[Air-l] verifying onlline information

[Mike T. Hubler]

> safitch at uwm.edu wrote:
> >   I'm a graduate student doing a research paper on verifying online
> > information: How do you know its creditable?  Does anyone have any
suggestions
> > for places or sources to get information on this topic? give me your
feedback.

This seems to be an increasingly important question to ask.  I presented a
paper on online credibility at a National Communication Association
conference a few years back which I would be happy to send.  A number of
people responded afterwards who appeared to be working on similar projects.
Currently I am continuing the project by framing the question in rhetorical
terms: How is ethos conveyed on the Web?  Examining the problems has led me
to consider the relationship between credibility and the Web in three
different ways:

1) rhetoric ABOUT the Web that contributes to its ethos as a medium, such as
cyberconspiracy themes and Wild West metaphors 2) rhetoric mediated THROUGH
the Web, where the medium seems to constrain or enhance the credibility of a
message, such as the ability to describe in detail the trustworthiness of
your organization with optional links or the difficulty of verifying the
sheer volume of information made possible through online publication
3) rhetoric OF the Web, which suggests that ethos can be embodied in Web
site design itself, in the same way that usability engineers suggest good
design can embody the function and navigability of a site.  This view of Web
rhetoric also includes the notion that communication emanates from the Web
in Weiner's cybernetic sense, or the sense of perceived agency described by
Nass and Reeves in __Media Equation__.

I would be happy to describe the project to you in more detail.

Mike T. Hubler
The University of Alabama in Huntsville