The Credibility of the Information in the Article - Essay Example

Assessing the writing situation Topic number appears simple – my work will be simple – to determine the credibility of the information in the article given in the light of the human rights watch report My writing will be for a general audience I will need to re-read the human rights watch report again I will also need to find out what makes information credible and then use that framework for assessing the article in question The internet will be a great destination to search for this what I require to complete the assignment Planning Sheet I will follow a two step assessment of the credibility of the article – in the first step I will find out if the article’s source is credible and the second step I will compare head-on the claims of the article and those in the human rights watch report. In this case, the human rights watch report will be yardstick for credibility. Significantly the Framework to be used in checking the credibility of the article and the information therein is Fogg’s credibility framework, however other sources will also be consulted and they include University of Oregon Libraries website and George Mason University website. Other sources that will be required to ascertain the information in the article are as follows 1 – The Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT ) official website 2 – The US Department of State: Diplomacy in Action official website 3 – The Government of Qatar online Directory official website 4 – The Peninsular official website Drafting – First draft Framework chosen is Fogg’s Framework of Credibility This framework has four examines credibility of a web page from four angles. For a site to be credible it should progressively meet the four types of credibility – presumed, reputed, surface, and earned credibility. Presumed credibility: makes use of general assumptions. The credibility is simply formed because of what the site declares. For instance, a site may claim to be the official site for a given event. The site may also claim that it is using information from a reputed institution. The claims that a site makes may make a site appear credible however it is warned that more should be done to ascertain such credibility. Reputed credibility: this credibility is obtained when we are referred to it by a person we know for instance out instructors, other students or parents. The assumption here is that they used the site and found it to be quite useful and that is why they are making referrals. However, even with such a referral a site needs to be personally tested for credibility. This credibility can be used as a way of getting to the most credible sites in the shorted time possible without necessary wasting much time browsing around. Surface credibility: this is viewed as the most important credibility of the three. It is this credibility determines if a person will use a web page or not. If on looking at a site the first impression is negative then there is a likelihood that the site will be left. Surface credibility is based on quick evaluations. Earned credibility: this famed as the most important of the four types of credibility. Earned credibility takes time to gain and because it is build over time. It depends on a computer user frequency. Factors to consider in assessing the credibility of the article in question I will consider a number of factors in assessing the article that is the subject of this question (I will consider the site appearance, source of the article)….I will simply try to apply Fogg’s credibility framework to the site and see the results I will also try to logically analyze the claims that are made in the article. I will try to find out if the claims made are consistent with credible sources and also see if the claims hold any logic. Revising – Second draft Introduction The article to be assessed appeared in The Gulf Times on Thursday April 4th. The assessment is to be made in the light of a human rights watch report that has already been read. The main task is to find out how to what extent is the information presented in the article credible. The benchmark for the credibility of this information will be on the human rights watch report and also on some framework for identifying credible sources of information. The first step will be assessing whether the source of the information is credible. This is important because if the source of the information is not credible then as well the information presented in that source will not be credible. After assessing the credibility of the source of the information, the information presented will be compared to what is said in the human rights watch report. The two step analysis will credibly assess the article. Assessing the Article/information Source and Issue This is the step in assessing whether the article presented by Hamza Jilani in the Gulf Times newspaper is credible. It is important to determine whether the source is credible first because that will be an indication of the credibility of the information therein. If the source is credible chances are that the information presented will be equally credible. Using the credibility Fogg’s credibility framework as suggested by Maria Mattus, this can be done in four ways. The first two aspects of the Fogg framework (presumed credibility and reputed credibility) may not give a credible position of the credibility of the article so we the third aspect of the framework, that is, the surface credibility of the source (Mattus 1). The source for this information is Gulf Times. Being a known news agency it reports what happens and therefore up to this level we realize some credibility in the article. Earned