Evaluating online information

Whether you are a student or a professional, you should always take time to evaluate information you find on the internet.  Just because it is there does not make it true or correct.  Many articles or social media comments may appear to support a new miracle cream to rid wrinkles but on closer inspection you may find the post was actually sponsored by the cream manufacturer.

Here is what to consider when assessing the reliability and usefulness of websites.

Who: authority and origin

For example: is the author or creator visible and identifiable

When: date

For example: is there an edition record or similar

Why: bias or focus

The reason for the site's existence

What: content, scope

The type/depth of information available

How: arrangement, ease of use

Plus, how did you discover the resource and who links to/from it

There are many other things that affect your judgement of a website's reliability and trustworthiness.  These criteria will vary depending on the site in question.

Who: authority and origin

Can you tell who the authors are?  Do they represent an organisation?  If so, can you establish how well know or reputable they are?

The web address or URL can give away information about the site in question.  For example .gov.uk or .ac.uk.  However, government and education top level domains are the only ones you can assess relate to a verifiable organisation.  Others such as .com or .org and country top level domains like .br (Brasil) or .dk (Danmark) or can be purchased by anyone.

The presence of kitemarks or logos of the organisation or register body may give you other clues regarding identity, relationships, and reputation.  Remember legitimate sites can have similar names.

Who: author or creator

Are the names of bodies responsible for the site made clear?  For example, are contact details available?

The internet is filled with news stories both official government new agencies traditional media companies (established titles) and unofficial bloggers.  Site www.alexa.com is helpful to find the ownership of a site and traffic connected with it.  However, www.alexa.com sometimes gives information related to the commercial webhosting company and not the individual registrant.

When

In short: is it up-to-date?  Some sites will give both the date that specific pages were last updated and a date of the website itself.  Where applicable, copyright dates can be found too.

Visible dates, the presence of edition statements or even disclaimers can help you assess how often the site is reviewed by its creators.  Where no date is available, you may be able to tell from the content or other elements how up-to-date the article is.

Why: bias or focus

Who is the site aimed at and how easy it is to ascertain that?  For example, is it aimed at the public, fans or specialists?

All sites are created for a purpose.  The level and tone of the language used will give clues as to its intended audience.  The motivation and mission statement behind the site will have an impact on the quality and accuracy of the content.

What?  Content, scope

Are you using the right level of site for the information you require and the audience you require it for?  You would expect a scientific website to have more depth than one aimed at school children on the same topic.  The motivating factors behind the creation of the site will have an impact on the "what" like is the site created to introduce/educate or is the site created to represent a group or view?

How?  Arrangement, ease of use

Are the key points of the site easy to identify?  How easy is the website to navigate?  This might suggest how the creators intend the site to be user friendly (or not).

The general maintenance of the site including spelling or broken links can give a good insight into how the website owner values their information.

Discovery

How did you discover the site?  Is anyone else talking or linking the site?

You might expect a well-known site to appear in the top results when using a search engine but bear in mind that not all search engines index results in the same way and will favour some sites over others (and not necessarily the best ones).