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March 15, 2003
WEB LITERACY and Critical Thinking (cont'd)
Who's Behind the Curtain?
HOW TO
As you focus in on the question of authorship, it can be interesting to revisit some of the fact-finding races described before. Perhaps your students already discovered that, when racing to find an answer to a supposedly factual question, different groups came up with different answers. You can introduce a new game at this point-we will call it "Says Who?" This time, send the students off with a new series of questions. For example: What is the most popular American sport? How much activity do you need in a day to stay healthy? How old is the earth? Have them return not only with an answer to the question but also with the background information on the "authority" from whom they received this answer.
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One of the most important Web literacy skills is an understanding that information does not simply appear online. Somebody had to gather the data and create the page for posting on the Web. Was it an experienced scholar? An advertiser? A fourth-grade student sharing her own research paper? The answer to the above can clearly have a major impact on the value of the information to your students.
"Who Done It?"
A basic but important exercise is to have students look closely at sites they use often. Challenge them to become sleuths and figure out what they can about the creator of the site. Is there an About This Site page or another link that offers them information about the people behind it? Is there copyright information at the bottom of the page? When was the site created or last updated? Is there an e-mail link that lets you write and ask for more information? What else can they find out about its author simply by using the information provided at the site itself?
It is important for students to get used to citing this sort of information as they complete their research. Just as there are standard rules for book citations, we need to develop rules for the Web. At the Landmark Project site, David Warlick shares his suggestions for the types of information to include in a bibliography-complete with a digital index card to guide students through the steps.
Backtracking the URL
In addition to looking at a home page and its links, a lot can be learned from the URL itself. David Warlick suggests teaching students how to apply their digital detective skills to a URL-backtracking from right to left, removing one element at a time and looking for clues at each subpage you reach along the way.
HOW TO
When your students get to the domain name, what does its suffix (.com, .org, or .gov) tell them about the site and its orientation? Warlick recommends paying a visit to www.internic.com and searching for the domain name. Who owns it? What can you find out about that author by conducting a search? You can also find out what other online resources link to the site you are researching -- either by typing the command "link: http://" followed by the site name in the search window at Altavista or using the "link" tool at Google. What does that tell you about the nature of the information and the visibility of the site and its author?
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Next: Fact or Fabrication?
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