credibility may not apply for this case because I am not frequency user of the Gulf Times therefore we stick to the third aspect of the framework which has already given us a positive rating. It will also be important to determine the credibility of the source of the information apart from the source of the article. The information source is Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT 1). Application of the Fogg framework to this website alongside the views proposed by George Mason University and Oregon University Libraries, gives a net positive rating to the website of this organization (Mattus 1; George Mason University 1; Oregon University Libraries 1). However, it is worth doing some more digging about this organization. According to the Government of Qatar, this organization is registered as a private foundation with a purpose of fighting human trafficking within Qatar (Government of Qatar 1). The Peninsula (a local news agency) reported Qatar government involvement in the activities of this organization (The Peninsula 1). This shows the body is legitimate and is recognized by the government thus what it says is more likely to genuine. Lastly we need to determine whether the issue that the organization claims to be addressing really exists specifically whether human trafficking is such a big issue in Qatar. Many authoritative bodies have proved these claims to be true (US Department of State 1; Human Rights Watch 1). Therefore the organization is addressing issues which are existent. Assessing the claims of Organization So far from the first assessment above, the credibility levels are shown to be high. The most important part was that the organization is legitimate and recognized by the Qatar government and the issue it is addressing are existent not made up stories. This session will put to test the claims of the organization in the light of the human rights watch report whereby the report will act as the bench mark. Comparing the claims made in the Gulf Times article and the report by Human Rights watch group is more of an antagonistic task. This is because they exactly say the opposite of each. They seem to be on the extreme ends on the same issues. However, since we are taking the Human rights watch report as our benchmark we need to find some specks of credibility in the Gulf Times article otherwise we will throw it out as having false claims. The first claim made in the Gulf Times article is that people need to know their rights. The article seemingly suggests that if people are made aware of their rights then they are likely to stand up for their rights (Jilani 1). Ironically the Human rights watch report seems to suggest that there are no such rights in the first place and it goes on to give evidence by pointing out what happens to the migrants. The article that it carried its awareness campaigns in learning institutions, embassies and through conferences. To me this is more of a joke. Taking into consideration that the subject of this campaigns are largely immigrants, it seems that organizational campaign is crusading on the wrong grounds. How do you expect these immigrants to attend to conferences? The human rights watch report claims immigrant workers do not really have this much time. On a positive note the article seem to recognize there are violations of human rights in Qatar. The article specifically points out the vulnerability of the women and children who are not protected by law. This article does something positive about this by helping those who are abused get back to their home countries. The article also shows that the organization has set up hotlines to help the victims. The organization is presented in this article as very hard working. Reading through the article, one gets the opinion that the whole of Qatar is rapidly being transformed. This transformation seems to escape the eye of the human rights watch report. Since the human rights watch report is our yardstick, the best we can say about this organization is that it is overstating its achievement or more politely its actions are yet to yield fruits which can be felt. Therefore, in the light of human rights watch report, the information in the report is not credible. Editing – Peer editing Introduction The article to be assessed appeared in The Gulf Times on Thursday April 4th. The assessment is to be made in the light of a Human Rights Watch report that has already been read. The main task is to find out to what extent the information presented in the article is credible. The benchmark for the credibility of this information will be the human rights watch report and also on the Fogg framework for identifying credible sources of information. The first step will be assessing whether the source of the information is credible. This is important because if the source of the information is not credible then as well the information presented in that source will not be credible. After assessing the credibility of the source of the information, the information presented will be compared to what is said in the Human Rights Watch report. The two step analysis will credibly assess the article and the information therein. Assessing the Article/information Source and Issue This is the first step in assessing whether the article presented by Hamza Jilani in the Gulf Times newspaper is credible. It is important to determine whether the source is credible first because that will be an indication of the credibility of the information therein. If the source is credible chances are that the information presented will be equally credible. Using Fogg’s credibility framework as suggested by Maria Mattus, this can be done in four ways. The first two aspects of the