Discussion Prompt: Select an online web source and link it within your discussion post. Next, use the five universal criteria (accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage) discussed in Chapter 1 of the text to evaluate your source. List the five criteria. Deliver an evaluation of each aspect based upon your review of your source.
Medical dramas are a firm favorite in my household, and, when time and circumstances permit, I am very likely to be found binge-watching House, Chicago Hope, E.R. and now Grey’s Anatomy while I cook, unload the dishwasher and so on. Very often I find myself curious about a certain disease or condition mentioned, and I routinely go online to for more information. The website that I find has very reliable—and relatively easily understandable—information is that of the Mayo Clinic.
I recently had cause to look “porphyria” up, and so this is the webpage I’d like to discuss: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/porphyria/basics/definition/con-20028849. (Staff, 2014)
Authority
Rather than credit a single author or group of authors, Mayo Clinic uses the line “By Mayo Clinic Staff,” hyperlinked to a page describing the “product development team.” This page, in turn, is linked to a page of Mayo Clinic’s medical editors, all of which are listed along with their credentials, and most of the editors’ names are also linked to their bios, describing the editors’ qualifications, education, specialties and career paths.
In addition, Mayo Clinic uses “The HON Code of Conduct for medical and health Web sites (HONcode),” which certifies health and medical websites for publishing trustworthy information (HONcode, 2016). HONcode uses a number of criteria including authors’ qualifications, attribution, transparency, financial disclosure, and advertising policy.
Accuracy:
Each page on a specific disease or condition also lists citations and references prominently on the definition page, which is generally the first of a number of linked pages about the condition. The sources are properly cited, and a good number of them are online sources, which allows the reader to click through for more information, if necessary. The sources themselves appear to be authoritative and reputable, including (in my example) the National Human Genome Institute and the Genetics Home Reference.
Objectivity:
The articles on Mayo Clinic website use very neutral language. I have noticed several times that on the “Causes and “Risk Factors” sections, great care appears to be taken to ensure that biased or scolding language is not used. Mayo Clinic’s advertising policy is also prominently displayed on each page, informing the reader that “Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Advertising policies, opportunities and “Ad Choices” are all linked, and on every page. Mayo Clinic’s treatment of advertising appears very transparent, though I did not find a list of current sponsors or donors on the site.
Currency:
Each page of each disease or condition clearly states its date of publication (May 20, 2014 in my example). This allows the reader to easily assess currency. In my example, the references are almost all from the year of publication, 2014.
Coverage and Intended Audience:
We learned from our reading this week that it is often difficult to ascertain coverage and intended audience, as most web resources haven’t an introduction or preface (Tate, 2014). Fortunately, Mayo Clinic makes both of these relatively easy to decipher: Mayo Clinic’s homepage (http://www.mayoclinic.org/) has different sections for medical professionals and for non-medical professionals. The site covers a wide range of medical topics, including medical research and education, and the pages pertaining to diseases and conditions is written in easily understandable language rather than medical jargon, indicating that it is written for non-medical professionals.
References:
HONcode. (2016, June 9). The HON Code of Conduct for medical and health Web sites. Retrieved from Health on the Net Foundation: http://www.hon.ch
Staff, M. C. (2014, May 20). Porphyria. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/porphyria/basics/definition/con-20028849
Tate, Marsha A. Web Wisdom, 2nd Edition. CRC Press, 20091117. VitalBook file.