1.) Anatomy of a URL
Rank the following URLs in order of authority:
(2) http://www.columbia.edu/~jrandom
(4) http://random.blogspot.com
Romantic Circles is an .edu URL, which shows it has educational value and is more than likely legit.
2.) Finding the Author
Find out who authored the information on the website that you have selected. Is there one single author? Is there a group of authors? Is authorship restricted or unrestricted? If you cannot find a named author, can they get other clues about where the content came from?
According to the sites history, Romantic Circles was launched November of 1996 as a collaborative project. The page was published by Michael Gamer and currently has two general editors, Neil Fraistat and Steven E. Jones. (Former editors include Donald Reiman, Carl Stahmer, and Laura Mandell.) Currently, the page has two site managers Dave Rettenmaier and Mike Quilligan.
3.) The Author’s Authority
- What is the author’s education level?
- Does he or she have a degree? From what school? In what subject?
- What is the author’s previous writing experience?
- How much does the author probably know about the topic or topics on which he or she is writing?
- Does he or she deal intimately with this subject in daily life, or only research it for the purpose of writing about it?
- If relevant, has he or she performed experiments and independent research projects on this topic?
- Does the author have a neutral perspective on the site’s subject matter, or is he or she trying to promote a particular viewpoint?
A quick Google search will convey to us the following information. Neil Fraistat has a PhD in Literature from the University of Pennslyvania. He was the editor for a collection of 13 essays by leading scholars called Poems in Their Place and also published Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound With Other Poems as well as The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley. He is currently a Professor of English & Director MITH at University of Maryland, College Park. Steven E. Jones has a B.A., Highest Honors, from the University of Oklahoma. He is a Professor of English and Director of the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago, prior to which he worked at Columbia University and University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on Romantic-period literature, textual studies–the production, transmission, and reception of texts of all kinds–and digital humanities, the intersection of computing and the humanities. He has been extensively published and awarded for his work and has given many talks, presentations, etc. over the years. Based on all of this information regarding their education, we know that they are very knowledgeable about what they’re is writing on. As teachers, they also connect to the material on an even deeper level, considering the fact that they have to break it down for others, and probably on a daily basis. They are extremely qualified and their site is therefore trustworthy.
4.) Sponsorship
- Is there an organization that is in charge of the site’s content, or that funds the site’s operation?
- Does this organization have a vested interest in the site’s subject matter?
- What perspective do they want people to have on this topic?
- Are they likely to encourage the author(s) and editor(s) to give a skewed presentation?
Romantic Circles is published by the University of Maryland, an institution of higher learning that has a vested interest in educating, especially in regards to something as non-controversial as Romantic age literature. (There’s not much one can do or would want to do to “skew” the reality of that).
E.L.P.J.'s HU Livin' 