week six log UPC0004

The Lecture: Searching and Finding quality information on the world wide web.

Today's lecture started off with a discussion about the quality of information from the world wide web and what exactly 'relative' and 'appropriate' information was.
We were then told about the open protocols of the world wide web and that it was a swift and convenient exchange of information.
With most websites we have to take the good with the bad, so of course there were downsides to using the world wide web and these were, no enforceable quality control, non-enforced classification, and errors.
The lecture also went on with the statistics of how many host computers that were around and how they have progressed over the ages adding to the way the world wide web has become so 'unruly'.
What I found most helpful about the lecture were the principles to consider when determining the quality of the content found on the world wide web, which will be extremely helpful when carrying out further research for my essay on Euthanasia, and for any other upcoming assignments.
What I have to consider when searching the world wide web is to look out for indicators of quality IE footnotes etc, and remember that anyone can write on the world wide web so it is essential to learn how to evaluate the IQ of a particular website on the world wide web.

The tutorial:
This tutorial was based all around the world wide web and how to find quality information by learning the appropriate methods to review a website.
I found this tutorial much like week fours tutorial, in the sense that both tutorials looked at validating websites, and how to determine if they are appropriate or not.
Although week fours tutorial was based around determining if a website was a spoof or not, this weeks tutorial is an extension on this subject, and looks at web pages in more detail, and in ways that are more beneficial to an undergraduate.
This tutorial was helpful to me, as I became aware of what to look for in an appropriate website, and how to tell whether the information is valid, and if it will be really useful for my research.
Finding quality information on the WWW is especially important to me as an undergraduate, so this tutorial was extremely helpful to me, and the steps to finding quality information over the Internet became more clear and easy to follow as the tutorial progressed.


Tutorial Workshop:

1. Review the ICYouSee critical thinking page:
To evaluate a website there are a few important steps that need to be used so that you can gain the most appropriate information as possible to support your research. These steps include,
-Authority: Who are the authors of the page?, and do they have the right authority to be writing information on this website?
-Accuracy: Are the facts and information on this page accurate?
-Objectivity: What is the purpose of this website?
-Coverage: Does this site cover the information you are after? and is the information substantial?
-Currency: Is the site up to date?
-Value: Does the site offer anything unique, informative, or insightful? was it worth visiting?

I found this website to be extremely helpful by showing the steps to evaluate a resource so that your research can be carried out as best as it can be, Using these simple steps can help turn an everyday boring assignment, into something that is interesting and information that will stay with you because it is unique and informative.

Compare what you found with 'INCO 48' Web page.

The website, http://www.taftcollege.edu/newTC/Academic/INCO48/sec6-4.htm i found offered a much more substantial account of how to evaluate a website in proper detail, by adding even more tips to evaluating a website and in even more detail than the previous website, so there are much more aspects to look out for to enhance the search of an appropriate and unique website such as:
-Comparability: Does the Internet resource have an identified comparable print or CD ROM data set or source? Does the Internet site contain comparable and complete information?
-Connectivity: If more than one user will need to access a site, consider each users' access and "functionality." How do users connect to the Internet and what kind of connection does the assigned resource require? Does access to the resource require a graphical user interface? If it is a popular (busy) resource, will it be accessible in the time frame needed? Is it accessible by more than one Internet tool?
-Censorship: Is your discussion list "moderated"? What does this mean? Does your search engine or index look for all words or are some words excluded? Is this censorship? Does your institution, based on its mission, parent organization or space limitations, apply some restrictions to Internet use? Consider censorship and privacy issues when using the Internet.
-Continuity:Will the Internet site be maintained and updated? Is it now and will it continue to be free? Can you rely on this source over time to provide up-to-date information? Some good .edu sites have moved to .com, with possible cost implications. Other sites offer partial use for free, and charge fees for continued or in-depth use.
-Citation: Internet resources should be cited to identify sources used, both to give credit to the author and to provide the reader with avenues for further research. Standard style manuals (print and online) provide some examples of how to cite Internet documents, although these standards are not uniform.
-Copyright:Even if the copyright notice does not appear prominently, someone wrote, or is responsible for, the creation of a document, graphic, sound or image, and the material falls under the copyright conventions. "Fair use" applies to short, cited excerpts, usually as an example for commentary or research. Materials are in the "public domain" if this is explicitly stated. Internet users, as users of print media, must respect copyright.

