Sources of Accurate Information on the Web

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Sources of AccurateInformationon the Web
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Searching the Web

• Google (http//www.google.com)
• Web
• Images
• Scholar
• Google lists sites according to which ones get
  the most hits, thus the more popular sites are
  found

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Searching the Web

• Dogpile (http//www.dogpile.com)
• This search engine searches all the other search
  engines to compile the list of hits
  

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Other Search Engines

• Ask.com (http//www.ask.com)
• Altavista (http//av.com)
• AllTheWeb (http//alltheweb.com/)
• Hotbot (http//www.hotbot.com)
• Excite (http//www.excite.com)

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Web Searching Hints

• Put search terms in quotes to find exact matches
• If you searched for rodeo clowns the search
  engine would find all instances of rodeo and all
  instances of clowns (rodeo AND clowns)
  
• Rodeo Clowns would limit the search Rodeo Clowns

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Web Search Hints

• Use the minus sign to exclude materials
• Bass music
• This would find the fish but not the music

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Web Search Hints

• Use the sign to zero in on materials
• Star Wars Episode 1
• This would find materials about only The 1st Star
  Wars Episode

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Web Search Hints

• Use the advanced search option

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Web Search Hints

• Use OR
• FFA OR Future Farmers of America
• Note the OR must be all Caps

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Web Search Hints

• Use the as a wildcard
• Cooking classes would find cooking school
  classes and cooking and wine tasting classes
  
• Other uses
• The parachute was invented by
• Vitamin is good for

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Burmese Mountain Dogs

• http//descy.50megs.com/akcj3/bmd.html
• http//www.burmesemountaindog.org/

Which one is correct? Could they both be wrong?
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How Accurate is information on the web?

• Theres a web page or site covering just about
  everything
  
• Not all information is correct /or accurate
• Not always comprehensive or all inclusive
• Not peer reviewed
• Not censored

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What is ICANN?

• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
  Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized,
  non-profit corporation that has responsibility
  for Internet Protocol (IP) address space
  allocation, protocol identifier assignment,
  generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level
  Domain name system management.

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Established Domain Names

• .edu educational site (universities and colleges)
  
  
• .com commercial business site
• .gov U.S. non-military governmental site
• .mil U.S. military site
• .net networks and internet service providers
• .org U.S. non-profit organizations

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New Domain Names

• .aero (reserved for the global aviation
  community)
  
• .biz (restricted to businesses
• .coop (reserved for cooperatives)
• .info (reserved for information providers)
• .jobs (reserved for the human resource management
  community)
  
• .mobi (reserved for consumers and providers of
  mobile products and services)

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More New Domain Names

• .museum (restricted to museums and related
  persons)
  
• .name (restricted to individuals)
• .pro (restricted to licensed professionals)
  operated by RegistryPro
  
• .travel (reserved for entities whose primary area
  of activity is in the travel industry)

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Judging Accuracy

• Credibility 
• Accuracy
• Reasonableness
• Support

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Credibility of a web site

• Don't believe everything you read on the Web!
• You need to judge how truthful the information
  is.
  
• Look for the author's education, qualifications
  and experience.
  
• Check for any biographical information

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Accuracy

• Any one can publish on the web
• Is the information
• Factual
• Detailed
• Up to date (current)
• Typically domain names that end in .edu can be
  trusted

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Reasonableness

• Does the web site make sense?

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What Do You Think?

• http//www.thedogisland.com/index.html

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The Onion

• An Online Newspaper
• http//www.theonion.com/content/index
• http//www.theonion.com/content/news/new_delicious
  _species_discovered
  
• http//www.theonion.com/content/node/52822

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Support

• Where does the sites information come from?
• Does the site reference other sources?
• Are they real sources

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Finally

• Does the site seem reasonable to you?
• Use your common sense

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Is it True?

• http//www.snopes.com
• This site exposes Internet hoaxes and false
  stories
  
• http//urbanlegands.com
• So does this web site

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Is it Real?
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Is it Real
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Is it Real?
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Is it Real?
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Is it Real?
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Is it Real?
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Some Important Web Sites for Agicultural Students

• To find research about Agricultural and Extension
  Education go to the NCSU web site
  (http//www.ncsu.edu), click on Libraries, and
  select electronic data bases and then use
• Agricola (an index of agricultural research)
• ERIC (an index of educational research)

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For Ag Ed Students

• www.teamaged.org