Blog Reflection #5 - The importance of evaluation

The topic posed for this particular blog was to find a resource that would help others learn the importance of evaluating websites for accuracy. I gave it some thought, and decided to do a little experiment. I decided to use Google itself to challenge website accuracy. 

I googled conspiracies, and came up with a site that listed popular conspiracies. One of them involved the Jewish plan for world domination. Hmmmm. So I went back to Google and typed in 4 words that didn't necessarily have to do with this conspiracy - Jews in the world. Those words could generally reference a lot of topics, right? They could reference history, demographics, current events, etc. etc...

Here are a few of the hits I got:

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com (the URL alone sounds fishy to me...)

http://www.texemarrs.com (the man is selling books about the threat of the Jews...)

http://jeffweintraub.blogspot.com/2004/04/jews-give-up-world-control.html (I liked this one)

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/jews.html (looks quite informative)

The first two websites had disclaimers about the information posted there, and how the website administrators were not responsible for the information they collect, which seemed to be designed to strike fear in the hearts of the Gentile population.

The third site, by Jeff Weintraub, was a blog. And guess what? He was willing to post his credentials as a university professor and... a Jew.

The fourth site was posted by an organization that had a vested interest in preserving Jewish culture and history.

These four sites had wildly different agendas with information "skewed" to fit those agendas. So, this experiment alone, I think, shows why it's important to evaluate the resources you are using. It also shows how the information that you find on Google is not always reliable.

In our class discussion about finding reliable web resources, I had selected Harry Houdini to research using the websites recommended by the Librarian's Internet Index. The information I found on Houdini seemed reliable enough, but the website was run by a magic shop owner promoting his store and his magic act. Not necessarily a fully reliable source. But since the Lii is such a reputable organization that screens and verifies the authenticity of its sources, I felt much more comfortable with the information I found through its links.

Yes, evaluating the information we find is essential in this day and age, which is why using reputable reference sources is also essential.