Ivy Tech LIBR 202

Module 4 Worksheet
Page 1

NAME: Austin Thompson

Ivy Tech Community College

Library Technical Assistant Program
Electronic Resources and Online Searching

Module 4 Worksheet
Website Evaluation

This worksheet is worth 25 points.

It is due by Sunday evening of Module 4.

 For this worksheet, you will fill out the below three website evaluation forms from
Kent State University Libraries.
 You must evaluate the following for your three evaluations:
o a web site that has online journals that you can access and read
o a web site that has a capacity to allow sharing of something (pictures,
literature, poems, etc. - social media or a wiki would count)Done
o a web site on a specific topic of your choosing

Name: Austin Thompson

Course: Electronic Resources & Online
Instructor: Austin Stroud
Web Site Title: Reddit
Web URL: www.reddit.com
Date Visited: 04/14/2020
Brief description of the contents of the site:

Reddit is a huge social media site that has many “subreddits”, which are smaller divisions of Reddit
based in certain topics, such as movies, books, mildly interesting stuff, etc. Anybody can make a
subreddit. Users “upvote” (like) and “downvote”(dislike) posts, allowing posts to rise and fall. If a post
gets popular enough, it can get on the front page of “hot” on reddit.com/r/all, which is a
conglomeration of all subreddits. Users can also comment on posts, and other users can reply to their
posts, making a tree of comments. Users can also privately message and chat with one another, and
there are moderators for each subreddit.

Criteria and types of evidence How the Web site being Rating
evaluated met the criterion
 Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)
1. Authority with regard to topic— “Reddit was founded by Typi
who is responsible for the site?: University of Virginia cally
 Author of site roommates Steve Huffman here
(individual/institutional affiliation,
organization and Alexis Ohnian in 2005. ,
 Credentials, expertise, experience Condé Nast Publications unle
 Contact information (name, e- acquired the site in October ss
mail, postal address) 2006. In 2011, Reddit became the
 URL type suggest reputable an independent subsidiary of subr
affiliation (.edu=educational Condé Nast's parent company, eddi
institution; .org=non-profit Advance Publications.” (Carr, t is
organization; .com=commercial
enterprise; .net=Internet Service 2012). well
Provider; .gov=governmental Reddit does not have a -
body; .mil=military) particular contact, but one can mod
get help on their help page: erate
https://www.reddithelp.com/. d
Email seems to be the main and
way to contact anyone. One has
could probably contact a
Advance Publishing too. team
communications@advance.co of
m or mail to 1 WORLD rese
TRADE CENTER arch
NEW YORK, NY 10007. ers,
Reddit.com is commercial, so expe
it is not as reputable as .edu or rts,
.org. etc.
There may be experts on the
site, however, anyone can
claim themselves to be an
expert (mods could verify if
they are). But there’s no set
standard about the legitimacy
of posts.

2. Objectivity—is the purpose of
the site clear, including any
particular viewpoint?
 Statement of purpose/scope
 Intended audience
 Information presented as factual or
opinion, primary or secondary in
origin
 Criteria for inclusion of
information
 Disclosure of sponsorship or
underwriting
Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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“Reddit is home to thousands
of communities, endless
conversation, and authentic
human connection. Whether
you're into breaking news,
sports, TV fan theories, or a
never-ending stream of the
internet's cutest animals,
there's a community on Reddit
for you.”. (The Conversation).
This is a very broad statement.
Reddit is intended to be used
by anyone and everyone.
Information can be presented
in a factual or opinionated
way, depending on the
moderation, and it can be
primary or secondary. There
are typically a lot of anecdotes
provided by users. There are
content rules for the site as a
whole but there’s nothing
about factual information.
There’s also a lot of
astroturfing (appearance of
support of a message or
organization to make it appear
as if it’s being supported by a
grassroots movement) and
other manipulation of content,
again depending on
moderation of each subreddit.