Fogg framework (presumed credibility and reputed credibility) may not give a credible position of the credibility of the article so we go for the third aspect of the framework, that is, the surface credibility of the source (Mattus 1). The source for this information is Gulf Times. Being a known news agency, it reports what happens and therefore up to this level we realize some credibility in the article. Earned credibility may not apply for this case because I am not frequency user of the Gulf Times therefore I stick to the third aspect of the framework which has already given us a positive rating. It will also be important to determine the credibility of the source of the information apart from the source of the article. The information source is Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT 1). Application of the Fogg framework to the QFCHT website alongside the views proposed by George Mason University and Oregon University Libraries, gives a net positive rating to the website (Mattus 1; George Mason University 1; Oregon University Libraries 1). However, it is worth doing some more digging about this organization. According to the Government of Qatar, this organization is registered as a private foundation with a purpose of fighting human trafficking within Qatar (Government of Qatar 1). The Peninsula (a local news agency) reported Qatar government involvement in the activities of this organization (The Peninsula 1). This shows the body is legitimate and is recognized by the government thus what it says is more likely to genuine. Lastly we need to determine whether the issue that the organization claims to be addressing really exists specifically whether human trafficking is such a big issue in Qatar. Many authoritative bodies have proved this claim (US Department of State 1; Human Rights Watch 1). Therefore the organization is addressing a real issue. Assessing the claims of Organization So far, from the first assessment above, the credibility levels are shown to be high. The most important part was that the organization is legitimate and recognized by the Qatar government and the issue it is addressing does exist. This session will put to test the claims of the organization in the light of the Human Rights Watch report whereby the report will act as the bench mark. Comparing the claims made by QFCHT with the Human Rights Watch report is more of an antagonistic task. This is because they exactly say the opposite of each. They seem to be on the extreme ends on the same issues – The Human Rights Watch report is the benchmark. The first claim made by QFCHT is that people need to know their rights. QFCHT seemingly suggests that if people are made aware of their rights then they are likely to stand up for them (Jilani 1). Ironically the Human Rights Watch report seems to suggest that there are no such rights in the first place and it goes on to give evidence by pointing out what happens to the migrants. QFCHT carried its awareness campaigns in learning institutions, embassies and through conferences. Taking into consideration that the subject of this campaigns is largely the immigrants, it seems that the organizational campaign is crusading on the wrong grounds. How do you expect these immigrants to attend to conferences? The human rights watch report claims immigrant workers do not really have this much time. On a positive note QFCHT seem to recognize there are violations of human rights in Qatar. QFCHT specifically points out the vulnerability of women and children who are not protected by law. QFCHT further does something positive about this by helping those who are abused get back to their home countries. It has set up hotlines to help the victims obtain assistance free of charge. QFCHT is presented in the Gulf Times article as a very hard working organization. Reading through the article, one gets the opinion that the whole of Qatar is rapidly being transformed. However, this transformation seems to escape the eye of the Human Rights Watch report. Since the Human Rights Watch report is the yardstick here, the best we can say about this organization is that it is overstating its achievements or, more politely, its actions are yet to yield fruits which can be felt. Therefore, in the light of the Human Rights Watch report, the information in the report is not credible. That sounds harsh! Final Draft Customer Name ENGLF 1003 Professor’s full name Intercultural Communication Essay April 12, 2013 QFCHT – Too early to Blow you Own Trumpet Introduction The article to be assessed appeared in The Gulf Times on Thursday April 4th. The assessment is to be made in the light of a Human Rights Watch report that has already been read. The main task is to find out to what extent the information presented in the article is credible. The benchmark for the credibility of this information will be the human rights watch report and also on the Fogg framework for identifying credible sources of information. The first step will be assessing whether the source of the information is credible. This is important because if the source of the information is not credible then as well the information presented in that source will not be credible. After assessing the credibility of the source of the information, the information presented will be compared to what is said in the Human Rights Watch report. The two step analysis will credibly assess the article and the information therein. Assessing the Article/information Source and Issue This is the first step in assessing whether the article presented by Hamza Jilani in the Gulf Times newspaper is credible. It is important to determine whether the source is credible first because that will be an indication