INTERNET LITERACY AND SAFETY

What is Information Literacy?

What is Information Literacy?

• Knowing :

• …when and why you need information

• …how to find this information

• …how to evaluate and use information

• …how to stay safe on the Internet

Thinking about an Information Search Plan

• Your evaluation of a source is dependent on your purpose• What are you searching for? • What type of information do you need? • Who is the source of that information?

Internet Search • Why use Internet to search for

information?• Convenience• Information exclusively available online• Information constantly updated

• Three general steps:• Formulating a topic of a question of interest• Filtering the most useful information by

narrowing down the search• Assessing the trustworthiness of the

information

Online Search Tools• Three general tools for searching the

Internet:• General Information Sites• Search Engines • Specialized Information Sites

General Information Sites 1 • Similar to an encyclopedia on a topic• Gives a topic overview, definitions and

specific subtopics• Good place to start your search when you

know little about a topicExamples: Wikipedia, Yahoo!Answers

General Information Sites 2 • Go to the URL of the page • www.Wikipedia.org, www.encyclopedia.com,

www.answers.yahoo.com• Enter the key words into the search bar• Choose the most appropriate page from the

search results

General Information Sites 3 • Pros of the general information sites

• Multiple authors and user generated content• More viewpoints included • Updated on ongoing basis

• Cons of the general information sites• Authors are not always experts • Authors are usually biased towards the topic

General Information Sites 4 • Checking for trustworthiness:

• Check for the ratings and flags that might be displayed

• Check the references and source documents

• View comments and reviews other people left

Search Engines • Search Engines • Useful when you are trying to narrow down

your topic• Quick answers to simple questions

• Some search engines lack the ability to give you a link to a relevant website! • Instead they give you links that connect to

other sites with more links (Ask, MSN)

Specialized Information Sites

• Google Scholar – e-books from leisure to scholarly resources https://scholar.google.ca

• News – online access to a variety of newspapers

• Blogs – online professional and amateur blogs

Assessing Online Resources

Why Evaluating Sources is Important?

• The Internet is Unregulated• No general review process • Anyone can post information on the Internet

• Information Overload• Being overwhelmed is easy• Mange your time well

Evaluating Sources from the Search Results

• You can self-filter search results by examining the URL of websites in your search result

• ‘URL’ - Uniform Resource Locator• The location of a file on the web

Assessing Trustworthiness • Does the URL address of the website look

legitimate?• .org, gc.ca, gov.on.ca? or a long jumble of letters and

symbols?

WHAT? - Content• Quality

• Error-free? Easy to read? Broken links?• Are there lots of ads that might make you question the author’s

motives? (dating, free offers, games)• Does it sound like they are trying to sell you a product?

• Relevance• Geographically relevant? Content too basic/advanced?

Content too specific/broad?

• Validity & Accuracy• Claims supported? Referenced? Do you agree with their

conclusions?

WHO? - Author

• Who is the author?• Is the author affiliated with an

organization or a company?• Is the author an authoritative source?

What is an authoritative source?

• Experience and a proven track record• Follows standards of practice to ensure

reliability, consistency, and currency• Sufficient, trained, and skilled staff to

maintain content and to ensure quality

What to look on organization websites?

• ‘About’ section• ‘Info’ section• ‘Mission’ Statement• Contact details • URL – a tilde (~), %, name, “user” -

indicate that the webpage is a personal page.

WHEN?

• When was the content published?• When was the webpage last updated?• Do you need information that is current?

• Where to look• Publishing dates often appear at the bottom

of the webpage

Potential online threats

Financial Scams: The Basics

• Typically conducted over email making a donation/investment plea or an ‘amazing’ earning offer

• Most e-mail providers have strong spam filters to weed these types of e-mails out of your inbox, however, some may get through

Financial Scams• A fraudulent party claims to be in some kind of

financial crisis, and promises to pay the victim a large sum of money if they help them out

• The sender usually claims to be having difficulty wiring funds overseas

• Any deal that seems to good to be true, it probably is!

Easy Money Scams Typically conducted over email making a

donation/investment plea or an ‘amazing’ earning offer

Most e-mail providers have strong spam filters to weed these types of e-mails out of your inbox, however, some may get through

Financial Scams: Phishing

• Where a fraudulent party pretends to represent a legitimate organization

• Goal: To get the victim to disclose their personal financial information

Financial Scams: PhishingCommon characteristics:

• Generic greeting• Grammar/spelling mistakes• Require you to update/validate

information • Provides an incorrect link that is similar

to the correct web address• Urges immediate action

Financial Scams: PhishingSafety Tips:

• Disregard any requests from banks• They will never ask for your account

information via email

• Do not reply to suspicious e-mails or open any attachments

What is malware?

• Programs designed to inhibit a computer’s functions, or to gather information.

• Typically disguised as other programs• Installed without the user’s

knowledge or permission

Malware: Viruses

• Self-replicating malware

• Prevents a computer from operating properly and/or blocks the user for taking certain actions

• Slows down your computer or destroys/damages files and programs

Malware: Spyware

• Programs that record actions the user takes without their knowledge

• Examples: • Tracking your habits for advertising

purposes • Gathering sensitive financial

information

Malware: Adware

• Causes unwanted ads and messages

• Not especially dangerous

• Annoying and can slow down your computer

• Download a free Ad Blocker to combat adware

Protecting Yourself

Malware: Protecting Yourself

• The more complex a file/program, the larger it is

• Malware programs are typically small in size

• Make sure the size is appropriate for what you’re downloading

Malware: .EXE extension• All files on the computer have a “.xyz” tacked on to

the file name

• These file extensions give the computer instructions on how a file is to be used

• The .exe extension gives the computer instructions to run a program

• Avoid .exe extensions if you are not downloading a program

Malware: Anti-Virus Software

• Antivirus software runs in the background of your computer and alerts the user if it detects anything suspicious

• Popular antivirus software• Norton Antivirus• AVG Internet Security• Avira Antivirus• Spyware Doctor

My computer has been infected.

Common signs of an infected computer:

• Computer runs very slowly• Unfamiliar popup windows or messages• Unexpected billing charges

Now what?

• Antivirus software detects malware• Alerts you to it using a popup window

• Quarantine or remove the malware• Quarantining = keeps file/program on your

computer, but will not allow it to run• Removing = it will be deleted from your

computer

Free AntiVirus Software

www.pcmag.com

Popular AntiVirus Software

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