In this day and age, with as easy as it is for anyone to post anything to the Internet and make it appear as credible information, you have to be very careful about which resources you use to develop your own work. The ability or inability to judge the quality of a source has become such an important topic that as part of their Persuasive Technology Lab, Stanford University is operating the Web Credibility Research Project to explore what people look for when analyzing the credibility of a web source.
When determining the quality of a web source, the basic considerations for evaluating any source apply, including reviewing:
- information about the author and his/her qualifications for speaking on the subject,
- the publisher and its credibility,
- the quality of the writing,
- the research method (s) used,
- how the data found is presented and fit together to develop the conclusion, and
- sources cited and their credibility.
One more item that needs considered, which may be more difficult to analyze, is whether or not the author discusses the topic from an objective point of view or if his or her writing reflects one or more biases.
Determining Bias
Determining bias can be difficult when reviewing content in any medium, however, using an Internet site as a source of information may make this even more complex.
Who owns the information?
Two issues, aftereffects from the Internet’s early days when organizations failed to realize its potential and take action (Kossler, Mazzullo, Salopek, Sides, & Taddy, History of Cyber Squatting, 2005) present an interesting problem.
Cybersquatting is the registration of a web address (URL) that includes a name or other copyrighted trademark of a organization with intent to use it for an ill purpose.
Typosquatting is the registration of the most common misspellings of those names or trademarks for the same type of malicious purposes.
These two practices are sometimes even referred to as URL Hijacking and can, amongst other nefarious problems, provide a way for individuals to pass themselves off as being part of an organization they are not.
It’s true that a common reason for doing this may be to sell it back to the copyright owner for money. However, another common intent behind these practices is using the copyrighted name to increase website visibility and traffic and/or profit from appearing to be associated with that organization.
Anyone can register any domain name; because of this you may need to take the extra step of determining who owns a site. A popular example used to illustrate this problem is http://www.martinlutherking.org, which is not part of the Martin Luther King estate, but actually belongs to Stormfront, a hate organization.
Fortunately, you can use that web address as a tool to research that site owner!
Tools like whois.com provide a way to lookup the owner of a site. Once you learn who the owner is, you can research that individual or group and any organizations with which they may be affiliated. That information may provide you with clues to any biases that might be present in the work you are evaluating for use. In addition, you may be able to learn whether or not the author has the necessary qualifications to speak on the subject you are researching.
What else can a web address tell you?
Does the web address indicate that the page is part of a larger site?
If it is part of a larger website, take a look at how it is linked to the parent site.
- What portrait of the writer does that link give you?
- What does it say about the regards in which the larger organization holds that individual?
Google or use another search engine to see what other websites link to the page/site containing the material you are evaluating, including looking at the context of those links. That might give you some indication as to whether or not the website owner is who they claim to be and who is endorsing him or her, and, therefore, what biases the author might have.
What else can help you determine bias?
Look at what websites the owner links to on the page. Take a look at any advertisements on the site.
- Are they asking you to follow-up your reading with some type of action?
- Do they tell you anything about what organization, products, etc., the publisher might endorse?
When used in combination, all of these tips can help provide you with clues about what types of biases the author might have that could influence his/her work. From there, you can be more diligent about looking for it as you judge whether or not it is a source you want to use.
Resource
Kossler, M., Mazzullo, A., Salopek, E., Sides, C., Taddy, S. (2005). CyberSquatting. Available online at http://faculty.ist.psu.edu/bagby/Fall05/346F05T8/index.htm.
