6 Analyzing Web Content
Unlike a traditional newspaper or magazine which has editors to ensure the quality of writing for the publication, many websites and blogs are written without the benefit of having another person edit the author’s text. This may not be an issue for some sites; however, be aware that if someone wants to create a web site and claim that the earth is flat (rather than round), there is no approval system for what is written on the web – people can write whatever they like (true or not).
Value
Value is a subjective criteria. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the web is not a homogenous collection of websites, the quality and writing of websites on the web ranges from outstanding to poor, and everything in between. Be prepared to be a bit skeptical, and critically assess whether the website you are looking at is providing value to the reader. If not, there are likely many others to choose from.
Accuracy
As mentioned previously, there is no central authority on the WWW (world wide web) that checks web content for accuracy and truthfulness, website authors are free to write absolutely anything. To judge the accuracy of a site, it is often a good idea to consult multiple web sites to see if there is a consensus on the Issue.
Bias
Web sites can have a bias, which may or may not be obvious. Rather than being written to promote thoughtful discussion on a subject, there are websites that are designed to promote a single point of view, whether that be political, related to the latest weight-loss diet, etc. Often these sites will look accurate (in that the information is partially correct), but they are one-sided, and fail to provide all relevant information or take opposing points of view into consideration. Again, be prepared to consult multiple sites to gain a more complete understanding of the issues involved.
Potential Malware
There are websites that are designed to infect your computer with “malware” (a type of software designed to damage or control a computer, or steal information from the computer). One example of how this might work is a news item that appears designed to encourage you to click for more details, for example “Caught on video – you won’t believe what this student did, and what the teacher did afterwards”. So you are a little curious, you click on the link, and receive a message that your computer needs to install software so you can view this video. If you click on the link to install the software, you will either get a video player+malware, or just straight malware – in either case this is not good. If your computer has antivirus / anti-malware installed, hopefully you will get a warning before you install the malware. Malware is a large topic which was examined earlier, but be aware a small percentage of websites on the web are specifically designed to infect other computers.