Not novel

Google bomb was a thing in 2006

Links

assignment and student wikis and responses

Caveat

• Google is always changing things:
  • ‘~’ no longer works for synonyms as is now automatic; and you must now use quote marks to be exact.
  • results can vary (e.g., by location or whether logged in).

NEU on WP

What would you query to see how many pages on the English Wikipedia site contain the exact phrase “Northeastern University”? How many results did you get?

Skate fish

What would you query to see web pages about the skate fish without mention of the phrase “ice rink”? (Hint: It can still mention “ice” or “rink” but not “ice rink.”)

Huskies 2001–2002

What would you query to see web pages about the Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 through the last day of 2002?

Penguins

Find me the top image of the exact phrase “penguin pair” with a “Creative Commons” usage right.

Verifiability

On the “Joseph Reagle” Wikipedia article it said (a) I worked at the World Wide Web Consortium

• weakly supported

and (b) characterized my book Good Faith Collaboration as “bestselling.”

• not supported

How does these claim relate to the policy of Wikipedia:Verifiability? Would you suggest any changes to the page?

History

According to its history, when was this biography first created?

Triangulation

• find three credible sources (Valenza 2016)
• consider criteria (Library 2020)
  1. Authority
  2. Purpose
  3. Publication & format
  4. Relevance
  5. Date of publication
  6. Documentation

Remember: SSL…

… tells you if your connection to the site is secure, but does not say whether the content is reliable.

MLK

“A True Historical Examination,” was a top result for “Martin Luther King Jr.” on Google for many years (Rheingold 2009). It is blocked on campus?

Credibility of claims??

• King frequently plagiarized, including his doctoral dissertation.
• King was a member of the communist party.

Your detective work (wikis & responses)

• Joseph: common dangers one and two
• …

Tip: Search shortcuts

You are now a Google expert

Questions?

Consider

You are considering the trustworthiness of a Web page, how might you triangulate its credibility?