Greetings,
One of the best (worst?) sites that I've come across along the lines
you've described is this one on Dr Martin Luther King:
http://www.martinlutherking.org/
Please be aware that the site has some very controversial content and
may be blocked by your ISP. Nevertheless, it does provide (IMHO) a
perfect vehicle to demonstrate the importance of Information
Literacy, not only for students but for staff members, administrators
and parents too.
If you are able to get to the site, a quick "once over" is all that's
needed to alert you that the ideas and opinions present there are not
exactly conventional or main stream.
Nevertheless, it does allows TL's (or teachers) to run through with
their students, various criteria used to evaluate a web site in a
"real life" situation as opposed to using the hoax sites. The answers
are all there but it does take some digging and some intuition to
find them.
For example, It is difficult to determine who created this site but
if you dig deep enough you'll discover that Mr. Vincent Breeding, of
Republican Public Relations and Marketing Consultant, Tampa, Florida
is the web master. It doesn't take long to realize that Mr Breeding
has a definite point of view about Dr Martin Luther King in
particular and a number of minority groups in general and that point
of view is not exactly "main stream".
While Mr Breeding does not mention whether he is a member of any
particular group or organization his e-mail address provides a clue.
Vincent.Breeding@stormfront.org
A search on the URL associated with that address
http://www.stormfront.org
reveals that "Stormfront.org" is a "White Nationalist" web site - a
very frightening "White Nationalist" web site.
Further evidence of Mr Breeding's point of view, can be found in the
promotion of a book entitled, "My Awakening" by Mr. David Duke,
published by Free Speech Press.
And finally, there is the site itself which is filled with
controversial accusations and assertions - all of which are
supposedly backed with facts and data. This is a wonderful
opportunity for students to use their web searching skills to track
down some of these citations. Do they actually exist? Do they
support Mr Breeding's claims or was the information/statement taken
out of context?
As an aside; you'll also discover (after reading his open letter to
visitors) that Mr Breeding is also very sensitive about teachers
using his site as an exercise in Information Literacy (I can't
imagine why ;-)
If you can get past the tone and content of this site, it does
present some marvelous teaching opportunities.
ps; Do a search on "Dr Martin Luther King" using Google. This site
comes up ninth!
>I am always trying to show real life examples of why you need to be =
>sceptical of what you read on the web. I have plenty of examples of =
>"hoax" sites, such as the California Velcro site, the Clones R Us site and =
>other such sites - but high school students generally can pick those out =
>right away. I am looking for sites that LOOK very authoritative - but =
>either have no information about the author at all, or are written by =
>authors with no qualifications. The web pages can be about any topic.
>
>Sites written by students always make good examples.
>I want to use them as examples for my high school students to teach them =
>how to determine the credentials of web authors. They understand that an =
>elementary or middle school student author would not be acceptable as a =
>source for one of their papers. I am looking for sites that look very =
>good. Pages that seem to contain good information and might even include =
>an impressive bibliography - but when investigated, show that the page was =
>written by a young student.
>
>I will post a list of any examples that you share. Again - please do not =
>send any of the hoax sites. I have plenty of them. I need REAL sites =
>that LOOK good - but have questionable information and/or questionable =
>authorship.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Jacquie
>
>
>
>"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those that wander are lost"
> J.R.R. Tolkien
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Jacquie Henry, MLS
>Ruben A. Cirillo High School (GHS)
>Gananda Central School District
>3195 Wiedrick Road
>Walworth, NY 14568
>jhenry@gananda.org
>http://www.gananda.org/library/mshslibrary/indexgcl.htm
>
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John Goldsmith
goldsmith@fvdes.com
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