What Do You Think: Example #6

Example #6: How did you gauge the credibility of a site? What criteria did you use in assessment of the website? What more would you need to know about a site to render an informed decision? What makes a history website valuable for your research and teaching?

Comments

[Amber Kelps]

Hello everyone...looking forward to using this site!

[DrSMHoorgr]

Look at this!
[url=http://shmoorge.tripod.com/medifast]Medifast. [/url]Medifast.

[Chuck]

This site breathed of credibility from the get go because it provided primary sources and links to more such resources in addition to a bibliography. When I see a site with a bibliography I stop to look at it to view the sources, because that is a great indicator of credibility for me. If the site misses the classic or standard works in a field, then I skip the site.

[dwarb]

The site was broken down well and had an easy format. The author copywrited the material, perhaps lending some credibility.

[jeremy]

Navigations was simple enough, but it looked like a children's book adapted for the internet. Information was adequate and abbundant, but I still was turned off from the design.

[Bryan Back]

The site was detailed and involved, however, I personally no nothing about the author or even if it is his\her official or unendorsed website.

[mlg]

seemed good. may be fooled by the fact that has been copywrited by author, but is there no info about the author? has many links with specifics which also seems good.

[David Tiley]

Horrible sinking feeling. The site reminded me of the schoolbooks of my Sixties childhood. The colours are dreadful and the graphic is jejune.

Fair enough that the site is defended for its content. I am happy to accept simple and unexceptional neutrality with effective navigation. I am not looking for overt appeals to emotion.

But when I am actively repelled by a set of associations that depress me, I have a hard time being objective.

Credible? Yes because it is about a trial, which is a whole lot of objective information. Adult and well argued - my prejudices say no.

Let's have a rule. Whatever we do, the site should honour the user.

[Debra Hutton]

This site is not attractive, I admit, but I've actually used. I guess that means I had an unfair advantage on evaluating it.

[Carolyn Leck]

Example #6 "Famous American Trials" was very thought provoking. The use of color grabs your attention and the many tabs provide easy assess to the many info links.

[Steven Clark]

The support evidence swayed me to give this site high marks. I assumed that the tabs had useful information because of the detailed organization.

[John Seal]

this site along with the other site on African American History are two that can definitely be used in the class to teach Pre-Civil War slavery issues they seem to provide good insight that students could relate to.John Seal

[JP]

", form (from) one of the most significant stories of the nineteenth century." Definitely biased.
It seems to have a lot of primary resources! Yeah!
I like the color usage and layout.

[Brian Ogilvie]

This site looks ugly. But so did Socrates. It links to extensive primary sources *first* (upper left), before turning to interpretation. It has a bibliography. I would like to see more about the author(s) on the front page (though perhaps Linder's name is linked to a biography or CV). I thought it was likely to be fairly reliable. But again, these first impressions can be grossly misleading.

As a general comment: I like site designs that show a modicum of esthetic sense. But I tend to be wary of sites that look too slick; they imply a company that has a lot of money to advertise, not a scholarly organization whose main aim is to inform. Not to mention that there are still plenty of people who use modems to connect to the Internet; no sense in alienating them with lots of large pictures and complicated layout. And don't get me started on sites that download and play music without asking me first, or Flash unless it is absolutely necessary....

[Bill Wolff]

At a quick glance this site seemed credible to me as I saw a bib listed and all the other various links.

[Debbie Shaffer]

I noticed a lot of links on this site, but I'm just not sure how credible it is. It is one that I probably would not chose to study due to the first page. I wasn't impressed with the layout or colors chosen for this site.

[Mike McEwan]

Has alot of information on the page including a bib tab, but it is ugly.

[Mary C.]

This was nicely put together, but there was something very basic about it like a high school web-page student could have put it together for an assignment. Nothing really professional or stand-outish. The picture made it look reliable though, and most of the links to the left looked like they were official type quotes and information.

[Greg Traxson]

I see this site similar to #5. It appears a personal page yet shows lots of planning and work. Not confident on the research, I would take a look to be objective.

[M. Ballard]

I liked this site and would probably spend some time looking at it. Because the subject matter is of interest to me. Colors are a little strange, but would not deter me. Also the design needs to be less busy.

[Jonathan Dresner]

My comments are general: I'm trying to stick to the 10-second rule so I'm not going to make a lot of specific comments about each site. What I look for first, and it wasn't immediately obvious on these sites, has nothing to do with design or layout or dignity but with creator. I'm looking for evidence that the site's author/compiler, etc, knows what they're doing. Yeah, technically, it's argument by appeal to authority, but it's the best shorthand I can think of and it's what I tell my students to look for first.

[Liz]

At first glance this site looks credible it looks full of information. And it is freindly to the eyes. But how do I know that the informations presented is accurate. I didn't see any signs to lead me to believe that it was or was not. So it was hard to tell if this site was credible.

[Jeremy Neville]

I believe that this site looks fairly credible because it has a lot of links to other places to find more information.

[Brady]

This site looks like it has the potential to be credible and very helpful, but I do not know the author and that raises skepticism in me. Again, it looks very helpful but I would rather see an organization connected to the site.

[Danielle]

This sites design was all wrong. The colors the frames everything about the site looked bad. Which takes away from the credibility of the site. The content and information that was on the site may be very accurate but lack of visual appeal may distract a lot of potential viewers.