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Module 12: Evaluation of Information
Objectives :
- Identify criteria for evaluating information
- Give examples of how criteria is applied
- Provide links to tutorials and documents on evaluating information
Criteria for
evaluation of information include authority, currency, accuracy, and content.
Authority and Objectivity: Who is responsible for the information?
Are they an authority? Do they have a particular point of view? How might
that affect what they choose to include and what facts they choose to
present.
Example :
Topic: Sprawl
Competitive Enterprise Institute: Fact
And Fiction On "Smart Growth" & "Urban Sprawl"
http://www.cei.org/gencon/003,02657.cfm
Sierra Club: 2000 Sprawl Report http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report00/intro.asp
Although the title of the first document provides some clues as to
the viewpoint, knowing something about the organizations mounting the
documents provides necessary context. Read on!
Who is the Competitive Enterprise Institute?
The "About CEI" icon takes you to this description of the
Institute: The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit public
policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and
limited government. We believe that consumers are best helped not by
government regulation but by being allowed to make their own choices
in a free marketplace.
Who is the Sierra Club?
The "Inside Sierra Club" icon on the Sierra Club homepage
takes you to this description of the organization: The Sierra Club has
over 600,000 members. Our mission statement:
- Explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth
- Practice and promote the responsible
use of the earth's ecosystems and
resources
- Educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality
of the natural and human environment
- Use all lawful means to carry out these objectives
Bias/Point of View?
Both of the sprawl sites above are mounted by organizations and have
the ".org" in the web address. Each has a completely different
view of sprawl/development. Each has a bias. Interestingly, both have
a jaundiced view of government involvement!
As Tina Kelley in "How to Separate Good Data from Bad" [The New York Times,
4 March 1999, G9] says “some people who are running sites are trying to
confuse you: www.amnesty-tunisia.org and www.amnesty.org/tunisia, [now defunct sites] for instance, carried opposing messages. Don’t forget that hackers can
sometimes commandeer legitimate sites. It is also true that anybody with
a little bit of money can get a .com, .org or .net site, so the suffix
is in no way definitive.”
No Name??
Although you will almost never run into this problem with printed published
information, it can be a problem with some internet sites. If you find
a document and you are unable to determine who mounted it or what their
affiliation is, this is a red flag. Be very cautious of the information
you find on such pages.
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Currency: how current is the information? [Especially important where
recent developments may make older information inaccurate or incomplete.]
Example :
Building Code Library
How the site presents itself
US Architects Index, at www.usarchitects.com [now defunct], promoted itself as "the future in finding architects with web sites".
Clues to when updated
- At the bottom it states
"Copyright© 1995-2002 DataCAD Sales.com -- so it looks like there have been no updates (see screen capture)
- The page information substantiates that no updates have been made since August 9, 2002. [Using a Netscape browser click on View > Page Info in the toolbar or see screen capture]
- A search for a category of architects results in pages with a copyright 1995-1997. (see screen capture)
Thinking it through
Architects add and change websites frequently. This site could lead to no longer functioning sites, and even worse, omit more recently created sites.
Other examples of where currency of the information is important
Currency could be an issue with a search for
regulatory material, products, names and addresses – anything that changes
or might change and need updating with regularity.
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Accuracy: Is the content accurate?
Clues include
- who put up the site
- how current it is
- whether documentation [where the information came from] is included
Bottom Line
Be aware that even a reputable site can put up recent but inaccurate
information. [embarrassing example follows!]
Example:
The UNLV Architecture Studies Library [a reputable source] mounted a
list of Vegas hotel-casinos. When viewed Feb. 22, 2001, "Updated
1/03/2001" was noted at the bottom of the file [seemingly current].
However, as of 2/22/01, the list still showed ALADDIN 2000* ESTIMATED
OPENING AUG. 17. It also showed a 1966 addition to Caesar’s Palace with
the same number of rooms and the same cost as the original building
(also 1966). This is inaccurate, combining information from the entry
for the 1966 original with the information from the entry for the 1996
addition. [Sometimes common sense and an alert eye is enough to save
you from swallowing inaccurate information!!!] No sources of information
are noted on the site.