Criteria and Types of Evidence
3. Accuracy—is the information
accurate?
 Facts documented or well-
researched
 Facts compare to related print or
other online sources
 Links provided to quality Web
resources

4. Currency—is the information
current?
 Evidence of current content
 Pages date-stamped with latest
update
5. Usability:—is the site well-
designed and stable?
 Site organization logical and easy
to maneuver
 Content readable by intended
audience
 Information presented is error-free
(spelling, punctuation)
 Readily identifiable link back to
the institutional or organizational
home page
 Site reliably accessible
 Pages loaded quickly
Sub-Total by rating of points
awarded for each of the five criteria
Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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Web Site Evidence Rating
1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)
Not really. It all depends on This
the user’s efforts and how
well moderated a subreddit is,
but in general, no. But there
are some quality resources at
times.
Information is absolutely Here
current. Updates are congruent
with Associated Press News.
Evidence of current content
may be iffy, but typically
other commenters may call
out wrong information.
The site is very organized. Here
The subreddit system does
wonders for organizing
content, and the comments are
easier to look through than a
forum. It is hard to search for
a specific thing using the site,
however. A good comment by
somebody may be hard to
find, even using “site:
reddit.com” on Google.
Information is sometimes
misspelled, but these are
user’s posts and comments.
The Reddit home is always in
the top left corner. Reddit is
reliably accessible and loaded
quickly unless the site is
overloaded.
10
Assessment of Web Site

Rating based on the total number of points:
5-9 points: poor
10-14 points: fair
15-19 points: good
20-25 points: excellent
Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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Your personal assessment—would you recommend
this site? Why or why not?
Yes, especially if you were starting out to research a
topic. If there is a subreddit on the topic, there are
probably interesting things that other people have
fair noticed about it. A person needs to research beyond
that, however.

Name: Austin Thompson

Course: Electronic Resources & Online
Instructor: Austin Stroud
Web Site Title: Sound On Sound
Web URL: http://www.soundonsound.com/
Date Visited: 04/17/2020
Brief description of the contents of the site:
This website contains articles, reviews, forums, techniques, of recording, electronic, and general music
technology and business.

Criteria and types of evidence How the Web site being Rating
evaluated met the criterion
1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)

1. Authority with regard to topic—
who is responsible for the site?:
 Author of site
(individual/institutional affiliation,
organization
 Credentials, expertise, experience
 Contact information (name, e-
mail, postal address)
 URL type suggest reputable
affiliation (.edu=educational
institution; .org=non-profit
organization; .com=commercial
enterprise; .net=Internet Service
Provider; .gov=governmental
body; .mil=military)
2. Objectivity—is the purpose of
the site clear, including any
particular viewpoint?
 Statement of purpose/scope
 Intended audience
 Information presented as factual or
opinion, primary or secondary in
origin
 Criteria for inclusion of
information
 Disclosure of sponsorship or
underwriting
Ivy Tech LIBR 202
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SOS Publications Group. Here
They were originally part of a
TV show in UK called The
Tube. They say this about
their expertise: “With
undoubtedly the most
experienced editorial team to
grace any music magazine's
staff list, our editorial
integrity and professional
reputation are highly-prized
and internationally respected
by both our readership and
advertisers alike.” (About
SOS). Their journalists are
experienced in the world of
music technology. Beyond
that, they also have many
interviews with the industry
leaders, interviewing people
from companies like
Focusrite, Line6, Linn Drums,
etc. Also interviewing
songwriters, composers, and
arrangers such as John
Carpenter, Brian Eno and
Glen Ballard. However, it is
a .com website, so it doesn’t
hold itself to academic
standards.
“Sound On Sound is recognized Here
internationally as the 'bible' of
the music recording industry
and a firm favorite of top
producers, engineers and
artists.” (About SOS). I read a
few reviews of various products
they review and it felt from a
primary view as if they were
testing it, and they read the
manuals as well. SOS shows
off their endorsements as well:
https://www.soundonsound.com
/people/happy-birthday-sound-
sound
A lot of the endorsement says
they are unbiased.

