Reliability of Online Information

RELIABILITY OF ONLINE INFORMATION

With Web 2.0, anyone with broadband connection can self-publish their work. Unlike in the days of old when publishing on your own was derogatorily called “vanity publishing”, the mantra today is collective knowledge contributed by specialists and lay alike. This has resulted in a plethora of information that is accessible online. However, can we trust what we read? CNET News.com CNET News.com warns that people should not believe all they read especially on the Internet.

According to a survey by the BMJ on Reliability of health information for the public on the world wide web: systematic survey of advice on managing fever in children at home, suggests that there is an urgent need to check public oriented healthcare information on the internet for accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Health Insite, an Australian government initiative, has a checklist of questions that users can ask to assess the trustworthiness of health information websites, such as the credentials of the author and whether her contact details are visible on the site, the reputability of the publisher, how often the site is up-dated, and whether the producers of the site have a commercial interest.

Cornell University Library provides five criteria for evaluating web pages in general - by taking into account the accuracy, authority , objectivity, currency and coverage of the sites, while the UCLA College Library urges readers to think critically about World Wide Web resources by considering the content and evaluation, source and date and the structure. The Sheridan Libraries of the John Hopkins University warns the reader of online propaganda, misinformation and disinformation, and provides practical steps in evaluating internet resources, three of which - authorship, publishing body and currency - can be investigated online. And finally, METRAC, the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence against Women and Children, provides help at a more basic level with valuable information on how to judge the authenticity of URLs.