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Evaluating data & digital content in DigComp
Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes 
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1. Awareness of the ‘fallacies’ of the digital environment: understanding the difference(s) the exists between misinformation (wrong information) disinformation (wrong/biased information spread with malicious intents)
2. Knowledge of the most typical sources from which biases generate (i.e., authors of the reference, and their intents, origin of the data and sources quoted by the sources, embedment of political and commercial messages, etc.)
3. Awareness of the great risks associated to AI-generated digital content
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1. Know how to filter and distinguish between ‘genuine’ and ‘biased’ content
2. Know how to filter and distinguish between sponsored content and not
3. Know how to recognise legitimate sources and references, and evaluate critically the objectivity of the content of an article
4. Know how to verify the credibility of a source (i.e., blogs vs scientific and peer-reviewed evidences)
5. Know how to recognise AI-influenced content in digital environments
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1. Capacity of performing creative and critical thinking-pushed analysis over the credibility, legitimacy and objectivity of a source / reference (i.e., fact-check)
2. Understanding the outcome / impact of any possible online behaviour and what this might further lead to
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The essentials for evaluating data and digital content
The essentials for evaluating data and digital content Golden rules for evaluating quality content Methodologies and logical steps for evaluation of digital content
There is a wide sample of standardized approaches that you can rely on to double and fact-check the legitimacy of what you are observing.
Their application is very much intuitive, and it requires a thought-processing exercise that you can apply in all domains.
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The real-time application of this exercises will help you in:
1. Filtering content that might be of interest or not
2. Finally identify the precise information that you need
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Four different proposed methodologies for evaluating of digital data and content
I. 5 Ws
II. S.I.F.T
III. CRAAP
IV. RADCAB
The 5 Ws methodology
The 5 Ws methodology First ‘W’: Who
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The Who refers to the person that is behind the development and publication of the online content. By looking into the ‘Who’, the objective is to making sure that:
- His / her motive are genuine and the content is free from political, cultural, and other biases that might influence the objectivity of the content
- His / her knowledge on the subject
- His / her expertise on the matter and the reliability of the information provided
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Second ‘W’: What
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The What refers to the platform from which this content is available.
As a general rule:
- The information coming from well-known webzines is more reliable compared to personal blogs
- It is more challenging to fact-check information coming from social media, compared to established news outlets
- Different sources might provide for different opinions and ideas starting from the same subject and topic – depending for instance on cultural view on certain things
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Third ‘W’: Where
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The Where refers to the information, evidences, data, insights, etc. that contributed to shape the content and formulate author’s opinion.
The more resources are available, the better is.
This will allow you to fact-check more easily and conveniently the authenticity of the sources and the trustworthiness of the opinions / information provided.
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Fourth ‘W’: Why
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The Why refers to the motivations leading you to think that you have finally found content of interest, relevance and reliability.
An easy way to assess the ‘Why’ of digital content is by looking at how much this content satisfy the previous points:
- Is the author competent on the subject?
- Is the platform / publishing source known and of good reputation?
- Is the reference clear and well-identifiable?
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Fifth ‘W’: When
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Finally, the When refers to the date of publishing of the content.
- “The more recent, the better” is a general rule that might apply for instance to news and events
- Make sure to double-check if there are updates / revisions of the same content – or if it has been edited in a second moment
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SIFT Approach
SIFT Method: Stop - Investigate - Find - Trace
This simple approach implies a thoughtful analysis of the content through a multi-stage approach
Stop
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STOP, means try to analyze and have a first impressions on what you are looking at.
- Is this what you were interested into in the first place?
- Does the title matches the topic / theme you’re interested in?
- Is the subject / object of this content clear enough?
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Investigate
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INVESTIGATE, means understanding the overall background of the resource available, and the people working behind it.
- Is this reference experienced enough on what you are interested into?
- Are there enough elements to fact-check its background?
- What the users’ review says about this content?
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Find
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FIND a better coverage, means having the opportunity of having more alternative available of content and resources.
