2.2

The Blogs as Resources section of the chapter spells out some criteria for assessing blogs for "accuracy and trustworthiness" (Richardson 2010, p. 37). He articulates in detail principles which are key to information literacy in general, whether the source is print or online, blog or other site; they are particularly specific to blogs, but I believe he does a good job of explaining them and the reasons for them, and I'm gratified that they're close to what I've been teaching. Some of the folks he features in the chapter have retired or moved on to other things.

Here are some of the key steps from the section as I've highlighted them, plus my reflections:

1. "Try to find out as much as you can about the author of the Weblog. See if there is an 'About' link that will lead to a name..." He mentions Google, and identifying background, profession, authority, and domain publisher. I've enjoyed a side trip into domain registration and learning about ICANN (the text mentions its predecessor InterNIC).  I find more and more I like to use Quora or Stack Overflow for crowd-sourced opinions on sites and tools, including WhoIs services.
2. "Next, you may want to find out what kind of a reputation the blogger has among his peers." He mentions Technorati's "Authority" rating, as well as sites linking to a blog.
3. Blogroll on the blog, especially to determine bias or agenda; other posts on the blog, and accuracy of analysis or synthesis from source links. This last is one of my favorites for evaluating whether the blogger is providing value-added or just content-farming.

Critical thinking as to authority (and to relevancy and other factors we'll explore in this text or elsewhere) is a key 21st-century skill our students need to acquire for college and career readiness as well as for effective citizenship.