It is important that an adult is always present when we are using the Internet.
If there is a problem they can help us.
If I look in a dictionary I find that the Internet is:
''An electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organisational computer facilities around the world.'' (Merriman-Webster. (n.d.). The Internet. Merriman-Webster Online Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internet)
This means that the Internet is a way to send information from one person to another person!
By using the Internet I can get information from anyone in the world.
By using the Internet I can get information from anywhere in the world!
When we use the Internet we can look at lots of websites for information.
But how do I know if this is good information?
It is important to know who is putting the information on the website we are using.
We want to make sure that the person putting the information on the website is giving facts that are correct!
We know that not all information on the internet is good information.
Here are two guiding questions to remember when using the internet:
Who is the author?
The author could be a person.
The author could be an organisation!
Is the author someone you feel that you can trust?
Sometimes, the way to see if this is an author you can trust, is by looking at the 'about us' section of this website.
Sometimes this is at the top of the website and sometimes it is at the bottom of the website!
Am I getting facts or am I getting opinions?
When we research, we want facts.
We don’t want to know what the author thinks about those facts because they might be wanting to influence us into thinking a certain way about those facts. Some people call this 'bias' which is a good word to know.
We don’t need to know what the author thinks about the facts we are researching.
We can make up our own minds based upon our research and the facts that we read.
We should be careful when using a website that gives us opinions about the facts.
Fake News!
If you click on the box that is below this one you can visit a child-friendly website that explains how to spot fake news. It will help you spot fake information too!
Lots of people use Wikipedia for their information.
Is Wikipedia a good place to go for information?
Some people think that Wikipedia is a bad source of information.
Some people think that Wikipedia is a good source of information!
Who is correct?
The 'problem' with Wikipedia is that when we are reading some information, we do not know who the author is!
Are we getting all of the facts or just some of them...
It is easy for people to go into Wikipedia and change the information to make it incorrect, or remove some facts altogether!
Sometimes they do it for fun...
Sometimes they do it to be mean...
Whatever the reason, they are not allowing us to research all the correct facts.
This is not fair.
It means that we cannot be sure that what we are reading is correct.
The library's advice is that it is okay to look at Wikipedia to get some new ideas for your research, but you should always make sure that you check any information you find on Wikipedia with a person or source that you can trust before using it.
Never use Wikipedia as your source of information because you can't be certain that it is correct!
