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Authority
Who created this information and are they qualified to discuss this topic?
Anyone may offer you advice or present themselves as an authority on a subject. But are they? Are they truly knowledgeable on the topic?
Information is provided by people and people are fallible. They can make mistakes. Many people have a genuine interest in helping others and wish to share what they know to minimize discomfort or confusion of others. However, well meaning people may unintentionally provide advice or information which turns out to not be true. People may lie or mislead to make money, to get a promotion, to keep their jobs, to feed their family. People may be affiliated with or work for organizations which may have an agenda and wish to persuade the public of the rightness of a particular position. Therefore, their employees may feel pressure to help further the organizations agenda and persuade you to the rightness of their message.
As a consumer of information, you must evaluate whether or not the author should be believed. If you are not an expert on the topic yourself, this is not always easy. However, there are methods you may use to make an educated guess.
First, you must identify who is the author. Does the source state who provided the information? Some Web pages do not. Occasionally, it is very difficult to discover who authored the information and the reader must do some investigation to find out. If the source or document itself does not say, readers may use a publisher's Web site, book reviews, Network Solutions, or other sources to learn who owns or created content.
Sometimes the author is an organization or agency. In this case, some person or group of people had to do the writing but probably did so on behalf of the organization, which assumes responsibility for what was written.
Universities and some agencies offer diplomas or certification as to the knowledge of a person. If you graduate from Indiana State University with a degree in Biology, potential employers and others can make assumptions that you have a sufficient level of knowledge of basic biology and have been trained on certain biology subject competencies. The Red Cross certifies people on their ability to perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Professional architects in the United States must acquire licensure, which requires a professional degree in architecture, a period of practical training or internship, and a passing score on all parts of the Architect Registration Examination. Many architects voluntarily seek certification by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).
Some people may have expertise without credentials. For example, Jay Leno, the comedian and ex-talk show host, has an intense interest in classic automobiles.
"Another aspect of this national support is the presence of a large corps of knowledgeable and active amateur archaeologists. Amateurs are an important part of the archaeological world in Denmark and contribute substantially to the study of the past. They are organized, involved, and busy. The amateurs, who number in thousands, publish a popular magazine and regularly assist professional archaeologists in a variety of ways." --What Danish Archaeology Means to Me. T. Douglas Price, Weinstein Professor of European Archaeology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Even if your source is produced by one person, that person may be affiliated with an institution, organization, or group which provides useful insight to their perspective.
For various reasons, sometimes you need to find out background information about a person. This is not always easy.
Have you ever kept a blog or Twitter account about yourself? Who could read it? Anybody or only your friends? What information did you give about yourself? What did you decide not to tell? Why? Did your friends tell stories about you? Did your friends point out insights into your personality (i.e., what you like, things you say, what your opinion might be)?
Some people disclose a lot of personal information. They might have a personal website. And author might have biographical information at the beginning or end of their book or article. Or they might have an entry in the biographical source Who's Who in America. Some tell you every little thing they do on Twitter or
Some people have a strong wish to preserve their privacy. They don't want you to know where they live or what they do.
If no author is displayed for a webpage, then the responsibility for the accuracy and reliability of the content defaults to the website.
There are sources available to look up who owns a website.