Page 214 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 7 Researching Your Message 181

for accuracy, the videos you fi nd on YouTube are only as valid as their original
source.

Blogs

Most of us are familiar with blogs (short for Web logs). They contain dated
blog (short for
entries in reverse chronological order and can range from serious commentary
Web log)
by experts to mere “ranting and raving” by just about anyone with an opin- A Web site that contains
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ion. Many blogs have a strong persuasive component, especially those related
dated entries in reverse
to politics. However, they also tend to contain many links to more reputable chronological order. They
mainstream media sources. Even blogs whose authors disagree with your point can range from serious
of view can be a valuable source of links. commentary by experts
The idea of using blogs in a speech brings us to an important distinction: fact to “ranting and raving” by
versus opinion. A fact is something that is verifi able as true. An opinion is a people with no particular
judgment by someone that is subject to dispute. qualifi cations.
For example, an Associated Press article reported that, according to the Na-
fact
tional Climatic Data Center, 2006 was the warmest year on record for the United
Something that is verifi -
States. At the same time, the article stated, “The center said it is not clear how
able as true.
much of the warming is a result of climate changes induced by greenhouse gases
and how much resulted from the current El Niño warming of the tropical Pacifi c opinion
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Ocean.” That the temperature in 2006 was the highest on record is verifi able, A judgment by someone
since scientifi c instruments were used to collect the data. The cause of the high that is subject to dispute.
temperature, on the other hand, is a matter of opinion. Even the experts dis-
agree. Thus, if speaking on this topic you would need to cite the qualifi cations of
those offering opinions—whether they come from a blog or a published source.
There are numerous blogs dealing with global warming and climate change.
Deciding whose opinions we should value is important in meeting the tests of au-
thority dictated by the CRAAP test. The problem with blogs is that anyone can
have one. We do not recommend citing blogs unless the source is clearly authori-
tative on the topic of your speech. Blogs often will have links to the biography or
credentials of the blogger. A speaker must do more than cite the name of the blog-
ger; the audience needs to hear why the blogger is a credible source on the topic.
One other aspect of blogs is that they are often the source for reports in tra-
ditional news outlets. If that is the case, they are really no more reliable than
any other rumor. The danger is that, if the news outlet relies on the blogosphere
rather than developing its own sources, misinformation may be spread. A recent
example of this occurred when a blog devoted to “outing” closet gay politicians
posted an item claiming that a well-known male politician had had sexual rela-
tions with at least three men (none of whom was named). A newspaper pub-
lished the allegations along with the politician’s denial. Nobody checked to see
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which version was true.

A Final Word about Evaluating Internet Information
The trickiest part of doing Internet research is knowing how to tell reliable from
unreliable sources. You can tell a lot from a Web site’s URL. Once you’ve used
a search engine such as Google or Digg to locate possible Web sites, look at the
URL for clues as to whether it is a legitimate source. 14
• Is it a personal Web page? You can usually tell from the URL because it
will often include a person’s name following a tilde (~) or percent sign (%).