UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) Website

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/

On 31 October 2010, I completed Assignment 4 in which I evaluated the credibility of UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR) website (Report Team, 2010). At that time, I said I believed the website met the credibility criteria set by the UC Berkeley Library web document, Evaluating web pages: Techniques to apply and questions to ask (University of California Berkley Library, 2010). I noted that the domain was UNESCO.org, one of the most influential education organizations in the world. The website’s many links were mostly unbroken, EFA’s mission and goals were clearly displayed, and contact information was available. All things considered, I was satisfied in October that the EFA GMR website was credible.

Today, 21 November 2010, I can still say that I believe the EFA GMR website is as credible as can be expected of a worldwide, multinational organization. It is not possible for me to double check the countless national education statistics (“Statistics,” 2010), background reports (“Background papers,” 2010), or regional resources (“Regional resources,” 2010) found on the website. Nevertheless, the EFA GMR website splendidly fulfills all the requirements set forth by the Berkeley Library (2010), and I have attached the worksheet that accompanies Evaluating web pages: Techniques to apply and questions to ask (2010).

I still defend the credibility of the EFA GMR website based upon my updated analysis. UNESCO states that its reason for publishing the EFA GMR is to be “an authoritative reference that aims to inform, influence and sustain genuine commitment towards Education for All.” (“The Report and EFA,” 2010) While the report is assembled by a large group of people whose biographies and email addresses are readily available (“Report team,” 2010), the editor is Andrew Johnston, a New Zealand poet, critic and former newspaper editor; before editing the EFA GMR, he ran his own consulting firm, LanguageAid.org, that helped workers with international agencies write more literate reports (Johnston, 2010), and Johnston and his consultancy are mentioned in 12 links on Google. The EFA GMR is mentioned on 807 mostly education, news and governmental blogs, while UNESCO’s Education for All program is mentioned on over 108,000 blogs (“Google Blog Search,” 2009); I was repeatedly unsuccessful in using the Link utility to find blogs that link to EFA GMR, but I did use Google to find that 12,395 websites link to EFA GMR which is down by almost 3,000 from October. I found only old links to EFA on www.lii.org (now called ipl.org), infomine.ucr.edu, and about.com. I also found that the UNESCO, EFA, and EFA GMR websites are very open about their bias: they promote worldwide educational equality, gender equality, and similar goals.

References

Background papers. (2010). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved November 22, 2010, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/background-papers/

EFA GMR report team. (2010). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/report-team/

Google Blog Search. (2009). Retrieved from http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en

Johnston, A. (2010). Johnston biography page. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/report-team/johnston/

Regional resources. (2010). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/regional-resources/

Report and EFA. (2010). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/the-report-and-efa/

Report Team. (2010). EFA Global Monitoring Report. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/

Statistics. (2010). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/statistics/

University of California Berkley Library. (2010, April 23). Evaluating web pages: Techniques to apply and questions to ask. University of California Berkeley Library. Retrieved from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html