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Tags: access one, dr martin luther, dr martin luther king, evaluation session, information literacy, literacy training, martin luther king, martin lutherking, martinlutherking, media components, netscape nav, overview topic, paul barron, resource evaluation, site computers, staff developement, students per computer, technology staff, time allotment, wvpt,Pages: 6
Language: english
Created: Wed Feb 26 16:25:18 2003
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Grades 11 - 12
Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
Paul Barron, WVPT
Overview
Topic: Technology, Staff Developement. Among the influences that shape students' thinking skills, the Internet
and the World Wide Web are some of the most influential. The majority of students rely on the Web to research
topics for school projects; however, they may be weak at determining the quality of a website's content. They
may value information-gathering over deliberation, breadth over depth, and other people's arguments over their
own. Students should be skeptical about information on a website; they must determine who is the author, the
author's credentials, and the author's agenda. This Web resource evaluation session provides information literacy
training for instructional personnel and students who will identify what content they expect to find on the Martin-
LutherKing.org website, conduct a review of the website's content and a check to determine the registrant of the
MartinLutherKing.org site.
Time Allotment Caution for Instructional Personnel
There is profanity on the homepage of the
One 1-hour session www.martinlutherking.org Web site.
When conducting the session,
www.martinlutherking.org/flyer.html
Media Components will be used as the homepage for the site.
Computers with Internet access; one to three Pro Dr. Martin Luther King Website
instructional personnel or students per computer www.mlkonline.com. The official website of the
Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. The site that
browser provides copyrighted writings, documents, and
Projection Device (optional) recordings of Martin Luther king, Jr.
Display Device (optional) How to Recognize an Advocacy Page
Websites for: Evaluation, Performing Registrant www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-
Checks, and Title Field Searching & Link Checking Library/webevaluation/advoc.htm. The Widener
Anti-Dr. Martin Luther King Propaganda Library site provides a checklist to evaluate an
Websites advocacy Web page. An advocacy page is usually
www.martinlutherking.org. A biased site, main- a .org site maintained by an organization attempt-
tained by the racist organization Stormfront.org, ing to influence public opinion.
that alleges that Dr. King was as agent of com- Website Registration Check Sites
munism, a disruptive force in American history, www.easywhois.com and www.netsol.com/
and accuses him of numerous acts of plagiarism. cgi-bin/whois/whois. These Web search tools can
www.stormfront.org. An extremist site promoting a check a website's registration, administrative and
message of "White Pride World Wide." The technical contacts, and when the site was updated.
www.martinlutherking.org. site is registered and
maintained by Stormfront.org.
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Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
All the Web, AltaVista, and Google Search Teacher Preparations
Engines
www.alltheweb, www.altavista.com, and · Ensure all computers are connected to the Inter-
www.google.com. The search engines support net and that either the Netscape Navigator or
title field searching and link checking. Microsoft Internet Explorer browser is open
· Preview, bookmark, and print copies of the:
a. Widener University Wolfgram Memorial
Learning Objectives Library Advocacy Web Page evaluation crite-
ria published at www2.widener.edu/Wolf-
The student will be able to: gram-Memorial-
· evaluate website content for reliability, validity, Library/webevaluation/advoc.htm
accuracy, authority, and point of view and bias. b. The Martin Luther King Jr. flyer published at
Specifically they will evaluate a website resource www.martinlutherking.org/flyer.html
for its: · Preview the content categories on www.
1. Content Recognize that the www.martin- martinlutherking.org/flyer.html; develop a detailed
lutherking.org site is biased and attempts to familiarity with the content of the following link
deceive and to manipulate the reader with the Truth About King: What He Fought and Fought For
site's biased content. · Practice the following searches:
2. Source Determine by performing a "Who Is" a. Title searches using the advanced search
check that the instructional personnel or stu- options in AlltheWeb, AltaVista, and Google's
dents will determine that the developers of the basic search option. (see attached)
extremist website Stormfront.org are the b. Link check using AltaVista's advanced search
source of the content on the www.martin- option. (see attached)
lutherking.org site. c. Practice a "Who Is" Check of www.martin-
3. Quality -- Demonstrate an understanding that lutherking.org using either
the content of the www.martinlutherking.org www.easywhois.com or www.netsol.com/cgi-
site presents a one-sided view and expresses bin/whois/whois noting who registered the site
opinions rather than facts. and that is kept updated. (see attached)
Instructional personnel and students will be able to:
· use the World Wide Web search engines as tools Introductory Activity
to aid in research. Specifically, instructional per-
sonnel and students will be able to conduct: Title 1. Handout the "Bring the Dream to Life" flyer to
searches and Link searches the instructional personnel or students.
