The CHANGE Agent

Do you remember life before the Web? Was that life full of adventure and discovery? (Hopefully so, on both counts.) Just over a decade ago (1989), the World Wide Web was hatched, primarily as a means for physicists to share the working drafts of their research papers with each other. For the first few years of its existence, this online world was inhabited mostly by scientific and academic spirits. By 1993-94, "early adapters" were beginning to tiptoe into the uncharted, slowly expanding waters of this electronic ocean. Since 1996, though, the growth of and interest in the Web have exploded beyond all early predictions (at least in the US), with those distinctive Web addresses (officially known as "Universal Resource Locators" or URLs) appearing seemingly everywhere: in ads, in movie trailers, in TV news programs, in printed publications of all sorts, and even on clothing. For news and information, for entertainment and, yes, for shopping, the Web has become the irresistible force of communications media.

TRUST ME
Quick quiz: Who said, "The power of the press belongs to those who own one?" Answer: Citizen Kane. Er, no, that was the movie. The real source was William Randolph Hearst, early-20th century newspaper baron based in California.

One of the great virtues and appeals of the Web is that it is a technology which offers a comparatively easy method for publishing. As you might guess, this wondrous element is both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, a person no longer needs access to a printing press, a publishing house, or even a photocopy machine: just find a computer with the necessary software installed and a willing Web hosting service, and you, too, can put your deathless prose (poems, pictures) before the world. The chance to have one's voice heard is no longer restricted primarily to those with considerable wealth and the "right" social/political connections.

On the not-so-positive side, well, anyone can publish pretty much anything they like, free of any oversight or generally accepted publishing guidelines such as those found in the paper-based publishing world. The result is that a lot of material found on the Web is of rather dubious authenticity and reliability. Since the Web has no universal controlling authority overseeing its content, we need to learn to apply the evaluation and selection criteria ourselves.

BUY ME
A large part of the Web's phenomenal expansion over the last three-to-four years is due to its discovery by the commercial powers that be, who collectively view the Web as the new storefront, the new mall, the new place where they're going to hook your attention and sell you something. Because the Web, as a mass medium, is still young (beyond infancy but not quite fully mature), commercial entities are scrambling to figure out just how to make the whole electronic marketplace work successfully.

One part of this ongoing commercial experiment is a mad quest for information about the online habits of Web users. Television has the Nielsen ratings, radio has the Arbitron rankings and the Web has . . . cookies. So, what's a cookie? Basically, it's a tiny bit of computer code that's deposited (like "crumbs") on your computer when you visit a particular Web site. Each time you click on a different part of such a site, a different cookie is sent. Not all sites utilize cookies, but unless you've changed your Web browser preferences either to refuse cookies or to let you know when a cookie is being sent to you, you'll never know that this action is occurring: it happens totally behind the scenes.

How does it work? The next time you visit that particular site, the Web site's server (just another computer) will detect the cookies it has left on your machine. The accumulated cookies tell that Web site, "Ah, this person has been here before and visited such and such pages. Based on the pattern of cookies, he or she appears to have an interest in [some product or topic].

Maybe I'll automatically pop up a little window with a special offer for [said product]. Maybe I'll send them e-mail with some can't-refuse enticements. Maybe . . ." Your suspicions are correct: someone is watching you. The surveillance seems mostly benign, at this point, but who ever knows what will happen with all that data being collected, analyzed, and stored? In some countries there are laws protecting people from this invasion of privacy, but not in the U.S.

READ ME A STORY
The Web: so many sites, so many images, so many words. "Everything is on the Web," right? Well, no, not by a long shot. For one thing, a lot of archival information has not been, and most likely never will be, converted to electronic format. If one is truly interested in the history of an idea, a country, a culture, a people, those paper-based sources still have value. What about all the material that is found online these days? Two drawbacks come to mind: access and readability.

Just who can place their hands on a computer is an important issue. If information is power, as the old adage goes, then access to that information is a controlling factor in people's lives. Even with more computers in public libraries and community technology centers, time online is limited, and printing off information may or may not be a realistic option. (In some libraries such printing costs ten cents a page.) Regardless of the size of the technology gap in the United States, the gap looms even larger in countries which have less money and less developed technology (in some instances lacking basic phone service). To be denied access to this new technology, the Web, results in yet another class-based division of political power, economic opportunity, and social standing.

In addition to the access matter, which affects all Web users, the readability level of many Web materials presents a particular challenge for adult learners. Regardless of document length or of how many engaging graphic elements are presented, most text on the Web is written at a 9th grade level or above. For beginning or low-level readers, this new medium, which is increasingly a source for news, job postings, health care information, and educational projects, is closed to them. Just who should do something about this matter is an open question, but some adult literacy programs are creatively taking the matter into their own hands, having advanced learners re-write Web pages for low-level learners.

HELLO, I MUST BE GOING
In closing, the Web is a truly amazing, perhaps even revolutionary, technological development. Its impact on how we learn about the world, and about each other, will doubtless continue to evolve and pervade. But as with any other medium, the Web should compel us to be critical consumers. Information does not exist as an abstract entity or an absolute truth: for any story, someone chooses which people to present, which questions to ask, which answers to report, and which tone to strike. So, we constantly need to question, examine, compare, and critique. More now than ever before, we have to know how to evaluate what we see. We need to always remember that we control the technology, the technology doesn't control us. We need not be intimidated or bullied by vendors, by hype, by market forces. And sometimes, we should just . . . turn off the machine and go for a walk. Outside. It's a wonderful world, indeed.

How Do You Evaluate a Web Site?

The key questions to ask when venturing onto the Web are: o Where might I find useful information? o Who is providing it? o How can I trust it? o How do I retrieve it? For any Web resource, see if the Web site or page clearly tells you the author or "owner," the author/owner's affiliation (organization, agency, company, school), the publication or revision date of the resource and, ideally, the purpose of the resource (inform, persuade, entertain, sell).

Lou Wollrab is the SABES information coordinator (translation: librarian), based at World Education in Boston. Although he maintains a Web site (www.sabes.org), he also spends most weekends in a computer-free state of bliss.

New England Literacy Resource Center
44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-9485

Updated 10/01 Questions, comments, or problems please contact Steve Quann

Duke of URL

How Do You Evaluate a Web Site?

New England Literacy Resource Center 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 (617) 482-9485

New England Literacy Resource Center
44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-9485