Manigan_8_1 Comparing Two Websites_5540
My immediate reaction at my first viewing of the web page posted by the University of
Santa Anita titled “ The True but Little Known Facts about Women and AIDS ” was that there was no way this could be a legitimate site, and that there was absolutely no one, anywhere, who would believe anything written on the page.
This fictitious site pretends to be “ Copywrite: 2003 ” by the University of Santa Anita,
Departure of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Certainly those words give a fairly loud warning that something isn ’ t quite right with this site and, hence, the material it purports to be the findings of a Dr. Juatta Lyon Fueul of the Departmnet of Public Health and
Public Interest Enrichment.
Just to make sure my suspicions were correct, I did a Google search using Santa Anita
University. My results did not locate an institution of higher learning with that name. I did, however, get returns for a race track in Arcadia California with the name Santa
Anita, which during the Second World War was used as an internment camp for persons of Japanese ancestry. I also discovered that there has never been as part of Santa Anita a college or university. At this point I pretty much knew that the web site was an out and out fraud. But I decided to carry my investigation/evaluation further.
Here are some other glaring problems I had with this site:
There is no Atlantic Center for Disease Control.
The page is filled with nonsensical words, such as vehicularly exculpatient and obviously dangerous ideas about the prevention of the spread of HIV and Aids, including “ Married women can reduce their risk from AIDS by 73.8% if they do not share their unwaxed dental floss (mint or unflavoured) with their husbands, ” and “ A recent study in Pittsburgh proves that women who eat hot oatmeal twice a day are significantly less likely to contract AIDS than women who eat breakfast with unprotected spoons.
”
THE DOCUMENTATION (works sited) section is filled with bogus titles that are completely unrelated to HIV and Aids. Examples include Hopkins, John.(2001)
What my wife tells me about her nursing patients you don't want to hear. Outback
Weekly Companion p. 2 and Magee, Fybb R. (September1995) AIDS in la femmes und der mensch; faire un canular. Medical Journal de Belgii Academe von Munchausen , vol. 91. p. 453-501, which translated into English (from French) reads A IDS in the women und DER mensch; to make a hoax. Translated into English from German mensch means humans, und means and, and der means that. This ridiculous article was written by none other than Fybb
R. Magee. No doubt the same person who starred in the Fibber Magee cartoon series.

I could list more examples from this fictitious web site. I won ’ t. Instead I will end my comments about it with the response I received from John R. Henderson, a Social and Natural Sciences librarian at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. He is the creator of the University of Santa Anita web site.
First my query to Mr. Henderson:
On Nov 2, 2006, at 7:54 PM, Jerome wrote:
Can you provide me with any recent information about The Women and True
Facts about Aids page? -number of hits, any comments you have received from people viewing the page, your reason for creating it?
Is it achieving the goals your had it mind when you created it? Any information you provide in response to my questions will be appreciated.
I am a graduate student in the School Library Science/information program at
Mansfield College. Your site is used to teach web site evaluation skills. I would like to include your comments in a report I am preparing.
Thanks,
Jerome Manigan
Here follows Mr. Henderson ’ s reply:
I have not kept a record of number of hits the page has received, and the college stopped making statistical records publicly available over five years ago. Back the last time I saw figures, unfortunately I don't have specific numbers, the page was consistently toward the top of the most popular Ithaca College web pages in terms of numbers.
Since I started collecting them in 2001, I have received over 600 comments from all over the world regarding the "T is for Thinking" assignment, of which The
Women and Aids page is only one part. In addition to most US states, I have heard from people from several Canadian provinces, Australia, New Zealand,
Israel, Japan, Singapore, and a few countries in Europe. The comments have been largely from teachers, professors, trainers, and librarians. Most have been highly complimentary, accompanied with requests to use the pages or acknowledgments that they were using the pages. Unfortunately, not that many have replied with specific details about how successful the assignment has been. I do know that many have been repeat and regular users of the pages.
Most of the negative comments have been very short, poorly composed insults that I suspect have been generated by some young students who have had the assignment forced upon them.

I had a very small goal when I first created the assignment, to challenge users of the Web to think critically about what they see on the web. When I use the page as part of the T is for Thinking exercise in a class, I continue to received positive feedback. First, the page catches them off-guard. Then after I have explained the hoax, and show them that when searching Google for "aids facts women" that the page shows up first or second, I think it sinks in that just searching Google may not be the best research tool available.
John Henderson
Social and Natural Sciences Librarian
Ithaca College Library jhenderson@ithaca.edu
The immediately noticeable differences between the site referenced above and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is in the URL. Ending with .gov
( http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/contact.htm
), I clearly understood that this was an official US government site, in this case maintained by the CDC and providing detailed information about HIV and AIDS.
Second, the lay out of the site is very different, obviously created and maintained by professionals. Navigation of the site is quickly and easily accomplished. There are buttons to link the searcher to the CDC Home,
About, Press Room, and A-Z at the top of the page. There are buttons that lead to information about HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS Prevention. There are also sections titled Topics and Resources by Format. There are Quick Links that allow searchers to sign up to receive information about HIV/AIDS via their email address. Contact information is prominently displayed. A Search box is also available permitting searchers to locate specific information about HIV/AIDS. At the bottom of each page I viewed, there was information detailing when that particular information was last updated.
I found the section
( http://www.cdc.gov/maso/qualitycontrol/Guidelines.htm
) which detailed the Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the
Public extremely informative. Quality links to external sources with material printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Public

Health Association, British Medical Journal, and Clinical Infectious
Diseases among others, was readily available.
The material published on the CDC site was produced by medical professionals, scientists, counselors, researchers and others actively involved in work that will prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and the care and treatment of people diagnosed with the disease. Without a doubt, this is a quality site with current, reliable information produced by respected professionals in an effort to inform searchers about a public health concern that has world wide implications.
There is much information available to educators, library media specialists, and searchers in general about web site evaluation. This information provides standards by which sites might be evaluated. For this assignment, I considered information from several sources. In the end I decided that for my purposes and for instructing my students how to evaluate web sites, authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage, value, structure
(including consideration of the needs of the disabled) to be the most important factors.
It goes without saying that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) met and exceeded all of my selected standards.

Assignment 8_1 10 points
Criteria
5
Excellent
5
Good
4
Fair
3
Unacceptable
0
Evaluates Site 1 and 2 and identifies the clues for decision-making
Assignment shows an understanding of the information presented in the module
5
Comments:
You did a good job in identifying the clues to determine that site 1 was the authoritative site. It is imperative that students understand that not all information on the Internet is accurate or has been posted by a reliable and unbiased person or group. Bogus sites can be used to teach web evaluation, as long as the school librarian/classroom teachers instruct students on what to look for when evaluating a site. Sometimes it is not easy to determine if a site is bogus. Therefore it is important that students have some sort of guide or checklist to use when accessing web sites.
Forum Discussion Rubric 10 points
Criteria
5
Excellent
5
Good
4
Fair
3
Unacceptable
0
Posts thoughtful initial forum response to questions.
Responds to at least two of the posts in the forum.
The comments show an understanding of the information presented in the module or pose questions to help extend understanding.
5