Comments on: In Google They Trust

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:22:09 +0000

I also think we want students to evaluate web content (and any content) *in relation to the use they want to put it to.* I think evaluation rubrics can be so tricky in part because they pretend there will ever be a stable set of boxes we should tick off when we’re navigating information sources. I think jp is right on when talking about looking at things like motive and political bias, particularly if we look at those things through the lens of what we want to use the information for. Sometimes I want a right wing hack to illustrate some argument, or a left wing hack, or whatever. But evaluation can only ever be embedded in a context of information use, something I’d like us to talk more about.

Trippy and scary, though, that students can’t always tell a sponsored link from any other kind, though I also couldn’t tell you why some results rise to the top and others don’t. It’s hard to know what to trust when algorithms are so hard to understand.

Thanks for the great link, Maura.

By: jp

jp — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:30:34 +0000

“But students were less clear on the differences between .org and .com. Many regard .org websites as more trustworthy, probably because originally that domain was reserved for non-profit organizations, a restriction which no longer exists.”

Some librarians are still confused about this–and still teach that there is a meaningful distinction between .org and .com.

There was recently a lengthy discussion on ILI-L, the ACRL instruction section listserv, about evaluating websites. It seems many librarians are still vested in the approach of currency, accuracy, etc. Those are great measurements, but completely unrealistic.

I think, ultimately, we want students to question the same thing about a website that we want them to consider about every piece of information: who is the source/author and what is the motivation for publishing it? On the internet, it’s often a financial motive. Or it may be political. Or whatever–but as long as students consider these issues, they’ll probably do okay.

By: Barbara Fister

Barbara Fister — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:28:19 +0000

Thanks for pointing this article (and OA journal) out, Maura. This is an interesting finding read right after this morning's New York Times magazine article on privacy and identity online; most young people are savvier (or at least cautious, perhaps because their public identities are still being formed) about their privacy in social networks.