In 2004, the city of Aliso Viejo in California made the news because of its proposed ban on the use of Styrofoam cups on city events. It appears that a municipality employee had read on the web that Styrofoam cups contain DHMO or Dihydrogen Monoxide, a substance that was supposedly harmful to humans. The reason this made the news is that Dihydrogen Monoxide is a humorous term for H2O, or water. The joke has been around for some time (see Hydrogen Monoxide Research Division) and has become an oft used example of the dangers of believing everything you read on the web.

Problems with false or misleading information abound in any media, as the recent problems of Oprah, Dan Rather and the New York Times demonstrate. The web, however, is particularly vulnerable to criticism because anyone with a computer can be a publisher. This, conversely, is also what makes the web such a powerful resource. Sam Gallagher makes a good point in his column In Defense of Citizen Journalism where he states that “Information is only as good as its source, and the people using that information have to make a decision for themselves about whether they trust it, and whether to seek corroboration elsewhere before acting on it”.

As a professional researcher, I spend a great deal of time and effort qualifying the sources of the information I gather. It is not an easy task because trust seems to come more naturally to me and I need to constantly remind myself to think critically and to question everything I read. Here is a checklist of evaluating questions I keep around my computer to use whenever I am working in a research project:

Who is the publisher?

A simple way to find this out is to do a Whois search. One of my favorite internet tools is the URL info tag from Fagan Finder, but you can also find the same feature in the Google’s toolbar. In most cases this will provide you with contact information and the name and location of the company hosting the website as well as the date the web site was registered.

What are the credentials of the person or company behind the web site?

Start by googling the person’s name, but don’t stop there, go to Google Scholar to see if any academic articles pop up, or search bookstore and library databases to see if this person has published any books.

If the publisher is a corporation you may have to go deeper and search company look ups or the fee based databases. Before doing any online shopping, see what people are saying about the product you want to buy at a place like Epinions.com who publishes user reviews. A handy way to check the credibility of a web site is to see who links to it by typing link:website name in the search box. If you spot CNN or The Wall Street Journal among the links then you can deduce that the web site has credible information. To learn what is being said about a company, visit a few online newsgroups. But, beware, newsgroups are a cauldron of gossip and the tone of the conversation can be easily manipulated.

What is the web site mission and who funds the organization?

What is the reason of being for the publishing organization and what is the purpose of the web site. If this is a company, the purpose of the site is probably marketing and it is highly unlikely they will announce any financial troubles on it. If this is an advocacy group, you may wonder about their agenda and even if the site looks purely informational, it is a good idea to check who is paying the bills.

The “Look and Feel” test.

Appearances of course can be deceiving, and a well designed web site can be full of misleading information. Nevertheless, there are a few details that would prompt me to check the information further: misspelling errors, amateur design, no contact information, outdated look, several broken links, and a ~ in the URL as in http://university.edu/~smith/buss0234.htm. In the latter instance, although you are at a university site which I consider trustworthy, the ~ indicates a personal page which could be the term paper of a first year student.

If I have scared you and now you wonder what sites you can trust. Here are a few recommendations: use the web to get leads, start your research with government (.gov) and university (.edu) web sites, magazines, newspapers sites or organizations well known to you. Use fee based databases, you may have to pay for the information but it will be more reliable. Blogs and podcasts can be a great source of fresh information, but I would suggest that you follow the postings for a while or read the archives to get a feeling for the bias and style of the blogger. Finally, don’t forget the three Vs: Verify, Verify and Verify!!!

ZoomInfo.com is a people search engine. It summarizes the information about a person found in different parts of the web. The company claims to have information on 27 million business professionals and 2 million companies.

Imagine you belong to a networking group that post new information about events every week, but with all the work you have on your plate you can’t keep up, or you would like to know what your clients or your competition are posting in their websites. In such cases, consider Copernic Tracker. This is an internet utility that monitors changes in a web site and sends you an alert to your e-mail or even better, your cell phone, if you feel the information is important enough and want to increase your stress level.


If you are seating in front of your computer and need a little break during the day head to Astronomy Picture of the Day. This site shows a different picture of the cosmos very day with a brief explanation. The images are awesome, so enjoy the view!


Take Back your Life. Using Microsoft Outlook to get Organized and Stay Organized by Sally Mcghee (Microsoft Press).

As I make the rounds of networking meetings, I often share with other business owners the frustration of no having enough hours in the day to fulfill all the promises we made to our clients, families, colleagues and friends. We all have our PDA, organizers and cellphones, but they don’t seem to make much of a difference, we still have a zillion tasks to complete for next week. Well, Sally Mcghee’s book made a diffrerence in my life and I highly recommend it.

The book outlines a complete information mangement system for your life. It guides you through the process of collecting the information, planning the task list according to your business and personal goals and organizing your reference system. The backbone of the system is Microsoft Outlook, however the principles are universal enough to be helpful even if you use any other personal information manager.




Are you planning to launch a new business, product or service?

Do you know your target market?

Who is buying that service?

How much are they paying for that product?

What are the trends or demographics in that market?

Who is your competition?

If you don't know the answers to those questions, We can help you!

Our sevices include:

Market Expansion Research
Hispanic and Latino American Markets Information
Competitive Intelligence Research
Business Plan Research
Media Monitoring

Call today for a Free estimate.