# Web search and Evaluation

###### Response to Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world written by Joyce Valence and Evaluating Resources guidelines from the University of California Berkeley Library.

In an era of 24/7 news, news literacy is complicated. We can celebrate the journalistic freedom to publish without interference from the state. But it has always been up to the reader or viewer to make the reliability and credibility decisions. It is up to us to negotiate the truth. Joyce Valence's "Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a "post-truth" "world" discusses this in detail, providing examples of what fake news is, why it is being shown, and what methods we can use to figure out if something is fake news or not. The library at the University of California—Berkeley offers a resource evaluation checklist with a variety of things to take into account when reading information.

What is "fake news"? What about it are we trying to avoid? Fake news is not new, but with the increasing spread of technology and electronic media, fake news has the ability to travel faster, further, and wider than ever before. Fake news is a type of misinformation or disinformation that can come in the form of articles, videos, websites, podcasts, and other digital formats. Both Google and Facebook declared their intentions to eliminate known fake news sources from using their ad networks in order to eradicate fake news from their respective websites.

With so many forms of media being presented to us and websites struggling to filter the fake from the real, how are we, as media consumers, to find out which is real and which is fake? Joyce Valence mentions several methods to go about this process of discernment, such as 'suspecting the sensational', 'checking the "about me" page', and 'triangulating sources' (Valenza, 2016) . In other words, we must think critically about the information being presented to us and check its reliability ourselves.

Fake news comes in a variety of forms. These include the following: Purely fake news websites create stories that are highly intriguing in order to draw viewers, encourage clicks (click bait), influence, or profit. False information is also shared on hoax websites with the intent to deceive readers and viewers. Satirical websites give news a humorous, frequently exaggerated spin. Digitally created and edited images alter and frequently represent visual reality incorrectly (Valenza, 2016).

The checklist created at the University of California, Berkeley, is summarized as follows:

- Authority: Who is the author? What is their point of view?
- Purpose: Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience?
- Publication & format: Where was it published? in what medium?
- Relevance: How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope?
- Date of publication: When was it written? Has it been updated?
- Documentation: Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite?

###### (Library Guides: Evaluating Resources: Home, 2022) 

Of course, this sort of fact checking can't be done for every source of media or news we see, nor should it be our responsibility to go out of our way to do so. So how can we find a solution? Will tools be created to help us verify the accuracy of news sources? Will governments become more involved in media regulation? The future of false news is uncertain, but in the mean time, we must rely on ourselves to do the research and remain skeptical of any news we encounter online, especially when it impacts large decisions

### Google search refining task

site:wikipedia.org "Northeastern University" results

"ice rink" skate fish skate OR rink results

Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 to the last day of 2002 results

### Web credibility task
The [questionable article](https://www.theonion.com/2024-election-to-be-decided-by-whoever-can-keep-hand-on-1849899742) contains false and mainly satirical information about the 2024 USA presidential election. Using some of the criteria from Valenza and Berkley Library the reader can find that the article is indeed false.
- Where: The article is posted on the website called The Onion which is a website created to post satirical news articles.
- Citations: No citations were used as it is an entirely falsified article
- Who: The article was written to troll and make fun of the state of American politics and the way the news is reported

### Wikipedia Evaluation

The Wikipedia page dedicated to Joseph M. Reagle seems to have been created on the first of August 2011.

The claims that the [Joseph M. Reagle Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Reagle&oldid=620740325) article relate positively to the policy of Wikipedia:Verifiability. Meaning that the claims are linked appropriately and have a fairly neutral point of view by just stating the facts. The edits were also made by seemingly reliable sources and do not seem to be false claims made by Reagle himself. As well as this. the claims made have lasted several reviews and revisions over the years.

An edit that is suggested is to perhaps explain Reagle’s role in the World Wide Web Consortium and detail his book more. As well as this, perhaps removing the Templace:PersonData as it does not seem to be a functioning link.