January 05, 2004
Validating Web Content
Overview
The Internet has been praised as a medium that truly frees information, making it accessible to anyone, anywhere. Information that was previously confined to libraries and university research labs is now freely (usually) available on the Internet. Search vehicles like Google help students, teachers, and business people access a mind-boggling amount of information.
Yet, (as with every great concept) a significant threat exists to the freedom of information - misinformation, hoaxes, and outright lies. A small percentage of experienced web users are aware of these concerns. Most web users, however, are not. Many students, for example, lack fundamental skills to critically evaluating, questioning, and authenticating content. An individual's lack of ability to evaluate accuracy of information is more of a limitation than not having access to information. The resources listed below offer some direction for validating web content.