EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES

Although the Web is a great victory for those who support free speech, the lack of legal,
financial, or editorial restriction on what is published presents both a logistical and an ethical
challenge to researchers.

As you begin to explore the sites you discover, you need to evaluate them according to a
consistent standard. The following six criteria can serve as such a standard.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Find out what individual or organization is responsible for the Web site. In most cases,
search engines will label those sites that have paid to be listed. In a Googles search, you
may find a light tan box with the phrase “Sponsored Links” in the upper right-hand corner of
your results. A Yahoo! Search may bring up a light blue box labeled “Sponsor Results”. Any
sites listed in these shaded boxes have paid to advertise.

If a page is not a paid advertisement, look to see whether it is signed. If you find the name of
the author, but not his or her qualifications, you need to seek further information in order to
be able to assess the author’s expertise and authority. You may be able to get such
information by following hyperlinks from the page you found to other documents. Another
way to get information is to enter the author’s name in a search engine. You may find either
information about, or other pages by, this author.

If the Web site is unsigned, you may still be able to find out what organization sponsors it.
Look for a header or footer that indicate affiliation. Or you may be able to follow a hyperlink
at the top or bottom of the page to the homepage of which this document is a part. If you can
identify an organization, but still do not know anything about its reputation, the domain,
indicated by the last three letters of a site’s URL, can give you additional information. The
following domains are used by the types of organizations indicated.

.com or .net commercial sites

.org nonprofit groups

.edu educational institutions

.gov government agencies

.mil military groups

You can also try entering the name of the organization, enclosed in quotation marks, in a
search engine.

If you have tried these strategies and still cannot identify or verify the author or sponsor of a
Web site, be extremely wary of the site. If no one is willing to be accountable for the
information it contains, you cannot be accountable to your audience for using the information
in a speech. Continue your search elsewhere.
EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES (2)

ACCURACY

Unless you are an expert in the area a particular Web site addresses, it may be difficult to
determine whether the information it contains is accurate. However, two considerations can
help you assess accuracy.

First, realice that accuracy is closely related to accountability. If the author or sponsoring
organization of a Web site is a credible authority on the subect, the information posted on
the site is more likely to be accurate than is information on an anonymous or less thoroughly
documented site.

Second, assess the care with which the Web site has been written. References or hyperlinks
should be provided for any information that comes from a secondary source. The site should
also be relaively free of common errors in usage and mechanics. A site laden with such
errors may contain content errors, as well.

If you find yourself still somewhat uncertain about the accuracy of information you find on a
Web site, conduct further research. You may be able to verify or refute the information by
consulting another site or a print resource.

EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES (3)

OBJECTIVITY

Like accuracy, objectivty is related to accountability. Once you know who is accountable for a
site, consider the interests, philosophical or political biases, and source of financial support
of tha individual or organization. Are these interest or biases likely to slant the information
presented’ The more objective the author, the more credible the facts and information
presented. Consider, too, any advertisements on the site that might influence its content.

EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES (4)

DATE

Look for evidence that the site was posted recently or is kept current. At the bottom of many
sites you will find a statement of when the site was posted and when it was last updated. If
you do not find a date there, click on the View menu at the top of your browser screen and
go down to Page Info. When you click on Page Info, you will open a screen that includes a
Last Modified date. Still another strategy is to search for the title of the Web site on a search
engine. The information that comes up should include a date.

Once you know the date the site was posted or last updated, check to see whether the
document includes the dates on which any factual or statistical information was gathered. In
general, when you are concerned with factual data, the more recent, the better.
EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES (5)

USABILITY

The layout and design of the site should facilitate its use. Frames, graphics, and multimedia
resources can enhance a site but may also slow down the rate at which it loads or cause
your computer to freeze. Some sites offer a “text-only” or “non-tables” option. Also consider
whether there is a fee to gain access to any of the information on the site. Balance the
graphics features and any possible cost against practical efficiency.

EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES (6)

DIVERSITY

A diversity-sensitive Web site will be fee of material that communicates bias against either
gender; against any ethnic, racial, or sexual- preference sub group; or against people with
disabilities. Such a site may also offer divergent perspectives through hyperlinks or invite
divergent perspectives through interactive forums. A site friendly to people with disabilities
may offer a large-print option or an audio alternative to printed text.

U.S. government Web sites are required to comply with a set of standards that include such
requirements as making sure hyperlinks can be detected by color-blind users and supplying
written captions for audio and video clips for people with hearing impairment.

The first four of the criteria just

listed can serve as guides to evaluating any resource, regardless of whether it is a Web site,
a print document, or even information you obtain in an interview.

Taken from S. BEEBE’s Public Speaking, The Audience-Centered Approach. Pp 150 -152