IS124. Assignment
3.
Trustability of Information
Resources
Pick a topic where trustability
of information resources is important and may be difficult to assess.
Difficulties may include separating commercial from disinterested information,
politics, scientific disputes, religion and faith-based sites -- I'm sure
you'll be able to think of others. Some possibilities:
-
Kosovo -- e.g. sites from
both within and outside that are trying to assess what is going on
-
Travel info -- pick a place
and look for advice on where to go (or not to go), where to stay.
Look at sources other than official government tourist offices --
if you can tell which are government sites! E.g.,
http://www.infosites.net -- who is this?
-
One of the examples linked to
by one of these:
-
Sites aimed at children
-
Sites evaluating commericially-available
goods and services
-
Sites predicting an apocalpse
for year 2000 (or some other time soon)
Pick at least 2 sites to evaluate,
preferably representing different points of view on this topic. The
best sites to evaluate are not egregiously biased or inadequate, but would
appear to be reasonable to a reasonable reader, and differ from one another.
Your job is not to determine
which to believe, but to determine HOW one might determine which to believe.
Using the readings and linked
sites from the syllabus, develop and apply a set of heuristics that specifically
address issues of credibility, trust, believability, and bias. Refine your
heuristics in the course of applying them. Like your heuristics earlier
in the course, they should be general enough to apply to a range of sites
of this type, and specific enough to provide concrete guidance in designing
and improving sites.
The final product: an annotated
list of heuristics, and a short report applying the heuristics to each
of the sites. Conclude with 2-3 paragraphs reflection on what you
learned about assessing the trustability of web resources, and how you
would apply what you learned in the design of sites.
Due April 19.
Come to class April 19 prepared
to show us your sites, discuss your heuristics, and apply them to other
students' sites.