This articles focuses upon domain, accuracy, currency, and scope. Various domains can be counted upon for posting more or less reliable information. Social workers need to understand what they can and cannot assume about a website s quality from its domain. All social workers need to keep their knowledge base current and the web can offer the professional easy access to the latest information. While information on the web can be more current than that found in a professional journal, social workers cannot assume that this is the case.
Currency needs to be verified.
Likewise, social workers need accurate information and must avoid making decisions and planning client interventions based upon facts and not personal opinions or misinformation. While some personal opinions are easy to spot, others are more difficult to discern especially when the social worker is not an expert on the topic. The burden of accessing accuracy needs to be addressed quite seriously if inaccurate information is not to used to the embarrassment of the professional. And lastly, social workers will want to know something of the scope of the information posted on a website before using it. Depending on how the information will be used determines the scope of the information needed.