Online Takeover

           The internet is a place filled with so much information. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if you can trust one source compared to another. To help with this task we did some activities to learn how to properly search for information on a certain topic.
            The first activity we did was A Google A Day. A Google A Day is a website you can go to that is run by Google. It gives you a set of three specific questions. You have to find the answers to their questions by only using the search tools they give you. (To try it out for yourself go to http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started) At first it was frustrating because so many different websites popped up showing different variations of the answer. As the activity went on it became easier to find the answer though. It became easier because you learn how to search for the key terms in the question. Knowing how to search for the key terms helps narrow down what comes up. What I learned from A Google A Day was how to read a question and pick out the vital information. At first when I read a question I search the whole question. Now I know what to search to get answers quicker.
            When looking up information there are three terms you should keep in mind. The terms are accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. First, accuracy, to me, means that the information being provided is correct and up to date. You can check if it is correct by going to different websites and seeing if the facts match up to one another. It is important if it is up to date because things change all of the time so the facts change. You don't want to write about something that isn't relevant to your topic anymore. Second, authenticity means that the facts are historically correct, nothing is made up. You can check it in the same way described in accuracy. Go to different sources and see if the information matches up. Finally, reliability is being able to trust the source and the author who wrote it. If you aren't sure if the source is right you can look up the author and see if he is a professional in the topic. Some people will take up a topic as a hobby and publish incorrect or out of date facts that are no good. If you can't trust the person who wrote it there is a good chance you can't trust the information as well.
            The website http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ is about a rare, endangered species called the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. The website seems real because the creator included pictures and videos of the octopus. (The pictures and videos can be found here: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html)

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html

However the website is fraud and there is no such thing as the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. This isn't a website you would want to use for school. You can find out that the website isn't reliable is by searching the species of octopus and see what else comes up. You won't find anything but this website and others talking about how it is a hoax. Also, the author is Lyle Zapato. If You search Lyle Zapato you will find how he is a publisher not a animal researcher. It could be a hobby but it isn't what he is qualified in. If he is fake there is a great chance the website is fake as well.