Assignment 2:
1- Watch the Slideshow below about evaluating websites.
2- Visit the site Dihydrogen Monoxide website at http://www.dhmo.org/
Visit the North American Tree Octopus Web Site at http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
3- Respond to this blog post, and tell whether you feel each of these is a valid web site. Visit the North American Tree Octopus Web Site at http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Using complete sentences, please give 5 reasons for each site to support your decision.
After viewing each website it's pretty clear which is the fake and which is the real one. The Dihydrogen Monoxide website is a valid website. The information on each page, whether it's their frequently asked questions, the research division page, home page, etc. is all copyrighted by the author Dr. Tom Way. Second of all I googled Dr. Tom Way and he is a legitimate Dr., mostly of computer science but the information on the website about him is true. This website is also supported by other links from other industries, such as, the dairy industry, the Environmental Protection agency, the national cancer institute, green peace, the sierra club, and more. This websites mission statement is to be a non-biased forum for the public to get information about DHMO and are encouraged to share their opinion. Also their is a link for the press to sign in and get information to share in other medias. The "save the pacific northwest tree octopus" website is obviously fake. The information is meant to look and read like it is real. This website has no affiliation with any governmental, educational, wildlife or environmental institute to support the claims about the "endangered octopus". The information on this website is not cited and does not have copyright information available. The information to support the idea of this fictional character is only done so by lumping it in the same category of sasquatch, a known fictional character. I googled the information on this website too, by looking up the only educational institution that was mentioned, the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society. What was pulled up was very interesting. This website was specifically created to be a hoax for teachers to use to teach their students to question the validity of the information they find on websites. http://www.joannejacobs.com/tag/kelvinic-university/.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dhmo.org/
ReplyDeleteAt first glance, I noticed the website ended in a .org domain which designates an organization and thought this website was valid. After looking at the website, I noticed the following five reasons why this website was not valid.
1. This website contains advertising for “South Park”.
2. The website contains a store in which the author makes a profit on the merchandise bought.
3. From my chemistry class, I know that Dihydrogen Monoxide is water and is not harmful.
4. The website is not affiliated with any real government agency.
5. The website does not link to any actual data or peer reviewed studies.
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
This website is not a valid website. The following are five reasons why this is not a valid website.
1. The website has a .net domain which means it is just being provided web space by an internet service provider and is not affiliated with any organization.
2. The website was not updated recently.
3. When researching the author, it became apparent that the author had no experience or educational background in the related subject matter.
4. Other websites call the “tree octopus” a hoax.
5. After reading the content of the website, it becomes apparent this website is not valid.
Vanessa Medlock
ReplyDeleteDihydrogen Monoxide
This website is not valid
1. The author’s expertise is suspect given that the author is identified as Tom Way. A search of Tom Way resulted in no entries of a scientist. Rather there were entries for a Computer Science teacher, accountant, and trainer.
2. The accuracy and objectivity is suspect. On the FAQ page, the listing of “Uses of Dihydrogen Monoxide” included used by both the KKK and the NAACP during rallies and marches and used by members of Congress who are under investigation for financial corruption and inappropriate IM behavior.
3. Home page icon for “U. S. Environmental Assessment Center” looks similar to the EPA but this center does not exist.
4. A cross check of factual data (through a Google search) resulted in finding a series of articles identifying this site as a hoax.
5. Publisher authenticity is suspect. Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division can only be found associated with this site.
North American Tree Octopus
This website is not valid.
1. Publisher (i.e., Kelvinic University of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society) is not authentic. Neither the university nor the conservation society exists.
2. A cross check of factual data through a Google search of tree octopus resulted in finding a series of articles identifying this site as a hoax.
3. The site referenced phony organizations: Greenpeas and People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins.
4. The site references phony animals (Saber tooth salmon, Sasquatch).
5. The Halloween activity seems crazy.
“Just download and assemble the special box. Then on Halloween say "Trick-or-treat for Tree Octopus!" and ask your neighbors for candy corn or shrimp. When you have filled the box with treats, hang it on a branch in a forest where tree octopuses dwell. Tree octopuses enjoy the challenge of removing treats from the box!”