(This lesson addresses Va. SOL Computer/Technol-
ogy 12.2, 12.3, 12.4; and English Research 9.8, 2. Ask the instructional personnel or students:
10.10, 11.9, 12.8) a. Since the website has Martin Luther King in the
address and the site is an organization (.org) web-
site: Do you think that www.martinlutherking.org is
Materials the official website of the Martin Luther King orga-
nization?
Handouts: b. Would they expect that the site seeks to promote
· One copy of the "Bring the Dream to Life" flyer the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
available at: www.martinlutherking.org/flyer.html
· One copy of the "Widener University Wolfgram 3. Assign three or four-person teams of instructional
Memorial Library Advocacy Web Page" evalua- personnel or students to collaboratively brainstorm
tion criteria available at: www2.widener.edu/ and develop a list of subject areas they would
Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/ expect to find on the website.
advoc.htm
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Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
4. Direct the teams to discuss the content lists that THE COMMUNISTS TOOK OVER a country..."
they developed. and the first paragraph of the section titled, "Com-
munists Beliefs and Connections."
Focus For Media Interaction 7. Ask the instructional personnel or students:
a. Is the information biased?
Focus the instructional personnel's and students' b. How would they characterize the website?
attention to the necessity of evaluating website con-
tent. Explain that, unlike the traditional "gatekeep- 8. Ask the instructional personnel or students:
er" filtering of editors and peer reviewing, there is a. How many results do they normally review when
no "gatekeeper" on the Web--anyone can publish a searching the Web?
Web page! Explain to the instructional personnel or b. Do they think that the website would be located
students that they will compare their content lists in the first ten results by a search engine?
with the subject categories on the www.martin-
lutherking.org website and that they will evaluate 9. Illustrate and guide the instructional personnel or
the website's content by using the evaluation crite- students as they perform the title field searches in
ria of: authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency and AlltheWeb, AltaVista and Google and note which
coverage. number of the result the www.martinlutherking.org
website is in each search engine; for example, result
6 of 100.
Learning Activities
10. Have the instructional personnel review the
1. Direct the instructional personnel or students to description of returns from the three search engines.
connect to the Web page a. Ask the students: Would you look at the returns
www.martinlutherking.org/flyer.html from AlltheWeb and Google if those search engines
described the site as, "Attacking Dr. King as a cor-
2. Compare the list of subject areas developed by rupt communist, under the control of a Marxist Jew-
the instructional personnel or students with the sub- ish conspiracy?"
ject areas on www.martinlutherking.org/flyer.html. b. Focus the instructional personnel's or student's
attention on the value of the Who Is in determining
3. Ask the instructional personnel or students:
a. Are the subject areas on the Web page what you 11. Illustrate and guide the instructional personnel
expected to find on a website dealing with Dr. Mar- or students as they perform a "Who Is" check of the
tin Luther King? www.martinlutherking.org using either www.easy-
b. Is there any reason to expect that, after reviewing whois.com or www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois.
the section titles, the content would not be favorable
toward Dr. Martin Luther King and his ideals? 12. Ask them: What organization is responsible for
the www.martinlutherking.org website by finding,
4. Direct the instructional personnel or students to "Name Server: ISERVER.STORMFRONT.ORG" in
connect to the link titled: Truth About King: What the search results.
He Fought and Fought For.
13. Direct the instructional personnel or students to
5. Ask the instructional personnel or students: connect to and to review the content of and to deter-
a. What is the title of the article? mine the orientation of www.stormfront.org.
b. Are you surprised with the article's title?