Criteria and Types of Evidence
3. Accuracy—is the information
accurate?
 Facts documented or well-
researched
 Facts compare to related print or
other online sources
 Links provided to quality Web
resources
 producer work, and it talked
4. Currency—is the information
current?
 Evidence of current content
 Pages date-stamped with latest
update
5. Usability:—is the site well-
designed and stable?
 Site organization logical and easy
to maneuver
 Content readable by intended
audience
 Information presented is error-free
(spelling, punctuation)
 Readily identifiable link back to
the institutional or organizational
home page
 Site reliably accessible
 Pages loaded quickly
Sub-Total by rating of points
awarded for each of the five criteria
Rating based on the total number of points:
5-9 points: poor
10-14 points: fair
15-19 points: good
20-25 points: excellent 20
Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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Web Site Evidence Rating
1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)
Yes, although information Here
might be more of an anecdote
of recording techniques at
times, the articles provides
resources for many ways of
getting the same result. There
was an article about remote
about many programs that
could do what was needed.
Articles are not time stamped Here
with the latest update. A lot of
Sound On Sound is older, but
the information tends to stay
relevant. Especially when
dealing with Sound Synthesis,
Digital Audio Workstations,
etc. There are current articles
as well.
The site is easy to traverse, Here
except for the forum. The
forum isn’t the most important
part of SOS though, it’s the
articles. One can easy look at
the tags of articles, click, and
find more articles about the
same subjects.
Assessment of Web Site
Your personal assessment—would you recommend
this site? Why or why not?
Yes, there are many resources available for an
upcoming music producer. The information would be
very valuable to a person like that.
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Name: Austin Thompson
Course: Electronic Resources & Online
Instructor: Austin Stroud
Web Site Title: JSTOR
Web URL: https://www.jstor.org
Date Visited: 04/19/2020

Brief description of the contents of the site:

JSTOR has a database Journals, primary sources, and books to search.

Criteria and types of evidence How the Web site being Rating
evaluated met the criterion
1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)
1. Authority with regard to topic—
who is responsible for the site?:
 Author of site
(individual/institutional affiliation,
organization
 Credentials, expertise, experience
 Contact information (name, e-
mail, postal address)
 URL type suggest reputable
affiliation (.edu=educational
institution; .org=non-profit
organization; .com=commercial
enterprise; .net=Internet Service
Provider; .gov=governmental
body; .mil=military)
2. Objectivity—is the purpose of
the site clear, including any
particular viewpoint?
 Statement of purpose/scope
 Intended audience
 Information presented as factual or
opinion, primary or secondary in
origin
 Criteria for inclusion of
information
 Disclosure of sponsorship or
underwriting
 Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
Page 9

Criteria and Types of Evidence Web Site Evidence Rating

1 2 3 4 5
(low) (high)
3. Accuracy—is the information
accurate?
 Facts documented or well-
researched
 Facts compare to related print or
other online sources
 Links provided to quality Web
resources

4. Currency—is the information
current?
 Evidence of current content
 Pages date-stamped with latest
update
5. Usability:—is the site well-
designed and stable?
 Site organization logical and easy
to maneuver
 Content readable by intended
audience
 Information presented is error-free
(spelling, punctuation)
 Readily identifiable link back to
the institutional or organizational
home page
 Site reliably accessible
 Pages loaded quickly
Sub-Total by rating of points
awarded for each of the five criteria

Assessment of Web Site

Rating based on the total number of points: Your personal assessment—would you recommend
this site? Why or why not?
5-9 points: poor
10-14 points: fair
15-19 points: good
20-25 points: excellent _____________

Kent State University

Libraries & Media Services, BFS, 10/99
 Ivy Tech LIBR 202
Module 4 Worksheet
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References

About SOS. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.soundonsound.com/about-sos

Carr, D. (2012, September 2). Left Alone by Its Owner, Reddit Soars. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/business/media/reddit-thrives-after-advance-
publications-let-it-sink-or-swim.html

The Conversation Starts Here. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.redditinc.com/