Although, DHMO.org initially looks like a valid website, the following inconsistencies give support that the site is invalid.
ReplyDelete1. A link to send feedback stipulates, "due to high volume we may not be able to reply" with no names or other contact information available.
2. Although each "related info" links are valid, none have supporting information that validate website contents.
3. When researching for supporting information on-line, the history of the DHMO "hoax" was revealed.
4. The website itself has a disclaimer "content veracity not implied".
5. The creator of DHMO is a computer science professor at Villanova. His biography information from Villonavo.edu states that Tom Ways is among other things, “Director of Research of the successful science satire web site DHMO.org,” admitting that the website was satirical.
Immediately upon viewing the North American Tree Octopus site, I began to question the validity of the information.
1. After researching cephalopods, it has been documented that they cannot survive outside of water.
2. Many of the links within the site were created by the same author, Zapato (Zpi), and were also non-supported.
3. Some pages on site were obviously false, such as "Trick or Treat for Tree Octopus,” a craft box to hold corn and shrimp. This was an activity page for children.
4. There were no advertisers associated with the site.
5. The following disclaimer is notated on the bottom of the web page "This site is not associated with any school or educational organization, other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society". The Kelvinic University is also non-existent.
After looking over both websites and using the guidelines listed in the presentation, I will say that the Dihydrogen Monoxide site is valid while the North American Tree Octopus site is not valid.
ReplyDeleteThe Dihydrogen Monoxide site has information that is prevented with little to no error. There are a lot of different links on the front page to organizations that I recognize as legitimate organizations like the CDC. The URL ends in ".org" which is considered to be a bit more official. It was last updated on January 10, 2011, so it is updated regularly. In 2004, there was an interview by Robert Siegel about the website, however I couldn't see the entire article. A Google search on the author, Tom Way, produced a page about Dr. Tom Way, who specializes in computers, programming, etc. where there was a link to the DHMO site. The only things that bother me are that when I do searches on the legitimate sites like CDC, nothing really comes up on DHMO and the other links on Dr. Way's sites are to self-serving, quirky web pages that makes me wonder if this was created as a way to demonstrate how easy it is to "fake" a legitimate web page. However, keeping to the guidelines in the presentation, it does fit, so I'm going to say it's valid.
The Tree Octopus site is not valid in my opinion. First, it's URL ends in ".net" which can raise an eyebrow. There seems to be no mention of an author or editor. There isn't really a readily available link to contact the editor. While they ask you to buy things, there are no Visa/Mastercard logos, or other logos one would expect from a legitimate site. When you click to purchase a shift to support this cause it takes you to a Cafe Press site where individuals can upload their own graphics to tee shirts. A real organization would probably send out their own products, since Cafe Press takes a huge portion of the sales. The language tends to feel tongue-in-cheek and the videos and photos that are provided don't look very high quality. It is difficult to see where they are from, and there seems to be no sources listed or reference page for the images. There is a comment at the bottom of the first page that states, "This site is not associated with any school or educational organization." On the activities page, there is a comment that says "Now you can help tree octopuses get their favorite Halloween treats: candy corn." I have a feeling that octopuses do not eat candy corn. This site has too many red flags and not enough backup to verify things, to be considered valid to me.
Dihydrogen Monoxide - Invalid
ReplyDelete1) Further research online showed an entry in wikipedia that Dihydroge Monoxide (2 hydrogens, 1 oxygen...yeah, it's water!) is a hoax using the uncommon, unfamiliar name for water and listing some made up negative side effects to scare people.
2) The statement at the bottom of the website "Note: Content veracity not implied" indicates that it is not a website based on truth.
3) One of the ads was for "SouthPark" through amazon, not exactly something you would expect to see from a legitimate scientific or unbiased source of information.
