- Citing internet resources: the Library of Congress guide for citing internet documents. (and dealing with copyrights problems: the Library of Congress Copyright and Fair use page.)
- Analyzing Web Sites, 3 important issues:
- How to identify a Web Site ?
- How to understand the structures and the communicative languages of a web site ? How to evaluate contents ? (See also, Evaluating Web pages at the Cornell University Library (USA), [http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/webcrit.html]), used below: Accuracy. - Authority - Objectivity - Currency - Coverage.
- The importance of the "context" (Ex. Circulation of violent pictures and Images in the Web)
Evaluation of Web documents |
How to interpret the basics |
1. Accuracy of Web Documents
- Who wrote the page and can you contact him or her?
- What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?
- Is this person qualified to write this document?
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Accuracy
- Make sure author provides e-mail or a contact address/phone number.
- Know the distinction between author and Webmaster.
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2. Authority of Web Documents
- Who published the document and is it separate from the "Webmaster?"
- Check the domain of the document, what institution publishes this document?
- Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?
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Authority
- What credentials are listed for the authors)?
- Where is the document published? Check URL domain.
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3. Objectivity of Web Documents
- What goals/objectives does this page meet?
- How detailed is the information?
- What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?
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Objectivity
- Determine if page is a mask for advertising; if so information might be biased.
- View any Web page as you would an infommercial on television. Ask yourself why was this written and for whom?
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4. Currency of Web Documents
- When was it produced?
- When was it updated'
- How up-to-date are the links (if any)?
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Currency
- How many dead links are on the page?
- Are the links current or updated regularly?
- Is the information on the page outdated?
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5. Coverage of the Web Documents
- Are the links (if any) evaluated and do they complement the documents' theme?
- Is it all images or a balance of text and images?
- Is the information presented cited correctly?
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Coverage
- If page requires special software to view the information, how much are you missing if you don't have the software?
- Is it free or is there a fee, to obtain the information?
- Is there an option for text only, or frames, or a suggested browser for better viewing?
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Putting it all together
- Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and provides a way of contacting him/her and . . .
- Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and, . .
- Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information, and . . .
- Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . .
- Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement, then . . .
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Useful web sites and bibliographic titles:
Roy Rosenzweig: Scarcity or Abundance? Preserving the Past in a Digital Era, American Historical Review, vol.108, n.3, June 2003.
Jack Censer and Lynn Hunt: Imaging the French Revolution: Depictions of the French Revolutionary Crowd (and about this experiment in the American Historical review).
WWW-VL History Network at the EUI, url [http://vlib.iue.it/], Best of the WWW VL Italian History Index; url [http://vlib.iue.it/hist-italy/best.html] and European History Primary Sources - EHPS
Daniel J. Cohen, Michael Frisch, Patrick Gallagher, Steven Mintz, Kirsten Sword, Amy Murrell Taylor, William G. Thomas III, and William J. Turkel: Interchange: The Promise of Digital History, in The Journal of American History, 2, 2008, pp.452-491.
Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig: Digital history : a guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the Web., Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Press; Bristol : University Presses Marketing [distributor], 2005, fully accessible at http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
EUI Library 2 copies: DEW: 900.2854
F.Metitieri e R.Ridi: Biblioteche in rete: istruzioni per l'uso., Bari Laterza, 2003
Marco Calvo, Fabio Ciotti, Gino Roncaglia e Marco Zela: Internet 2004., Bari, Laterza, 2003
Edward Ayers e Anne S. Rubin: The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War., New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 2000,
url: [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/vshadow2/choosepart.html] See also the more recent update to the project: W.G.Thomas e E.A.Ayers: "An Overview: The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities." in American Historical Review, a.108, n.5, dicembre 2003, pp.1299-1308, <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/108.5/thomas.html>
Robert Darnton: "An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris", in American Historical Review, n.1, Febbraio 2000, url: [http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/index.html].
-- "A Historian of Books, Lost and Found in Cyberspace" in the American Historical Association Web site, [http://www.theaha.org/prizes/gutenberg/rdarnton.cfm],
-- "The New Age of the Book", in New York Review of Books, March 18, 1999, url: [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/546]. (Traduzione Italiana nella La Rivista dei Libri, n.6, giugno 1999.);
--"Can an 18th-century book peddler bring academic publishing to the Web?", in LinguaFranca, the Review of Academic life Online, 10/5 - July/August 2000,
url: [http://www.linguafranca.com/0007/inside-webcast.html]
-- An Early Information Society.A Cabaret-Concert by Hélène Delavault. Twelve Songs from Paris, circa 1750.; url: [http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/songs/].
Peppino Ortoleva: "La rete e la catena. Mestiere di storico al tempo di internet", in S.Noiret, a cura di, Linguaggi e siti: la storia on-line, in Memoria e ricerca, n.s., 3, gennaio-giugno 1999, pp.31-39.
Serge Noiret: "Storia e Internet: la ricerca storica all’alba del terzo millennio", in a cura dello stesso Linguaggi e siti: la storia on-line, in Memoria e Ricerca, n.s., 3/1999, pp.7-20
--Immagini in rete di un’esecuzione: Beit Hanina, Gerusalemme, 8 marzo 2002 in Memoria e Ricerca Online, URI: [http://www.fondazionecasadioriani.it/modules.php?name=MR&op=body&id=361]
-- "Visioni della brutalità nelle fotografie di rete", in Sauro Lusini (a cura di) La cultura fotografica in Italia oggi. A 20 anni dalla fondazione di AFT. Rivista di Storia e Fotografia., Prato, Archivio Fotografico Toscano-Comune di Prato, 2007, pp.88-106, [http://cadmus.eui.eu/dspace/handle/1814/6724]
-- Una lente italiana per accedere alla storia contemporanea in internet in Philippe Rygiel, (Université Paris I) and Serge Noiret, (Institut universitaire européen, Florence) (eds.): Les dossiers de Clio, Les historiens, leurs revues et Internet, journée d'études ENS, octobre 2003, in Clio, Site d'histoire sociale, ISSN 1630-7348, [http://barthes.ens.fr/clio/dos/int/noir.html], September 2003.
-- Philippe Rygiel et Serge Noiret (sous la dir.): Les historiens, leurs revues et Internet. (France, Espagne,Italie)., Paris, EPU, Editions Publibook Université, 2005. ( Résumé de l'éditeur: "L’avènement et le succès d’Internet ont révolutionné les pratiques universitaires depuis une dizaine d’années. Il était donc naturel que des historiens, chercheurs et documentalistes se posent la question de l’utilisation et de l’incidence de cet outil dans leurs travaux et publications.").
Introduction available online at: http://www.publibook.com/librairies/univ/images2/2347PREV.pdf
-- La "nuova storiografia digitale" negli Stati Uniti, (1999-2004). in Memoria e Ricerca Online, URI: [http://www.fondazionecasadioriani.it/modules.php?name=MR&op=body&id=339]