The librarian is: BLOGGING | Journalism Library, Columbia University

World Wide Web is a composite collection of content created and hosted on the internet by millions of organizations and individuals. In order to effectively evaluate information that you find on the internet, consider the following criteria:

Authorship -

• Who wrote this? As Peter Steiner said, “On the Internet,
  Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”
• Is the author an expert in the field?
• What are author’s affiliations?
• Who is the sponsor or publishing body of the site?

Currency -

• Is the information provided timely? This is particularly important in areas of science, technology, health, and politics.
• Is publication date or “last updated” date included with the information?
• If the information is dated or historical, does the document refer to the source and year, e.g. “Based on 1990 U.S. Census data”?

Objectivity -

• Does the author or web page sponsor have a bias?
• Is more than one viewpoint expressed on the topic?
• Does the author or publishing body have a particular agenda?

Coverage -

• Is the information freely available?
• Is the site complete or under construction?
• Does the information have a print equivalent?

Accuracy/Verifiability -

• Does the information include references to experts in the field or rely on other sources?
• Does the information include a bibliography?
• Was an explanation offered on how the data was gathered and interpreted?

If you need help in evaluating a particular internet resource, please stop by the Journalism Library or contact any of the libraries on campus for assistance!

Did you miss the Bloomberg training in Journalism? Fear not! The Business & Economics Librarians offer Bloomberg training throughout the year, and there are 2 trainings left for the fall semester -

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/business/training.html

The trainings are free, but reservations are required. See the web site for details.

Remember to check back periodically at the Library Classes and Instructional Workshops web site for additional training in a variety of topics in research and technology.

11/5/2008, New York Times Results Maps, Victory/Concession Speeches+transcripts, Exit Polls with Demographic Information -

For an electoral map with the option to view county results (click on the link for “County Bubbles” on the left), for Obama’s Victory Speech and McCain’s Concession Speech, for Exit Polls with corresponding demographic information, and for the Big Board with expected results alongside actual results, click here.

MSNBC Presidential Election Results Widget -

Also, check out the following sites -

Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections – http://uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/ARTICLES/ElectionNight2008/pe2008elecnighttime.php - includes data and maps for the electoral vote counts and a timeline for poll closings. This site also features past Presidential Election results since 1789 as well as an electoral college calculator and map generator.

CNN.com Live Election Day coverage - http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2

CNN.com Electoral Map Calculator - http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/

From Dean Sreenivasan’s email, 11/4/2008 —>

Dean Grueskin is part of the WSJ’s “Instant Analysis” blog team tonight, posting throughout the evening. This is a reprise of what he used to do at the WSJ internally, but is now doing it on the web.

See his latest post here…
How to watch swing counties and single-party strongholds for early signs
of a McCain upset or an Obama landslide:
http://blogs.wsj.com/instantanalysis/2008/11/04/18/

And keep an eye on Instant Analysis to see the rest of his - and the team’s posts:
Insights on election night from Journal columnists and around the Web
http://blogs.wsj.com/instantanalysis/

Let him know how he’s doing: bgrueskin@columbia.edu

Later tonight, he’ll be doing some of this analysis on the air for
DecisionNYC on http://www.columbiajournalist.org/elections/