# Web Search and Evaluation

The freedom of press is a right protected for us in the United States’ Constitution. While a privilege, the freedom of press does not ensure that the press is neutral or factual. According to Joyce Valenza in her article “Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a ‘post-truth’ world”, it is up to the reader to discern the fact from fiction. This power and responsibility can also go hand in hand with how well versed one is with technology. How well you can use technology to filter through the mass amount of information out there on the internet is crucial. This skill cannot also be useful but is necessary for sifting through the news. To identify how reliable the news is, it is important to consider the author of the source, the purpose of its creation, where it was published, how relevant it is, when it was published, and what sources were used to help the author get to their point.


## Google Search
When refining my Google search, I looked at how many pages on the English Wikipedia site contained the exact phrase "Northeastern University". This brought up about 11,200 results. To find this I would have to put Northeastern University in quotes then write "site:wikiepdia.org" to bring up all the selections that would have the phrase "Northeastern University" on Wikipedia webpages.


When looking at webpages about skate fish without the phrase "ice rink", you would search skate fish and -"ice rink" to ensure that we get the results that we want.


When looking for webpages about the Northeastern Huskies from the first day of 2001 to the last day of 2002, you would type "northeastern huskies" into the search bar and then set a custom date range as seen below.


To find the phrase "penguin pair" with the Creative Commons license, you would use the Google advance image search tool. The top image that fits those qualifications is seen below.


## Web Credibility

A web page of questionable credibility is Wikipedia. A great deal of this web page can be edited by someone with an account. This means that essentially anyone can add to it without any expertise required. While this gives the opportunity for some individuals with expertise to add, it also means that those without it can edit it as well. According to the Berkeley Library, you should look into who the author is. This is why Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Additionally, Valenza talks about going back to the source when checking a web page's credibility. On Wikipedia, it is necessary to check the citations and make sure the claims are backed by actual studies or publications.

## Wikipedia Evaluation

The claims that Joseph Reagle worked at the World Wide Consortium and that his book was "best selling" are found on this version of [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Reagle&oldid=620740325) Wikipedia page. According to a [Wikipedia page on verifiability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability), all the material that is seen in Wikipedia articles should be cited and attributed to published sources. The claims about Joseph Reagle on his Wikipedia page are not cited thus the claims are not supported by published work. Any changes to this page should be the addition of a citation that is not linked to a blog whose author is the subject of the web page. This could be inaccurate information and there would be no way to tell without another credible source confirming it.

Looking at the Wikipedia history page of this same web page, it says that it was created on August 1st, 2011. This was the oldest version that was reported.

The video below talks about how to use Wikipedia wisely. While Wikipedia is technically considered an uncredible source, there can be useful information in it. According to both of the articles referenced before, the excess of news means that it is up to the reader to decipher what is true and what is fake. Using the mindset explained in the video demonstrates the mindset that one should have when looking at an article to determine if it is credible.

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