The Internet Detective was funded by the European Union's DESIRE project and developed by the staff at The Institute for Learning and Reseach Technology at the University of Bristol using the TONIC-ng software from the University of Newcastle. It is an informal but comprehensive online tutorial designed to teach the skills required to critically evaluate the quality of information found on the Internet. The tutorial includes interactive quizzes, worked examples, practical hints and tips. It can be accessed via the World Wide Web from: http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/internet-detective.html

What are the aims of the tutorial?
Internet Detective aims to alert people to the *questionable quality* of the information that is freely available over the Internet. After completing the tutorial users will: o be aware of the key factors that affect the quality of Internet information o have learned practical hints and tips for evaluating the quality of an Internet information resource o have seen a comprehensive list quality criteria o have seen practical examples of the evaluation process o have tried out the evaluation process for themselves on a sample of Internet resources

Who is the tutorial aimed at?
Internet Detective can be useful for anyone using information found via the Internet. It is designed for people who have already acquired basic skills needed to use the Internet and who are now able to focus on the information they find. It is likely to be of particular relevance to those working with Internet information: o information professionals o librarians It will also be particularly relevant to those using the Internet for academic purposes: o researchers o teachers o students

How long does it take to complete the tutorial?
The tutorial may take three to four hours to complete fully. However, users select a login name and may use this to work over a number of sittings - the login will take them directly to the part of the tutorial at which they left off, and will keep a record of their quiz scores.

Who can use the tutorial?
Internet Detective is available on the WWW and is freely available for anyone to use. (Users will need to access the tutorial using a Web browser that understands frames and accepts cookies) Users will need to login and remember their username for re-entry at a later date.

So how to I start?
Internet Detective is available from the following URL: http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/internet-detective.html

So please feel free to "get on the case" :-)

This document is from text evaluating web sites for librarians and library use.