One of my 7th graders was so excited when he got his first computer that he spent much of his time on it. His love of technology led him to the Internet, and he soon built his own Web site. His site is now among the millions of sites on the Internet, and if you search for a site on computer repair and network consultation, you may have to wait for his services—because he needs to be home in time for dinner.
I admire my student's spunk and ingenuity. If I were searching the Internet for a consultant to network my business, however, I would want to know that this entrepreneur is an ambitious 12-year-old. With this, and many other well-developed sites just a mouse click away, how can we determine the correctness of the information we see? More important, how can we teach children to determine the validity of these Internet-based resources?
The Internet, by design, supports freedom of speech. It is a work in progress, and anyone is free to publish information or an opinion on it. There are no editors, and no cyberpolice to steer us away from the unreliable sites (although there is quite a bit of software available now to help us filter out the distasteful sites).
Enter Goals 2000. This push for information technology in our K–12 schools encourages us to weave this information-rich medium into our curriculum. Educators can easily see applications for its use with science and history fairs, literature-based instruction, and information gathering for classroom debates. Most K–12 schools have access to dial-up accounts. Some have more sophisticated access to the Internet. Training is available, but mainly in the form of showing educators the benefits of this information source. Assuming we know how and why to navigate the Internet, have access, and feel the push of Goals 2000, what next?
The Four Ws of Site Validation
Sorting the fluff from the substance is a necessary evil for any teacher or student who decides to use the Internet for research. What are some of the things we can teach our teachers and students to look for in a Web site to determine if the information it contains is valid? This brings us to the who, what, when, and where of site validation.
Who wrote the site? Is the author of the site qualified to voice his or her viewpoints about the subject matter? Are the author's credentials mentioned? Is the site sponsored or co-sponsored by an individual or group? If so, have you heard of the group before? Is contact information for the author included in the Web site? An e-mail message to the webmaster can get you the information you need if it is not readily available. Don't be afraid to ask for it. Looking to see who is talking is the first and probably the most important step in site validation. If you can't find an author or webmaster, look for another site. There is plenty of information out there.
What are they saying on the site? What links are on the page and how reliable are they? What is the scope of the topic? Is the information too broad, too shallow, or just the right depth? Do you think the information is factual? Do you suspect any author bias? A gut feeling is probably enough to send you surfing. Is the information you need free, or is it linked to a part that requires access fees? Is what you need to see easy to download, or are the graphics so extensive that the content of the site is lost in download time? Is the text well written? Is what you see worth a bookmark? Is the content age-appropriate? Has the site received any awards? Is the information short enough to be printed out? The content of the site, of course, is only one piece of information. Educators must make certain that learners don't rely solely on Web resources and ignore information available in books, videos, and human resources.
When was the site created? When was it last revised? If the creation date is not posted directly on the site, you can sometimes determine how current it is by clicking on its links. If the links don't work, the site has probably not been updated in a while. The importance of knowing the timeliness of information on a site will vary based on your research needs. Up-to-date information will be important if you are researching an event in progress, but less critical if you are writing a history report on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. An e-mail message to the author or webmaster can also help you determine how current the information on the site is.
Where is the site from? Where did it originate? Is it buried in someone's Internet account (http://www.monmouth.com/user_pages/malim/) or does it have its own domain name (http://www.rutgers.edu)? Is the domain name reputable? What server houses the site—and why? Is it a paid service provider or part of an organization? What does the URL tell you about the site? Does the URL indicate that this site is an educational institution (.edu) or government (.gov)? If it is a commercial site (.com), is it a source you can trust? If you just did a search and landed on a site with a long URL (http://web.wn.net/%7Eusr/ricter/web/valid.html), what happens when you trace it back to its parent directory (http://web.wn.net)? Many genre categories exist as sources for Internet sites including universities, commercial services, electronic journals and commercial magazines, special interest groups, companies and organizations, advertising pages, personal pages, search engines, software sites, city and state pages, federal government pages, and special interest groups.
InterNic is also a valuable resource for determining the origins of the information you find. Established in January 1993 as a collaborative project among AT&T, General Atomics, and Network Solutions, Inc., this resource allowed me to search a database and learn the originator's name and the host server of a site. To use this part of the service, visit (http://rs1.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois).
Toward Critical Use
Making the Internet available in K–12 schools is not enough. We need to teach children about the vastness of the information available to them. They must learn that many reputable sites and many unreliable sites reside side by side. Equal access is available, and this unbiased medium will voice the opinions of Ivy League professors, as well as your next-door neighbors. I encourage you to visit some of the sites on the Internet that have posted site validation checklists, including Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Critical Evaluation Surveys (http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/eval.htm), Evaluating Internet Resources: A Checklist (http://infopeople.berkeley.edu:8000/bkmk/select.html), and How to Critically Analyze Information Sources (http://urisref.library.cornell.edu/skill26.htm). Adapt these instruments to your district's research needs, and teach the teachers and students how to use them before they take what they see on the Internet as truth and use it to prove a point.
By the way, my 7th grader's computer repair and network consultation site is pretty nice—and his rates are competitive.
