The 5 W's of Cyberspace
The old formula used by police, journalists and researchers for getting the
"full" story can be applied in cyberspace, to help identify credible
online information sources.
Ask
yourself:
Is the information biased in any way?
Does the site's information seem thorough and well
organized?
Learn
to deconstruct a Uniform Resource Locator (better known as a URL or "site
address"). Using this URL from the Media Awareness Network as
an example:
The "http" notation here indicates that this is a hypertext document (most online documents are in this format). The "www" is short form for the "World Wide Web," where all Web sites reside. |
The second part of a URL contains the domain name of the person or organization hosting the Web site -- in this case, media-awareness. The ".ca" which follows indicates that the site is hosted by a Canadian institution. |
The last section maps out the pathway of directories and sub directories leading to the page you are on. For this particular page on the Media Awareness Network site, "eng/" indicates that you are on the English part of the site. The final URL entry (in this case "sitemap") indicates the name of the page or document you have arrived at. "Html" indicates the code or format that it has been created in. |
~ Sometimes you might see a "user" reference or tilde (~) symbol in a sub directory, followed by a name. This indicates that you may be on a personal Web page that is being hosted by an ISP (Internet Service Provider). |
The type of organization behind a Web site can give some clues to its
credibility.
.gov |
In the |
.gc |
The federal government in |
.ca |
Schools, educational organizations, libraries, museums and some government departments may be registered under a 2-digit country of origin code, such as .ca, .uk or .au |
.edu |
The |
.org |
Back in the early days of the Web: .org indicated a wide assortment of groups, including non-profit organizations; .com indicated commercial organizations; and .net was intended for organizations directly involved in Internet operations, such as Internet service providers Now, anyone
can apply for, and use, these letters in their domain names. For example, the
Web site for the YWCA in |
Before
you saddle up and ride out into cyberspace, it's a good idea to stop and
consider whether or not the Internet is even the best place to go. Ask
yourself:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/internet/5ws_cyberspace.cfm