# Web Search and Source Evaluation

## Reading Response on *Truth, Truthiness, Triangulation: A News Literacy Toolkit for a ‘Post-Truth’* World and *Evaluating Internet Sources*

“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” These words from French sociologist Jean Baudrillard perfectly encapsulate the adversity society faces today due to overflow in a “sea of media.” Every article tells a different side of the same story, and it is harder to know what to believe each time. How can we sail this sea of media and avoid getting caught in the waves? Author Joyce Valenza and contributors at the UC Berkeley Library provide readers with resources and inquiries to achieve news and media literacy. “News literacy” is the skill of thinking deeper, questioning trustworthiness, and reacting accordingly to all types of news coverage. Today, the need for this skill is more crucial than ever as we encounter more and more news outlets and reports everywhere we look. Some media outlets purposefully deceive readers by uploading manipulated images, videos, audio, and stories to generate traffic. While most might think the older generations are most likely to fall victim to these acts, high schoolers, and college students are deceived the most. Terms like “post-truth” and “truthiness” have grown in popularity to show how our society is starting to accept claims despite the lack of evidence and awareness to react to the issue before it is too late.

The School Library Journal and the UC Berkley Library have created questions people should ask themselves to evaluate and differentiate media. These dig deeper into the authority, purpose, relevance, date of publication, documentation, publication, and format of any report and encourage readers to go beyond the text to know where the information they consume is coming from. Examples include looking into the author’s credentials and “about me” pages, trying to find the one claim in multiple sources, and looking for labels like “peer-reviewed” on texts. While these questions help keep fake news out and factual information in, we still have to deal with the problem of biased and non-neutral media. It is easy for readers to become victims of the algorithm and get caught up in the “eco chambers” of biased media. If we put our opinions aside for a moment and examine where the information we consume is coming from, we can finally achieve complete media literacy. It has always been fascinating how relatives with different political ideals consume media and interact in digital bubbles that look entirely different from mine. This, however, reminds me of the importance of finding media that truthfully cover all sides of a debate, stays neutral in their reporting, and helps readers form their own opinions with their supplemental information.

## Google Search
* **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 results did you get?**
- I would type [site:en.wikipedia.org "Northeastern University"] into the Google Search bar and get results like [this](https://www.google.com/search?q=%5Bsite%3Aen.wikipedia.org+%22Northeastern+University%22%5D&client=safari&sca_esv=600640614&sxsrf=ACQVn0-RfcbWQFu3pbtCpP9V83OeyoIvKg%3A1705983852534&ei=bD-vZfKDIPXsptQPju-MyA0&ved=0ahUKEwjy6ZaM1fKDAxV1tokEHY43A9kQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=%5Bsite%3Aen.wikipedia.org+%22Northeastern+University%22%5D&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiMVtzaXRlOmVuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcgIk5vcnRoZWFzdGVybiBVbml2ZXJzaXR5Il1I5ocCUP_zAVjf_gFwAngAkAEAmAFJoAGMAaoBATK4AQPIAQD4AQL4AQHiAwQYASBBiAYB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
- Google showed about 7,550 results.

* **What would you query to see web pages about the skate fish without mention of the phrase “ice rink”? (Hint: It can still mention “ice” or “rink” but not “ice rink.”)**
- I would type ["skate fish" -"ice rink"] into the Google Search bar and get results like [this](https://www.google.com/search?q=%5B%22skate+fish%22+-%22ice+rink%22%5D&client=safari&sca_esv=600640614&sxsrf=ACQVn0_zPNDVlE_k_YXVZqyLt8-J-Swwxw%3A1705984286331&ei=HkGvZcrzE8abptQPr5W16A8&ved=0ahUKEwjK-oPb1vKDAxXGjYkEHa9KDf0Q4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=%5B%22skate+fish%22+-%22ice+rink%22%5D&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGlsic2thdGUgZmlzaCIgLSJpY2UgcmluayJdSPWsAVCQE1j_pgFwAngBkAEAmAGdAqABrwSqAQUxLjAuMrgBA8gBAPgBAfgBAsICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAggQABiABBjLAcICCBAuGIAEGMsB4gMEGAAgQYgGAZAGCA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).

* **What would you query to see web pages about the Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 through the last day of 2002?**
- I would type [Northeastern Huskies] into the Google Search bar, go to "Tools," set "custom date range" to (1/1/2001 - 12/31/2002), and get results like [this](https://www.google.com/search?q=%5BNortheastern+Huskies%5D&client=safari&sca_esv=600640614&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2001%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F2002&sxsrf=ACQVn0-wbUDVee4fqK10aAhPpSa24U59jw%3A1705984591469&ei=T0KvZYykHMag5NoP6teN6A8&ved=0ahUKEwjMh8Ts1_KDAxVGEFkFHeprA_0Q4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=%5BNortheastern+Huskies%5D&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFltOb3J0aGVhc3Rlcm4gSHVza2llc10yCBAuGMsBGIAEMggQABiABBjLATIIEAAYgAQYywEyCBAuGIAEGMsBMggQABiABBjLATIIEAAYgAQYywEyCBAuGIAEGMsBMggQABiABBjLATIIEAAYgAQYywEyCBAAGIAEGMsBMhcQLhjLARiABBiXBRjcBBjeBBjgBNgBAkjFE1DKBljDEXABeACQAQCYAYwBoAG1AqoBAzMuMbgBA8gBAPgBAcICCxAAGIAEGMsBGLADwgINEC4YgAQYigUYQxiwA8ICDRAAGIAEGIoFGEMYsAPCAhMQLhiABBiKBRhDGMgDGLAD2AEBwgIUEC4YywEY1AIYgAQYyAMYsAPYAQHCAhYQLhiABBiKBRhDGNQCGMgDGLAD2AEBwgIREC4YgAQYywEYyAMYsAPYAQHCAhQQLhiABBjLARjUAhjIAxiwA9gBAcICChAjGIAEGIoFGCfCAgsQLhjLARjUAhiABMICGhAuGMsBGNQCGIAEGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEC4gMEGAAgQYgGAZAGFLoGBggBEAEYCLoGBggCEAEYFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).

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

### Web Credibility

* **Find a web page of questionable credibility and apply some of the criteria discussed by Valenza and Berkley Library.**
- I found [The Climate Bonus- co-benefits of climate policy](http://www.theclimatebonus.org) as my page with questionable credibility. This article presents detailed information on the benefits of reducing our carbon footprint, protecting and cleaning our natural resources, and popularizing climate-friendly policies. However, it does not have the key factors (authors, references, or date of publication) needed to answer UC Berkeley's questions on evaluation sources based on: *authority, purpose, relevance, date of publication, documentation, publication, and format.*

### 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?**
- Both claims follow Wikipedia's policy on “Verifiability.” Claim “a” has a direct reference linked to it that is found at the bottom of the page. This source takes you to a [link](https://www.w3.org/People/Reagle/) on the W3C website and to a specific page on Prof. Reagle when he was an employee. Claim “b” also has a direct [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Faith_Collaboration) that takes you to the book’s Wikipedia page and demonstrates that Prof. Reagle wrote the book and tells readers what it’s about.
- As for any changes, I suggest updating the Wikipedia page to include some of Prof. Reagle’s most recent work.

* **According to its history, when was this page first created (i.e., the oldest version)?**
- August 1, 2011