Web_search_and_evaluation

Many people are not aware of the power available to them in Web searches, nor how to evaluate the information they see on the Web. In this short exercise I’m asking you to engage a few advanced search techniques and reflect on the credibility of information that appears on Wikipedia.

Document your answers on your wiki using links. For example, this link shows the results of searching for “Howard Rheingold” from January 1st to the 11th in 2014.

Google Search

• Consult refine your Google search and make use of Google’s Advanced Search page.
  • What would you query to see how many pages on the English Wikipedia site mention “Northeastern University”? How many results did you get?
  • What would you query to see Web pages about the skate fish but no pages about an “ice rink”?
  • What would you query to see Web pages about the Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 through the last day of 2002?
    • Note, the date range operator (‘..’) finds instances of numbers on the page (including dates) but that doesn’t mean the page is from that date.
• Find me the top image of a pair of penguins with a “free to use, share or modify, even commercially” license, sometimes referred to as “labeled for reuse with modification.”

Web credibility

• Find a Web page of questionable credibility and apply some of the criteria discussed by Rheingold and Northern Michigan University.

Wikipedia evaluation

• On the “Joseph Reagle” Wikipedia article it says (a) I worked at the World Wide Web Consortium and (b) characterized my book Good Faith Collaboration as “bestselling.” How does these claim relate to the policy of Wikipedia:Verifiability? Would you suggest any changes to the page?
• According to its history, when was this article first created?