- Is this reference really the best alternative available?
- Is there any other source better suiting your interests?
- Have you consulted all the possible alternative?
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Trace
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TRACE claims & quotes, means being in the position of tracing with relative ease the background information consulted by the author(s) of the content selected by you.
- Are there enough background information supporting these claims and the reliability of the content?
- Are the claims, quote and background references convincing enough?
- (more in general) Where this content comes from? (i.e., opinions, facts, news)
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CRAAP Test
CRAAP Test
A slightly advanced approach compared to the previous two, the CRAAP test provides for a series of guiding questions that users can rely on to evaluate the information they have available.
● Currency
● Relevance
● Authority
● Accuracy
● Purpose
Currency
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CURRENCY, timeliness of the content
- When was this content first posted?
- Have been any updates on the matter?
- Etc …
Currency matters when the information, content and resources that you are seeking for are time-sensitive and greatly impact how useful they can be for you.
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Relevance
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RELEVANCE, consistency & coherence of the content
- What is the focus of this material?
- Does it matches filter criteria?
- Etc …
Relevance matters because it assures for the matching of the content to the parameters of what is scouted and browsed on the web
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Authority
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AUTHORITY, source of the content
- Where this content comes from?
- Is the source qualified enough on the matter?
- Etc …
Authority matters because it provides legitimacy to the source, and greater chances of finding useful content that is adequate to your needs
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Accuracy
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ACCURACY, reliability of the content
- What is the nature of the resources available within this content?
- Is it possible to verify the same info.s from other sources?
- Etc …
Accuracy matters because it assures for trustworthiness of what you have available, and for the fact-check of the content
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Purpose
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PURPOSE, motivation of the content
- Why is this content available?
- Which needs it serves?
- Etc …
Purpose matters because it allows you to filter the many types of contents available on the World Wide Web (i.e., what is for commercial purposes, and what is not; what follows an agenda, and what is for pure entertainment)
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RADCAB Method
RADCAB: You Vehicle for Information Evaluation
The RADCAB test comes from a methodology that researches normally use to test and evaluate how ‘good’ an information is for their purpose.
By applying its essentials, the RADCAB test can turn very useful whenever its time to analyse, compare, interpret and critically evaluate the credibility and reliability of the source of data, information and digital content
R=Relevancy
RELEVANCY in the evaluation process is assured when:
- The whole process is streamlined from redundancies and other disruption that bring no added value at all
- All of the focus questions and key references (i.e., key words) are easily identifiable, and help you to land immediately on what you need
- The analysis of the given content goes smoothly
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A=Appropriateness
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APPROPRIATENESS in the evaluation process is assured when:
- It is easy to filter and isolate irrelevant information
- The is no, or very little margin, for misinterpretation and misuse of the available information, resources and content
- You have the feeling that this is what you were really looking for…
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D=Details
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DETAIL in the evaluation process is assured when:
- There is the exact amount of information that you need to extrapolate from the content
- The information are easy to navigate
- The information are easy to process (quantity and quality)
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C=Currency
CURRENCY in the evaluation process is assured when:
- You manage to find the information that you need from the timeframe that you very interested into
- You have available the version of the document, resource, content, etc. that was of your specific interest
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A= Authority
Competence 1.2 for Digital Culture
AUTHORITY in the evaluation process is assured when:
- You can trust of the author(s) of the content you are looking into, and he / she is qualified to speak on the subject
- Statements, key evidences, data and inputs provided by the content are easy to fact-check
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B=BIAS-free
Competence 1.2 for Digital Culture
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BIAS-free evaluation process is assured when:
- The motivation behind the publishing and public availability of the content are genuine and disinterested from any political, social, cultural, etc. agenda.
- The content is biased – i.e., it is inclined towards certain opinions, considerations and discussion – but it is explicit about it, there is a clear and well-stated reason, ‘biased’ elements are disclosed and easy to identify (and filter and insolate in case needed).
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Summing up
Summing up |
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