In this week's reading, the concept of evaluating information quality was the most clear. The five main criteria for evaluating Web pages are accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. Accuracy refers to whether the author is qualified to write on that specific topic and whether there is a way to contact him or her. There should be sufficient evidence to support the author's claims and other sites that offer additional evidence. The authority of a website can be examined by researching the credentials of the listed authors and checking the URL domain. An objective website presents the facts (not opinions) with minimal advertising. Currency can be interpreted by seeing how often the site is updated and when it was produced. Coverage refers to whether the information can be viewed properly (correct browser technology). With over 1 trillion unique Web pages, these pages vary greatly in these five criteria.
Since the Internet is essential for research, evaluating Web sites is very important in the business environment. It's important to learn the criteria for assessing a website in order to determine its reliability as a source. Some websites are extermely accurate and helpful while others are complete nonsense. In a business environment where research occurs all the time, it's crucial to be able to tell the difference.
The Lesley University Library has a great Web page that explains how to evaluate a website. This site says to look at the authority, objectivity, and currency (as explained above). This list adds several criteria to the list: purpose, appropriateness, responsibility, clarity, and accessibility. Basically, this site breaks down the five criteria to make them more specific, which helps make this topic very clear. Overall, thinking critically while evaluating a website will help in figuring out whether a Web page can be trusted.