Documentation
Lack of documentation means you will have to verify the accuracy or
inaccuracy of the information based on your own research.
Documentation provides clues on the currency of the information (e.g.
it may include a citation for an article published in 2001).
Documentation gives you more confidence in the information, although
that is not always justified since a poor source of information can
be documented just as easily as a good source [would you trust the information
in another student’s paper even if it had a bibliography of sources??].
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Content Substance: Is the content substantial?
Factors to consider
- how much information you need!
- what type of information do you need (e.g. text? graphics?)
- might other sources be more extensive?
In most cases your best approach is not to stop with the first source
or site you find on a topic, but to continue to browse and research
until you have a sense of the variety and extent of information available.
Example : Christian de Portzamparc, an increasingly well-known
French architect
Sketchy site
Portzamparc: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9357/archiworld/christian_de_portzamparc.html
(No longer exists! Found October 2001 - Gone April
2002. This illustrates another problem with using less-than-substantial
web pages!)
The above link at one time consisted of one
screen noting his birth, his education, selected prizes (4) and selected
projects (6, no links). There was no date given for when it was mounted
on the web. There was no indication of who mounted it on the web. There
was no way to judge whether the information was accurate, but it was certainly
not very substantial.
His Firm’s site
Portzamparc’s firm Atelier Christian de
Portzamparc: http://www.chdeportzamparc.com/
Here there are links to a biography, to projects
(54 with brief project information, seven of those with links to graphics),
and to contact information. There is no "last updated" info
on the page, but the View/Page- info screen says it was updated March
2000, almost a year ago. So the information should be accurate unless
there have been changes (such as who belongs to the firm and how to contact
them) in the last year. Although this is not as substantial as would be
necessary for a paper on the architect (and in addition it is in French),
it is substantially better than the first site.
Most substantial
The library has several books devoted to Portzamparc, including Christian
de Portzamparc edited and photographed by Yukio Futagawa (published
in 1995, 159 pages) and Christian de Portzamparc edited by Michel
Jacques (published in 1996, 167 pages).
ALL SOURCES OF INFORMATION ARE NOT EQUAL; THIS IS ESPECIALLY OBVIOUS
WHEN IT COMES TO SUBSTANCE!
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Quiz
- Which of these sources is most likely to present an unbiased assessment
of the UNLV School of Architecture graduate program?
- National Architecture Accrediting Board
- UNLV School of Architecture
- Former graduate students
- Which of these sources is most likely to present a comprehensive description
of the UNLV School of Architecture graduate program?
- National Architecture Accrediting Board
- UNLV School of Architecture
- Former graduate students
- Which of these sources is most likely to present an insight into the
studio culture at the UNLV School of Architecture graduate program?
- National Architecture Accrediting Board
- UNLV School of Architecture
- Former graduate students
Quiz answers (in order) as easy as A, B, C
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Links to tutorials and documents on evaluating information
Evaluation of architecture periodicals:
Blake, Peter. 1996. "When More is Less & Less Is More."
Provocations: An Online Journal of Architecture and Ideas. [Online].
Available: http://www.design-site.net/blakemag.htm
Evaluation of information sources, a
list of web pages by Alastair Smith: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm
Evaluation of print sources: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/skill26.htm
Evaluating websites: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/rguides/studentinstruction/evaluation/evaluatingwebsites.html
Evaluation of Internet Resources (University
Libraries, University at Albany): http://169.226.11.130/divs/usered/webeval/
Questions?
Ask the Architecture Studies Librarian online http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/archquestions.html
or any of the staff in the Architecture Studies Library. The general phone
number for the library is 702-895-1959.
If you have comments about the usefulness of this module and/or
how it can be improved, please contact Caroline Smith, Architecture Studies
Librarian, at caroline.smith@unlv.edu.
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