Website Evaluation

THE 5 W’S & 1 H OF CYBERSPACE

WHO” is the source of the information?

ANSWER:  Yes, someone has taken responsibility for the content of this site.  There is a “Contact Us” link on the left sidebar.  When you click on this link it takes you to information on how to contact the editor, Marc Abrahams plus many other international individuals associated with Improbable Research.  I did not find any in-depth information about the author of this site.  There is a physical address as well as telephone numbers listed for the editor.  The website states that “Mostly, Improbable Research is a vast, happy, open conspiracy of many volunteers (scientists, journalists, teachers, students, and all sorts of other people) in many countries”, but these individuals are not identified by name.  I was unable to verify the authority of the information.

WHAT are you getting?

ANSWER:  It is difficult to determine if the information is biased because information is supplied by many contributors.  I could not tell who provided some of the information.  Emotion plays a major role in this website.   The Heading states that “This is a website that makes you laugh and then think”.  This website contains a broad spectrum of offerings to a reader.  I did not find links to alternative viewpoints.  I did not feel that the information was well organized because there was an overwhelming amount of information on many varied subjects.   A copyright date could not be located.      

WHEN was the site created?

ANSWER:  There was a chat listed on the website that took place today, October 27, 2011.  It would appear that all of the links work on this website.  And there are many links to explore.  It would also appear that information on this site is constantly changing with each new “issue” of “Improbable Research”.

WHERE?

ANSWER:  When you deconstruct the URL, you find that this site is a .com, which means that it is a commercial organization.  A .com indicates that the site may or may not be credible.  The http tells us that this is a hypertext document and the next part, www, tells us that it resides on the “World Wide Web”.  The domain name of the person or organization hosting the website is improbable.

WHY are you here?

ANSWER:  This is a great website if you are looking for entertainment with a slight twist of possible research.  However, the article on cats did include a bibliography and a list of many contributors to the article along with their credentials.  I am not sure that the information can be verified, but if I was in need of research of how cats respond to bearded men, this article would definitely be a starting point.

HOW can you tell what’s what?

ANSWER:  I am a little skeptical about this site because one of the first words that you see on this site is “Subscribe”.  In my opinion this is a “tongue in cheek” site that mainly entertains.  If someone is seeking research, I think that they would be better off going to a database to find information.