Topic 4 Handling information and content

The web is full of information but not all the information and contents that finding online are reliable.

The first important step when looking for online information is the evaluation of the source. You can use search engines (e.g. Google, Bing, Baidu, Yahoo!, Ask.com and DuckDuckGo) to find information but it is better to consult different pages to check the reliability of the information itself.

Here are some tips to evaluate the reliability of a source:

1. Look for official/wee established Institutions
2. Look for a website with expertise (specialized in the kind of information you are looking for)
3. Bear in mind that the website of the company that sells the product usually is tilted in favor of their product
4. Looking for information on politics it is important to take into consideration the political leanings of the writer or the website where the information is published because it is often influenced by one’s personal opinions
5. Check the date to find always up-to-date information
6. Check the look of the website (graphics, images, presence of sources, etc.)
7. Avoid websites with anonymous sources or information made by authors with made-up names
8. Check the domain of the website (to control that the spelling is correct, if it looks official, etc.)

You can use bookmarks to save and retrieve information on a web browser. In Chrome the bookmarks are identified with the symbol

To add a bookmark in Chrome:

1. Open Chrome on the computer;
2. Go to the site you want to visit again in the future.
3. To the right of the address bar, click Star

There are two ways to find your bookmarks in Chrome:

1. click on it in the Bookmarks bar. To turn the bookmark bar on or off, click “More” → Bookmarks → Show bookmarks bar.
2. At the top right of your browser, click Side panel → Click Bookmarks

You may need to use cloud applications, to store information and content in a remote location and have access to data storage from different devices. It is possible to organise information and content using folders on the cloud. They can function offline, but can be updated only online using an internet connection.

Basic cloud storage options are OneDrive, DropBox, or Google Drive.