Thing 15 Evaluating Information

Thing 15 Evaluating Information

Before looking at Thing 15 I would have rarely looked at Wikipedia except for a general overview of a topic. I probably had a negative viewpoint about it which was why I rarely visited the site. Now that I know how it works it does highlight my misconceptions. It is good to know that it has improved the encyclopaedias that I grew up with – The Joy of Knowledge was collected in our house. 

It is good to have the Reading Lists that we can go to and explore a topic in more detail and it is encouraging that a lot of these references are available for free.  It is also comforting to know that Wikipedia keep an eye on edits and these can be reverted back within a relatively short space of time. One of the weaknesses described in the interview was diversity within Wikipedia and probably people have the misconceptions, which then stops them getting involved in Editing.  I think it is a good initiative to get Librarians involved 1lib1ref.

I looked at the citation hunt and looked at an article about Hudson Taylor and seen they needed a few citations for this article.  In the second paragraph of Youth and Early work was the following

He practiced distributing gospel tracts and open-air preaching among the poor. ^{[Citation needed.}

I found a book called what will a man give in exchange for his soul? By George D Johnson and on page 96 was the following statement:” he practised distributing gospel tracts and open air preaching amongst the poor” I thought this would be a good citation.

I then looked at the C.R.A.A.P Test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose) criteria. Unfortunately I couldn’t find much information on the author; he is/was a minister and the titles of than other books he had printed. The statement in the book backed up the statement he practised distributing gospel tracts and open –air preaching so therefore I concluded it was relevant. I think to double check this reference I would need the actual book to double check references at the back of the book to see where the author got his information. I did look at inserting this reference but then I thought I would be better to double check the book first.

This exercise has made me look twice at information I give to others and I will try to ensure that it does pass the C.R.A.A.P Test. It has made me look more critically at information and evaluate it to ensure that I am supplying the relevant information that is current, accurate and for purpose.

I feel more equipped to help people as they look for articles for dissertations etc. and I pass on the C.R.A.A.P Test which is of use as they evaluate and critically examine the information they have collected.