.google.com www.askjeeves
  .com

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Search Symbols

• Want the population of Egypt? Just typing those 3
  words in a search engine can get any site with
  any of those words!
• Use symbols to narrowthe search.

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The Jackson 5 of Search Symbols

• must include this wordpopulation of Egypt
• - either word-Holland Netherlands
• all words must be in this orderpopulation of
  Egypt
• Extra Credit
• Whats the difference between and ?

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And more

• -- exclude this termrubber ducky antenna
• Wildcard, any endingtype duck
• and you get ducky, duckies, duck, etc.

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So, Teach, what did we learn?

• Internet Trash Treasure (which is which?)
• Remember Cocoa P
• Skim extensions before entering sites
• Listen to your inner voice
• Pick the right search symbols

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Thanks for your time!

• go to www.lausanneschool.com/Technology/techtuesd
  ays.html for this presentation and other training
  stuff
• Questions? e-mail me by clicking here!