Trainings and Tools to Foster Source Credibility Evaluation During Web Search

On the Web, anyone can publish information without review by professional gatekeepers. Thus, in order to avoid obtaining incomplete or inaccurate information, Web searchers need to critically evaluate the credibility of online information or its source, respectively. However, previous research has indicated that Web users of all ages infrequently engage in credibility evaluation spontaneously during Web search. Therefore, in recent years, various interventions have been developed and tested that aim at fostering individuals’ credibility evaluation during Web search. The present chapter provides an overview of these interventions. Specifically, the chapter distinguishes between three different types of interventions or support tools, respectively. These are comprehensive long-term training programs that teach students the whole process of conducting Web searches (of which credibility evaluation is only one aspect among many), short-term trainings that focus explicitly on aspects of credibility evaluation during Web search, and last but not least computer-based applications or search results interfaces that provide prompts or cues that help evaluate the credibility of online information during Web search. The different types of approaches will be compared and critically discussed in terms of both their effectiveness and limitations.