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How to Evaluate Online
Information
Sonja Fuchs, Web Technology Specialist
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What is CRAAP
Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
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Why CRAAP?
Information overload
• Financial fraud
• Identify theft
• PR nightmare
• Tarnished reputation
• “I saw it online” doesn’t mean green light
Image by Mark Smiciklas on Flickr
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When CRAAP?
Consider context
“My son wants to know where sugarbeets grow”
vs.
“What is the financial impact of the sugarbeet industry in the northern
valley?”
Image: Colin Kinner on Flickr
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Currency
The timeliness of the information
When was it posted OR
updated or revised?
If it’s not possible to tell
how up to date a site is,
check it out on the
the Internet Archive
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Then & Now2000 2005
20092014
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Relevance
The information is what you were looking for
• Who is the intended
audience?
• Is the information at an
appropriate level (i.e. not
too elementary or
advanced)
• Have you looked at a
variety of sources before
determining this is one you
will use?
• Would you be comfortable
citing this source?
CC-BY-SA-3.0 /Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia
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Authority
The source of the information
• Who is the
author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• What are the author's credentials or
organizational affiliations?
• Is the author qualified to write on the
topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a
publisher or email address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about
the author or source? (.com .edu .gov
.org, etc)
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Accuracy
The reliability, truthfulness and correctness
of the content• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another
source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?
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Purpose
The reason the information exists• What is the purpose of the
information? Is it to inform, teach, sell,
entertain or persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their
intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact, opinion or
propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear
objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural,
religious, institutional or personal
biases?
Questions to ask:
Do they have a tagline?
Is there a mission statement?
What kind of advertisers do they have?
Do they list any affiliations, sponsors,
partners, etc.?
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Whois.com
Tells you who really is behind a website
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Emails
Blogpost about online job scam
• Urgency
• No contact information
• Site has been removed
• Copyright was outdated on Web
site
• Google search showed FJW is a
scam
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Who’s “the Who” or the @ in
the Email?
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Pay attention to URLs
Beware of phishing/spoof emails
Photo by Matt Haughey on Flickr
Online transactions https://
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Is this email legit?
• Snopes.com
• LazyTruth.com
Image by: geralt on Pixaby
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Report spam
Gmail
Outlook
Yahoo
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Social Media Checkmarks = verified accounts
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For More Info.
• Smell test
• Is that so? Assessing the reliability of online information (eXtension webinar)
• How to Lose Your Gut
• CRAAP test print out
• How to check out any Web page
• 2:00 video on the CRAAP test
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Questions? Need Help?
Web Technology Specialists
Sonja Fuchs (701) 231-6403
Bob Bertsch (701) 231-7381