Using these steps as well as the previous ones obtained from the other website I am able to do the most complex and detailed evaluation of a website to obtain the most informative, up to date and appropriate information possible.








3.The psychedelic Sixties:

-Good information? Yes I thought this page had very good information, it covered events from the civil rights war, the Vietnam war, and protests at UVA, all the way from subjects such as Woodstock, hippies, illicit drugs and rock music, so we can see this site covered everything associated with the sixties.

-Page worth visiting? Yes, i think the page is definitely worth visiting, it is a unique and fun way to learn about the serious side of the sixties such as the wars and protests and some more of the lighter subjects such as music and Woodstock.

-Do you have good reason to believe that the information on the site is accurate? Are the facts documented? Yes the facts are all documented and I have good reason to believe that this site is accurate, because all of the dates, pictures and happenings of the sixties are there and are appropriate.

-Who are the authors and who is responsible for the site? What is their expertise? What is their bias? The authors are the Rector, and the visitors of the University of Virginia, so i believe that the information on this website is very accurate and unique, and also the website was reviewed in the Chronicle of Higher Education on July 2, 1998, was selected as an award-winner for August 1998 by Gray Areas Magazine, was awarded A#1 Quality Award for Excellence by Quality Search Engine, January, 1999, and was featured on CNN headline news.


-What is the site's purpose or point of view?
The sites purpose is to give the reader an overview of the 60's era, and everything that went with it, from illicit drugs to the Vietnam war, and everything in between. This site really is dedicated to teaching us about the sixties on all different levels and covers all the happenings of the time psychedelic sixties.

-Was this page designed for the Web, or is it something else, such as a government document or a journal article? This website is designed specifically for the web and for the benefit of those who chose to read it.
This Website was also recently updated in January 2008, so we know that the website is being kept up to date.


A Trip through the Sixties

-Good Information? Yes, I believe this site has very good information about anything and everything about the sixties, and also suggested reading books, and videos of certain events so the site isn't just to bombard you with pages and pages of words.

-Page worth visiting? Yes, i think this page is worth visiting, it is very informative, unique, discusses subjects that most other websites would not touch on, and also provides suggested books and videos to view for each topic. Although this page covers a lot of accurate information about a wide range or topics occurring in the sixties, some articles might have no information and just a suggested book, and some sites might have a lot of excellent information along with a suggested book, so I think that this website you have to really choose carefully for what topic you are after, otherwise it can become confusing, and seem like there is really no information there at all.

-Do you have good reason to believe that the information on the site is accurate? Are the facts documented? All of the information is accurate on the website, and all of the facts of each happening are documented with dates, quotes, important names in exquisite detail, yet some other pages just suggest books to read with a summary of the subject. Overall yes, the information on this website is accurate, informative and unique.

-Who are the authors and who is responsible for the site? What is their expertise? What is their bias? The website consists of many different articles branching off from different subjects about the 60's, so there are many articles on the website written by many authors, most of these authors have written novels before, or written by writing groups.

-What is the site's purpose or point of view? The sites purpose is to provide articles, and suggested books and videos to watch for people interested in learning more about the 60's, or even to take a journey throughout the happenings of the 60's in great detail.

-Was this page designed for the Web, or is it something else, such as a government document or a journal article? This website was designed for the web, but it contains articles, books, videos, and information from other sources so that the person viewing this website can not only just read the information of the website as their only source of information, but they can expand their way of thinking and read about a certain subject or watch it on TV.