10-6-04
Perfection:
The web works because it is broken
given that we have to judge information for ourselves how do
we do so:
- we look at a number of sources
- if the site is sponsored by the government
- official sites may be self-interested: look for
popular opinion as well
- evaluate anecdotal information differently from
official information
what kinds of web sites are there:
- search engines
- educational institutions
- countries
- fan clubs
- menus
- scientific research
- organizations selling their services
- government sites to educate the public about
what
they are doing
- media sites providing information online
- personal home pages
- weblogs
- self-help links
- news articles (and editorial opinion)
- reference sites eg. encyclopedias, wikepeida
- news article search sites Google
news
- sites that are just ads
- sites written by people with very biassed
opinions
- parody sites eg. The
Onion
- projects done by elementary and high school
students
- discussion boards
- web sites for real world clubs
- enthusiasts' web pages
- special interest organizations
- professional organizations providing vetted
information
- selling prescription drugs illegally
- promoting alternatives to mainstream medicine
- people sharing information they have collected
about an issue they face
- should any topics be suppressed? can they be?
there are factual sites
there are narrative sites
both can be useful but you have to use the information
differently