The Validity of A Website

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The Validity of A Website

• GLE 0701.4.3 Make distinctions about the
  credibility, reliability, consistency, strengths,
  and limitations of resources, including
  information gathered from Web sites. 

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Website Validity

• A seemingly innocent web site related to Dr.
  Martin Luther King looks innocent enough, but the
  information on the site itself is definitely not.
  
• A student who conducts a search for Martin Luther
  King in Google will generally find this site in
  the top five results, claiming it is a "valuable
  resource for students and teachers." 
• Since research suggests students are most likely
  to choose results on or near the top of a list of
  results, many students are likely to click on
  this site.

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The site contains inappropriate content.
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How can you prevent yourself from being fooled by
invalid sites?
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Learning how to read a web address will help you
identify its validity.

• Do you recognize the domain name?The domain
  name is found after the http// and www. to the
  first forward slash /. For example in the URL,
  jc-schools.net is the domain name.A domain name
  can sometimes provide clues about the quality of
  information of a site or tell you what a site is
  about.

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Reading a URL
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How to Read a Web Address

• What is the extension in the domain name?.com
  and .net are examples of extensions. Extensions
  are an important part of domain names. You
  probably know quite a few already. Extensions are
  intended to show the type of establishment that
  owns and publishes the domain. Here is a list to
  look forCOMMON EXTENSIONS.edu      
  Educational organization (most US
  universities).k12       US school site (not all
  US schools use this).ac         Academic
  institution (outside of US).sch        School
  site (some schools outside of the US use
  this).com       Company (usually .co in the
  UK).org        Any organization.gov      
  Government agency.net        Network.mil       
  Military institutionNew extensions to look for
  are .biz, .name, .pro, .info. All are used for
  commercial purposes.

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Who has published this site and how do we find
out?

• If you are ever unsure about the information on a
  web page and want to know who owns the site or
  has published the material, go to
  www.easywhois.com.

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easyWho?S
Enter the URL
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Who owns it? Stormfront.org
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The publishers of this site also host the Martin
Luther King site. These sites are blocked by an
Internet filter at school for good reason.
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Find the Publisher of a Website

• Researching web site owner information may not be
  something you do all the time, but it may be
  revealing if you are at all concerned about the
  quality of information on a site and want to know
  more about it.
• Another good source for website ownership is an
  About Us link found at the bottom of some
  webpages.

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Who is this?
Click Link
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A CLUE
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More CLUES
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Ph.D.?
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see if there
are more clues.
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Valid?
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What is the History of a Website?

• The Wayback Machine www.archive.org allows you
  to browse through 30 billion web pages archived
  from 1996 to a few months ago. To use this site
  type in the URL of a site or page of which you
  would like to research, and click the Take Me
  Back button. Once you have conducted your search,
  select from the archived dates available.

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URL
Lets check out the website on Dr. King.
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Click a date to see how this site use to look.
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April 1999
Contact
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Jan. 2002
Contact
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No Contact?
Jan. 2005
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Check the External Links
What kind of flyer is this?
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Check Your Sources

• Researching a web site owners information may
  not be something you do all the time, but it may
  be revealing if you are at all concerned about
  the quality and validity of information on a site
  and want to know more about it.