B - Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation

Piper PS. Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation. Searcher 2000; Vol.8 (8)



http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep00/piper.htm




A good guide into the world wide web internet hoax sites (that doesn’t sound published in the year 2000) by a Librarian from Western Washington University entitled: “Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation” that deals with “lack of quality control” as far as information is concerned. Counterfeit web sites (that attempts to pass themselves off as authentic) where “many Internet users are ill-equipped to do a capable job of scrutiny” are well describes as “a so-called gray area of information”. In this very useful article attention is paid to the different types and degrees of misinformation with examples of existing counterfeit sites as well as of anti-hoaxes ones. The area to which he points out is a very large one the author doesn’t fail to underline how “Health information is perhaps among the most troublesome of all information on the Web” and also how “the consequences are perhaps nowhere as severe as in the areas of health and business. Erroneous health information can quite simply lead to serious injury and even death”.

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