Karen Vitek's List: Information Literacy

The Media Awareness Network - Overview

Welcome to the Web site of the Media Awareness Network (MNet), home to one of the world's most comprehensive collections of media literacy and digital literacy resources. This section is intended to introduce you to our organization and its work.

Who we are

MNet is a Canadian non-profit organization that has been pioneering the development of media literacy and digital literacy programs since its incorporation in 1996. Members of our team have backgrounds in education, journalism, mass communications and cultural policy. Working out of Ottawa, we promote media literacy and digital literacy by producing education and awareness programs and resources, working in partnership with Canadian and international organizations, and speaking to audiences across Canada and around the world.

"Evaluating Internet sites can be a challenge at first. All newcomers to the 'Net are immediately placed in the position of evaluator. And in schools everywhere, it's teachers who will help them learn how to evaluate!

As we begin to sift through sites, there are some key indicators that we can all quickly identify that will help determine the authenticity, quality, and usefulness of any website.

"

From Canada.

"Here are eight ways of checking information on web sites. "

From the Avon School District in CT.

"Net-Know-How 'NetCheck pages help you sort out the best sites so that you can use them and share them at home and school!"

Middle School resource for conducting online research

"Digital Information Fluency (DIF) is the ability to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically. DIF involves knowing how digital information is different from print information; having the skills to use specialized tools for finding digital information; and developing the dispositions needed in the digital information environment. As teachers and librarians develop these skills and teach them to students, students will become better equipped to achieve their information needs."

"Digital Investigator Training is a way for middle and high school students to learn valuable digital information fluency skills. Educators interested in the teacher's guides should contact us at: 21cif@imsa.edu "

MicroModules are self-paced, on-demand learning experiences each tailored to a specific topic. They are designed as 10-15 minute tutorials. Many MicroModules contain audio and/or video segments to communicate key concepts.

"With the advent of the World Wide Web and the huge amount of information that is contained there, students need to be able to critically evaluate a Web page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias, and usability. The ability to critically evaluate information is an important skill in this information age."

Interactive Tutorials for different aspects of Information Literacy.

Lookup a domain name's Whois record.

A nice animated version of how to review sites.

"The User Context: The most important factor when evaluating Web sites is your search, your needs. What are you using the Web for? Entertainment? Academic work? Hobbies or avocational interests? Scholarly sources are traditionally very strongly text-based. Compare the appearance and the content of an academic journal with a popular magazine.

The Web Context: Some of the visual distinctions that signal the nature of content in print sources hold true on the Web as well, although, because the Web encourages wider use of graphics, Web versions of printed works usually contain more graphics and more color than their print counterparts. Color graphics appeared on the New York Times Web site before they appeared in the printed New York Times, for instance."

"This wiki collects information about tools and resources that can help scholars (particularly in the humanities and social sciences) conduct research more efficiently or creatively. Whether you need software to help you manage citations, author a multimedia work, or analyze texts, Digital Research Tools will help you find what you're looking for. We provide a directory of tools organized by research activity, as well as reviews of select tools in which we not only describe the tool's features, but also explore how it might be employed most effectively by researchers."

"Easier way to find
website information
Find out how good a site is. Get comprehensive website details. Discover competitors."

"“RADCAB” ™ A mnemonic acronym for information evaluation"

Varied assessments from different locations collected with links on one page. Recently updated. Some in pdf format.

Use this free Internet tutorial to learn to discern
the good, the bad and the ugly for your online research.

The Virtual Training Suite aims to help university students to develop Internet research skills to assist with their university coursework and assignments.