of the credibility of the information therein. If the source is credible chances are that the information presented will be equally credible. Using Fogg’s credibility framework as suggested by Maria Mattus, this can be done in four ways. The first two aspects of the Fogg framework (presumed credibility and reputed credibility) may not give a credible position of the credibility of the article so we go for the third aspect of the framework, that is, the surface credibility of the source (Mattus 1). The source for this information is Gulf Times. Being a known news agency, it reports what happens and therefore up to this level we realize some credibility in the article. Earned credibility may not apply for this case because I am not frequency user of the Gulf Times therefore I stick to the third aspect of the framework which has already given us a positive rating. It will also be important to determine the credibility of the source of the information apart from the source of the article. The information source is Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT 1). Application of the Fogg framework to the QFCHT website alongside the views proposed by George Mason University and Oregon University Libraries, gives a net positive rating to the website (Mattus 1; George Mason University 1; Oregon University Libraries 1). However, it is worth doing some more digging about this organization. According to the Government of Qatar, this organization is registered as a private foundation with a purpose of fighting human trafficking within Qatar (Government of Qatar 1). The Peninsula (a local news agency) reported Qatar government involvement in the activities of this organization (The Peninsula 1). This shows the body is legitimate and is recognized by the government thus what it says is more likely to genuine. Lastly we need to determine whether the issue that the organization claims to be addressing really exists specifically whether human trafficking is such a big issue in Qatar. Many authoritative bodies have proved this claim (US Department of State 1; Human Rights Watch 1). Therefore the organization is addressing a real issue. Assessing the claims of Organization So far, from the first assessment above, the credibility levels are shown to be high. The most important part was that the organization is legitimate and recognized by the Qatar government and the issue it is addressing does exist. This session will put to test the claims of the organization in the light of the Human Rights Watch report whereby the report will act as the bench mark. Comparing the claims made by QFCHT with the Human Rights Watch report is more of an antagonistic task. This is because they exactly say the opposite of each. They seem to be on the extreme ends on the same issues – The Human Rights Watch report is the benchmark. The first claim made by QFCHT is that people need to know their rights. QFCHT seemingly suggests that if people are made aware of their rights then they are likely to stand up for them (Jilani 1). Ironically the Human Rights Watch report seems to suggest that there are no such rights in the first place and it goes on to give evidence by pointing out what happens to the migrants. QFCHT carried its awareness campaigns in learning institutions, embassies and through conferences. Taking into consideration that the subject of this campaigns is largely the immigrants, it seems that the organizational campaign is crusading on the wrong grounds. How do you expect these immigrants to attend to conferences? The human rights watch report claims immigrant workers do not really have this much time. On a positive note QFCHT seem to recognize there are violations of human rights in Qatar. QFCHT specifically points out the vulnerability of women and children who are not protected by law. QFCHT further does something positive about this by helping those who are abused get back to their home countries. It has set up hotlines to help the victims obtain assistance free of charge. It seems also it has helped a number of victims go back to their home countries. QFCHT is presented in the Gulf Times article as a very hard working organization. Reading through the article, one gets the opinion that the whole of Qatar is rapidly being transformed. However, this transformation seems to escape the eye of the Human Rights Watch report. Since the Human Rights Watch report is the yardstick here, the best we can say about this organization is that it is overstating its achievements or, more politely, its actions are yet to yield fruits which can be felt. Therefore, in the light of the Human Rights Watch report, the information in the report is not credible. That sounds harsh! References George Mason University. Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources. George Mason University, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . Government of Qatar. Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking. Qatar Government, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . Jilani, Hamza. Qatar progressing in battle against human trafficking. Gulf Times, 2013. Web. Mattus, Maria. “Finding Credible Information: A challenge to students writing academic essays.” HUMAN IT, 9.2(2007): 1-28. QFCHT. Home page. Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . The Peninsula. Battle against human trafficking in top gear. The Peninsula, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . University of Oregon Libraries. Critical Evaluation of Information Sources. University of Oregon, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . US Department of State. Qatar. US Department of State, 2006. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . Read More