# Web Search & Evaluation

## Google Search
* Learn to refine your Google search – Google’s Advanced Search can also be handy

1. Q: *What would you query to see how many pages on the English Wikipedia site contain the exact phrase “Northeastern University”? If Google showed the number of results (sometimes it doesn’t), how many results did you get?*

A: Firstly, I had to ensure that the website I was accessing was the English Wikipedia and not an alternative site. To do this I made sure the url started with "en." signifiying the website is in fact in English.

###### The URL for the Spanish Wikipedia, the one I am **NOT** looking for.
###### The URL for the **English Wikipedia**, the one **I AM** looking for.
Now that I know the specific site I am looking for, I then had to search specifically for "Northeastern University" on the site. To do this I used the *"site:en.wikipedia.org Northeastern University"* operator before my search to specifically search on that site. From this search I was able to see that there were about 81,800 search results.
###### site:en.wikipedia.org Northeastern University ; 81,800 results

2. Q: *What would you query to see web pages about the skate fish without mention of the phrase “ice rink”?*

A: To do this I used the search operator "skate fish -ice rink". The "-" signifies that Google will search for anything that doesn't mention of "ice rink".

###### Search **WITHOUT** using the **"-ice rink"** search operator.
###### Search **WITH** the **"-ice rink"** search operator. Notice the significant decrease in search results when conducting a more specific search.
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3. Q: What would you query to see web pages about the Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 through the last day of 2002?

A: Firstly, I did a simple search with no specific time period of "Northeastern Huskies".
Then to ensure I was searching within the questioned time period, I clicked on the "tools" option and altered the "any time" selection to the "custom range" option. From there I ensured the date range was "From: January 1st, 2001 To: December 31st, 2002".
I then was able to see results only from the first day of 2001 to the last day of 2002. I thought it was interesting to see that Google displayed the scores from games at that time.

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* *Find me the top image of the exact phrase “penguin pair” with a Creative Commons” usage right.*

A: To create a more refined search I made sure I was using Google's advanced image search. I then made sure "penguin pair" was in the "exact phrase" box. I also changed the usage rights to the "creative commons" selection.
This was the top image I found when searching the exact phrase “penguin pair” with a Creative Commons usage right.

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## Web Credibility
* *Find a web page of questionable credibility and apply some of the criteria discussed by Valenza and Berkley Library.*

When choosing my site for this part of the assignment I refered back to a news post I saw earlier today on Instagram. The post I saw was a statement made by the UK-based news website founded in 2014 called the Middle East Eye stating that "95% of those facing starvation in the world are in Gaza". I immediately found this piece of information hard to believe, so I decided to look further into it.

The Middle East has their own website where they mainly report news covering the Middle East and North Africa. To look further into the website I decided to use [Berkeley Library's "Evaluating Internet Sources"](https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/evaluating-resources) quick guide.

1. **Authority** - Who is the author? What is their point of view?
The [Middle East Eye](https://www.middleeasteye.net/search/content?keys=hunger) is a [UK based news website](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Eye) that provides coverage of events and issues in the Middle East and North Africa. Launched in 2014, it offers news, analysis, and opinion pieces related to politics, culture, and society in those regions. During recent times, the news site has shifted its focus to the war on Palestine. The Middle East Eye aims to provide an alternative perspective on Middle Eastern affairs, and poses a Pro-Palestine point of view.

2. **Purpose** - Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience?
I believe the source was created to report on the current status of starving citizens in [Palestine's city Gaza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_City). The intended audience may be people who also have Pro-Palestine perspectives or those who wish to be informed. This made me question if the misinformation was intended to put more emphasis on the severity of the situation or if it was just some sort of typo. But when is misinformation actually used to pose a good outcome? Is it then considered ethical or does it lose trust within the consumer of said media?

4. **Publication & format** - Where was it published? In what medium?
This post containing the information on the status of Gaza's growing hunger crisis was posted on the [Mass Media Eye's Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/C2aNFRkI33C/). To find if they put this on [their website](https://www.middleeasteye.net/search/content?keys=hunger) as well, I used a **refined search** of their website and the specific topic and found a matching article, and I noticed the information contained on it is more realistic This now leads me to believe that the Instagram post was just an accident. This makes me pose another question that could typos or accidents actually cause a [great deal of damage](https://blog.propllr.com/4-typos-that-cost-companies-millions? Or maybe they help more than we could imagine? The article I found is [linked here](https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/95-percent-those-facing-starvation-world-are-gaza?nid=334146&topic=Israel-Palestine%2520war&fid=498611).
###### The refined search I used

5. **Relevance** - How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope?
In this case this source is relevant to my search because I believed misinformation was spread through this article and I wanted to see if there were any intentions behind it. I believe the war should be touched on in all news settings as it sets light to the situation, but I also thought it was interesting to see if a news site would skew or alter information to gain better opinion on the matter. Now I must say that this may be a mistake on the publishers behalf or that there is further information to back their claim up making my case turn on myself, but I have not seen this other information as I am writing this.

6. **Date of publication** - When was it written? Has it been updated?
This article was written on January 22nd, 2024 at 1:51 PM. To find out if the site was updated I used an [HTTP header](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-you-view-http-headers-your-web-browser-bilal-ahmed) to see when the document was last updated. I found that it was last updated January 3rd, 2024 at 8:37 GMT.

7. **Documentation** - Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite?
The one source that Middle Eastern Eye sites is the [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Food_Security_Phase_Classification). The IPC is an innovative multi-stakeholder initiative to improve analysis and decision-making on food security and nutrition. Although the IPC may be quite credible I still decided to do a refined search to see if they made the claim that Middle Eastern Eye says they have. I couldn't neecessarily find a source pertaining information that adds up to the claims by MEE but there is a chance I may be missing something. This makes me question if the information is actually truthful.

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## Wikipedia Evaluation
* *A version of the Joseph Reagle” Wikipedia article stated (a) I worked at the World Wide Web Consortium and (b) my book Good Faith Collaboration was “bestselling.” How does these claims relate to the policy of Wikipedia:Verifiability? Would you suggest any changes to the page?*
According to [Wikipedia:Verifiability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability), information must be from a reliable source. The claim on Professor Reagle's page that his book is bestselling doesn't have any hyperlinks to evidence backing it. I then viewed the history of the page and viewed the [most recent version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Reagle_Jr.) and noticed that "best selling" was removed as it may have not been true or had no evidence to back it up. I did see that the [World Wide Web Consortium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium) was still there and had a hyperlink with a source.

* *According to its history, when was this page first created (i.e., the oldest version)?*
To find out when the page was first created I [opened up my source code](https://goldfynch.com/blog/2022/08/18/how-to-find-out-when-a-document-or-web-page-was-created.html). I then clicked "ctrl+f" to search for "published" in the source code and I found that the website was first created on August 1st, 2011 (2011-08-01).