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A site visitor writes:
Evaluating the quality of information provided on a Web site involves more than determining its authenticity. An author may write with genuine passionate belief in that which he says, but the facts may not support his contention. Examine, for example, this document, alleging that aspartame causes multiple sclerosis. While inaccurate, and perhaps irresponsible, it is not necessarily a fake. Before you rely on information, you should:
Regarding the addresses you provide, the first leads to the Web site of the World Trade Organization. It's the real McCoy, unlike that of gatt.org, which people sometimes confuse with the genuine WTO site. Discover Web site ownership by checking the domain
registration record. Whonami provides an easy-to-use search
interface. You should verify domain records obtained via Whonami by
checking the Whois database maintained by the domain's registrar. Domain
records for wto.org and gatt.org show their owners as the World Trade
Organization and Prince & Associates Inc.,
respectively. The author appears to be Joe Dawson. What is his expertise on this subject? No information about his credentials appear at the site. The article carries a 1994, 1995 copyright. Were these the facts about second-hand smoke during those years? Like the aspartame document, evidence fails to support the author's contention. Moreover, the author and publisher lack authority. Instead of relying on such a questionable site, obtain information about second-hand smoke from sources like the Office of the Surgeon General, the National Cancer Institute, the EPA, and the National Institutes of Health. The last address -- http://ihr.org/jhr/v15/v15n2p10_Okeefe.html -- produces an article published in the Journal of Historical Review and hosted on a Web site owned by the Institute for Historical Review. Who is the Institute for Historical Review? Who are the people behind it? What are their credentials? Do the facts support the author's thesis? When I was a kid and whined about someone saying something I didn't like, my mama admonished, "Consider the source." Searchers should follow Mama's advice. If you want authoritative information about the Holocaust, for instance, obtain it from a source like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Created: 23 January 2002
Revised: URL: http://www.virtualchase.com/howto/assess_quality.html |