Module 4 Task: Evaluating the Web

Website evaluation according to Ohio State University net.Tutor ccccccc (http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les1/index.html)

Subject: http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/rlackie/Invisible/Inv_Web.html

Does this Web site provide the kind of information that I need?
The page provides very detailed information on searching the 'invisible web' including articles, search engines and 'invisible web databases'.

What is the site's primary purpose: to inform or to promote an idea or product?
The sole purpose of this page is to inform students (it is part of Rider University Libraries).

Does the author have appropriate education, training, or experience to write with authority (credibility) on this topic?
The author, Robert J. Lackie is Associate-Professor-Librarian at Rider University, and frequently presents at local, state and national conferences. He is well respected and knowledgeable in many areas of internet information management. In 2006, he was included in Marquis Who's Who in America, 61st Edition.

Who is responsible for publishing this page?
The page is part of Rider University Libraries and can be found using the search function on the libraries' home page. As such, I believe it to be entirely credible and reliable.

For controversial topics, is the presentation biased (one-sided) or balanced (both pro and con viewpoints provided)?
Not Applicable

Are claims and arguments supported (with documentation) or unsubstantiated?
Not Applicable

Do other sites cover aspects of the topic that are missing from the site you are evaluating?
Other sites I have found have contained a more detailed description of exactly what the 'invisible web' is, but this was the most complete set of useful links to related information that I have found.

When was the material written? Has information been added recently? Are links functional or broken?
The page was originally written on May 29, 2001 and was last updated on October 2, 2006. All of the links were still current.

Do others recognize the value of this site, either in reviews or by linking to it?
Using a google search for link:, I found 122 pages that linked to this article. There were considerably more linking to the Rider University homepage.

The article "Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed" by Associate Professor-Librarian at Rider University, Robert J. Lackie, is an excellent overview on the subject of 'deep' or 'invisible' information on the internet. 'Invisible' information is that is stored on the WWW but is not 'seen' by most conventional search engines due to its' type, i.e, it is dynamic, in a certain file format, or most commonly, contained within a database that can not be searched by web 'spiders' or 'bots'. The article describes several ways to find this hidden information including lists of directories, sites, databases and specialised search engines. The page has been written to be used as a research tool in itself, and also contains links to several other 'Academic quality' research sites.

When I compare the original 'snapshot' to the latter more detailed description of the contents of the site, I find that the latter would be more valuable for my own future use of this page as a resource. This is because I have summarised the important aspects of it (why I included it in the first place). I think an external user would also find the latter version more useful because I have detailed the most important aspects and the main features of the page in a succinct paragraph which holds more detail than my original brief description.

I believe the point of this exercise has been to show us that these types of annotated bibliographies are a really useful source of information!