Press Room

Whose Website is This Anyway? Evaluating Websites
by Z Sonia Worotynec

For early childhood practitioners, literacy is a key concern. We want children (and families) to be literate: to have the skills to be able to read, write, communicate and understand effectively. Literacy in the year 2000 has grown to include media literacy, encompassing television, radio, film and the Internet.

Printing was one of the most important and world-changing events in history. Many laud the Internet as another invention that will change the way we communicate with one another. Canadians, especially Canadian families, are not hesitating to “get wired” to others through the Internet. The Statistics Canada Household Internet Use Study found that in 1998, almost half of all families with children use the Internet (Statistics Canada, 1999). Yet while the Internet can be a useful place to communicate and to access all kinds of information, it is important to be able to assess the potential usefulness of a website before acting on any information it offers.

Early child practitioners are often asked for information by other professionals who interact with families, by students on placements and, of course, by parents. Early childhood development or education programs may collect website URLs (uniform resource locations or “addresses”) and pass them out. No doubt, having easy and quick access to issues like bed-wetting, teething and other parenting concerns is a bonus to the busy ECE, but it is important to exercise caution.

Anyone can put up a website and lots of people do. How do you know which website is trustworthy? How do you know which are good sources of information and which are not worth your time? Below are three reliable sources that ask and answer these questions in the links presented below.

http://www.library.dal.ca/ssh/check2.htm
Checklist for Evaluating Websites
Halifax Dalhousie University Libraries present a very useful checklist for evaluating websites. The checklist’s six sections address issues of:
. authority (Whose website is it?)
. purpose (Why was the site created?)
. coverage (How comprehensive or thorough is it?)
. currency (How often is the site updated? Does the site claim to update regularly, but does not?)
. objectivity (Are facts presented to persuade or bias?)
. accuracy (Is information referenced? Is the website affiliated with an institution?)

http://ayamdigut.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~gdunham/start.html
What a Site, Yukon College
What a Site was developed as a workshop for college instructors to help them to locate and evaluate websites for their students. An on-line virtual workshop walks you through a “course” and allows you to develop your own criteria for evaluating and integrating websites. This site offers an interesting look at the web as a learning tool.

http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/html/help/netinfoe.html
Using Health Information on the Internet
The Canadian Health Network, in consultation with health information experts, has developed two clear, readable bilingual checklists for evaluating health information on the Internet. Although the focus is health, the principles are equally applicable to any information sites.

The first checklist provides a guide to help you find the most trustworthy health information websites. The second lists suggests what to look for in a health promotion website.

These checklists include similar criteria to other web evaluation sites, but they address additional important issues about the user-friendliness of a site. How long does a page take to download? Are font and background colours easy to read or are they designed to be flashy? Too often, webmasters include whirling and flashing objects to compensate for a lack of solid, useful information. Further, on older computers such whimsy takes forever to download and surfers often abandon the site before they are able to glean what good might be found at the site.

Happy surfing.

A note to Interaction readers from Z Sonia Worotynec: This is my last Web Watch column. Thanks to everyone who emailed me with requests and suggestions. I have enjoyed cyber-chatting with early childhood educators across Canada and have learned that while the Internet is growing, the quality of websites is only one issue. Another critical issue for Canadians is access to the Internet. Northern, rural and isolated communities face barriers as do francophone, Aboriginal and new Canadians. It is my hope that Web Watch will continue to act as a resource, providing “webliographies” for the range of interests found within Canadian early childhood care and education — parents, caregivers, educators, academics, researchers, policy-makers, politicians, and business and community leaders.