4) The website is owned by an individual named Tom Way. Information on his hoax can be found at this site http://www.conservapedia.com/Dihydrogen_monoxide
5) The author sells products from this website that promote his hoax and he makes money off of that.
Tree Octopus - Invalid
1) The validity of this website depends on your perspective of whether you expect to find true, scientific facts or whether you are looking to have fun. The site home page at zapatoi.net (lol) says it's intention is to be frivolous. Frivolous it is...REALLY! It really truly is. So...from that perspective I would say it is valid. From the perspective of looking for scientific facts it is not valid.
2) Last update was on November 18, 2010...not exactly like it is kept up with daily or weekly. That would not lend itself to being considered a valid scientific source of information that is maintained consistently.
3) The links on the page are to other humorous or frivolous sources, once again, the author is maintaining authenticity to his original intent. His intent has never been to suggest that there are actual Tree Octopi but to suggest frivolry and that is what he does.
4) The domain is privately owned by the individual, Lyle Zopato, and the website and marketing terms for products on the website are are all parts or variations of his name. That is also suggestive of his frivolous intent.
5) The website uses the frivolousness to have fun and to hopefully encourage a few others out there to share in the fun by selling products that make fun. The website is about promoting and making money, ultimately.
Both of these websites are loaded with information and, at first glance, seem like a valuable resource if I were to be studying North American Cephalopods or the harmful effects of Dihydrogen Monoxide. After close inspection of each page, it becomes clear that neither is a valid source of information.
ReplyDelete5 reasons each site is not valid
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
1. A quick overview of the site creator's (Lyle Zapato) biography lists his "archnemesis".
2. A quick google search of the Kelvinic University listed at the bottom of the web-site comes up with a study about how hard it is to tell if some websites are real and the problems children can have.
3. There are a number of links to animals that are better-known in cryptozoology, such as the sasquatch.
4. The section on donating money to help tree octopuses is obviously farcical.
5. A quick search of "tree octopus" leads to sites talking about the validity of this one. (The information found on this site can't be found anywhere else).
http://www.dhmo.org/
1. A quick google search of dihydrogen monoxide leads to pages labeling this one as a hoax or joke web-page.
2. For a site labeled .org it has a lot of advertisement space at the bottom of the first page, including merchandise and south park. This immediately raised red flags.
3. A search of Dr. Tom Way reveals that he is "Director of Research of the successful science satire web site DHMO.org"(http://www.csc.villanova.edu/~tway/bio/) as well as a professor at Villanova University.
4. At the bottom of the home page it says "Note: content veracity not implied"
5 None of the web-sites that are linked to link back to DHMO.org in any way. They actually don't even reference "dihydrogen monoxide" at all.
These two website are a valid website in the sense that it is an accessible site; however, the content of the North American Tree Octopus appears to be a hoax. After a little research, I couldn't find anything of substance supporting the author of this site.
ReplyDelete(1) Author - I couldn't find any supporting information regarding his credentials. The articles I found regarding Lyle Zapato returned me to his website
(2) The university he mentioned, I googled the university and found no information on the university name, I only found information that returned me back to his website
(3) I search on the Tree Octopus, and again was returned back to his website in many cases
(4) Web addresses is a little suspect, even though it is a .net
(5) Some other people reference on the site like Doug Mac Duff, again the research returned me back to the website. Interesting enough, I did find something valid, "Bexley City School District"
I am going to conclude that this website is a Hoax.
On the contrast, I do believe this website, http://www.dhmo.org, is not a hoax.
The first thing that caught my attention, the website was last updated on Jan 10, 2011, there was a copyright clause.
Author – when I googled Tom Way, I found that he was professor at Villanova University which actually exist. In addition, he received his PH.D from University of Delaware that also exist.
I also found from his home-page a link to this website.
The website address is part of the world wide web, were as the Tree Octopus wasn’t
Content of the website as it pertains to Dihydrogen Monoxide, you can find other resources that speak to what Dr. Way is referencing on this website.