The internet article on security came from Microsoft website and the academic database article came from reputed publication Scientific American . Both articles come from reputed sources since internet article is hosted on corporate website owned by Microsoft which has a huge stake in internet security and the journal article comes from Scientific Journal which was accessed through research database on a domain owned by an academic institution.
While the author has been revealed in the Scientific American article and it is possible to learn more about the author who has also penned books on internet-related issues, same cannot be claimed about Microsoft article where the author is anonymous. Thus, it is not possible to evaluate the credibility of the author of the Microsoft article though one can reasonably assume the Microsoft article may have been carefully reviewed by the author’s colleague/s or superior/s.
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"Privacy and Security on the Internet".
Scientific American article is also relevant because it is less than old but it is not possible to determine the date at which the Microsoft article was published. In addition, there is no information on the article page as to when it was last updated. The Scientific American article was intended for print publication, thus, it has no links but Microsoft article does have links though all are to other topics hosted by Microsoft website. These links are not commercial in nature but rather intended to help readers gain more knowledge on related topics.
As far as the purpose is concerned, the Microsoft article was created for informative purposes. Microsoft has a huge stake in internet security, thus, the article is intended to promote safe web habits among the users. Scientific American article is intended to serve two major purposes; one is to promote dialogue about internet security and privacy and the other purpose is to introduce readers to some of the research insights into internet security and privacy.
Even though Scientific American article is more scholastic in nature and may have gone through rigorous peer review, Microsoft’s article also has high credibility even though the author is anonymous. Microsoft is one of the leading technology organizations and the company has decades of experience and data which must have benefitted the author/s who wrote the informational article.
But it is important to note that the fact an online article has quite close credibility to an article in a reputed scientific journal is more a rarity rather than a norm and there are several reasons for it. First of all, articles in reputed journals go through rigorous peer review system. Such articles are also written by authors with professional credibility and often cite sources from where the supporting information might have come. In contrast, online articles may or may not go through rigorous peer review and the relevancy of the article is also sometimes difficult to determine when the author is anonymous though domain of a leading organization does lend some credibility. As such, this article on Microsoft website has greater than average credibility as compared to most online sources.
- Lanier, J. (2013, November). How Should We Think about Privacy? Scientific American, 309(5), pp. 64-71. Web.
- Microsoft. (n.d.). Protect your privacy on the Internet. Retrieved June 29, 2014. Web.
