Information Literacy for the Digital Age (Evaluating Information from the Web)

Abstract

The Web contains a great variety of information in diverse types of information sources. Much quality information is published online by reputable individuals and publishers and other organization as in the form of e-books, e-journals, e-magazines and e-newspapers, as well as research/technical reports, conference papers, theses, dissertations, etc. But there is also much average to very poor quality information that put out inexperienced or dubious people and organizations. The information may originate from authors who are experts on a subject or topic, but may also be from people who claim expertise but are not. People also publish information to the Web for various purposes, including to correctly inform or educate, or to misinform. Fake news is real on the Web, and so also is fake research claimed as genuine! Thus information users must beware. This chapter aims to improve your ability to properly evaluate any information that you obtain from Web and other sources before you use it.