14. Direct the instructional personnel or students to
6. Direct the instructional personnel or students to connect to the "Kids Page" link. Ask them:
read the first paragraph beginning with, "WHEN a. Can you find the hyperlink to www.martin-
lutherking.org on the "Kids Page" link?
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Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
15. Ask the instructional personnel or students to Currency:
summarize the process of Web resource evaluation · Are there dates on the page to indicate when
and "Who Is" checking and how the two websites, the page was last revised?
www.martinlutherking.org and www.stormfront.org · Does that matter?
are related. Coverage:
· Does the website clearly address the topics that
you expected?
Culminating Activities · Is the point of view of the organization clearly
presented with supporting arguments?
Have instructional personnel or students demon-
strate their information literacy proficiency by:
1. Evaluating the content on the official website of Community Connections
the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., www.mlkon-
line.com, that provides copyrighted writings, docu- Have instructional personnel or students perform a
ments, and recordings of Martin Luther King, Jr. link check to www.martinlutherking.org using the
AltaVista advanced search option. Determine if
2. Comparing and contrasting the quality of the there are K-12 websites that are linked to the site.
information on the www.martinlutherking.org and Determine whether the school is using the site for
the www.mlkonline.com sites. Web resource evaluation or failed to review the con-
tent on the site. If the K-12 sites are not using the
3. Selecting the site that provides an unbiased or site for Web resource evaluation, have the students
unprejudiced appraisal of the contributions of Dr. e-mail the site's Webmaster, recommend that the
Martin Luther King. content www.martinlutherking.org be evaluated and
the link removed from the school's website.
Assessment
Cross-Curricular Extensions
Inform the instructional personnel or students that
they are researching photographic evidence of the Technology: Have students evaluate the quality and
Holocaust. Evaluate their ability to critically evalu- accuracy of the information on the following web-
ate the content of the website, www.air-photo.com, sites using the evaluation criteria described in the
using the criteria and answering the questions below. "Checklist for an Advocacy Web Page."
Authority: www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-
· What organization created the page? Library/webevaluation/advoc.htm
· Does the quality of the photos influence your a. GENOCHOICE - Create Your Own Genetically
evaluation of the site? Healthy Child Online! www.genochoice.com/
Accuracy: b. DreamTech International. www.d-b.net/dti/
· Does the title of the page match their expecta- c. Welcome to the Raelian Revolution.
tion of the site's content? www.rael.org/
· Is the purpose of the page indicated on the
home page? Research: Have instructional personnel or students
· Does the information contradict something you conduct research on Kevin Alfred Strom and David
found somewhere else? Duke, the author of two sections of the www.mar-
Objectivity: tinlutherking.org website, to determine their beliefs
· Is the information true? on civil rights.
· Does the information appear biased?
· Is the information useful for your research pro-
ject?
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Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
About the Author
Paul Barron
Paul Barron is the Technology Director for the
Rockbridge County Schools in Lexington, Virginia.
After retiring from the Marine Corps he earned a
Masters Degree in Library and Information Science
from the University of Texas at Austin. He has pro-
vided staff development training on the use of the
Web for research at workshops for school systems
in the Shenandoah Valley and the New River Valley
and at conferences sponsored by the Shenandoah
Valley Technology Consortium, the Virginia Depart-
ment of Education, the Virginia Electronic Media
Association, the Virginia Library Association, and
the Virginia Society for Technology Educators. He
is also an adjunct faculty member at the Virginia
Military Institute and Dabney S. Lancaster Commu-
nity College.
March 2003
A publication of the 2002-03 NTTI--Virginia
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Web Wise by Who Is-ing!
PRACTICE TITLE FIELD SEARCHES
AlltheWeb Title Search (Use the Advanced Search Option)
AltaVista Title Search (Use the Advanced Search Option)
Google Title Search (Use the Basic Search Option)
PRACTICE LINK CHECKS
AltaVista Link Check for K-12 Web Sites (Use the Advanced Search Option)
Practice a "Who Is" Check of www.martinlutherking.org using either www.easywhois.com or
www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois noting who registered the site and that is kept updated.
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