Domain Names

Domain names (or just "domains") tell us what sort of entity or person has created a web page or site.  Every web address, or URL (universal resource locator), contains a domain name.  Understanding domains is part of evaluating a web pages and web sites.

Four of the most common domains are the top-level domains .com, .edu, .gov, and .org.

 .com
This domain name indicates a commercial site.  For web sites in this domain the bottom line is the bottom line: They want you to buy something.  They may or may not provide you with useful and accurate information, but they always want money.  A site like BigCharts, for example, may provide much objective information about investing in stocks, but besides containing advertising, it also requires a subscription for some of the information.

 .edu
Colleges and Universities have for centuries been sources of objective research and information.  Of course, professors also want to make money, and they have their pet theories.  But perhaps more than any other domain, dot-edu sites provide solid and reliable information, based on the professional standards of the various academic disciplines.

 .gov
This domain includes government sites. For all government sites an important question to ask yourself is, are political statements being put forward―i.e., is the intent to persuade you that an opinion is correct―or are facts, figures, or other objective data being presented?  If you go to one of your senators' web sites (e.g., http://levin.senate.gov/) you will get a mixture of information and politics.  Besides getting the senator's address, committee assignments, and personal information such as how many children the senator has, you will also get political pitches for legislation he or she supports, and for the importance of all the senator does in Washington on your behalf.

Here, on the other hand, are examples of sources of relatively factual information:
   • studies on car safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/)
   • complete texts of court cases at the U.S. Supreme Court (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/)
   • straightforward information on pending legislation from Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov/)
   •  information about Great Lakes water levels at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/)
   • statistics from many branches of the federal government in the Statistical Abstract of the United States (http://www.census.gov/statab/www/).

 .org
The web site of the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/) uses the dot-org domain name in the traditional way.  It is an advocacy site that informs you about its humanitarian activities and tries to show that what the Red Cross does is worthwhile.  While it solicits donations and sells things like tee shirts to raise funds, it is not out to generate a profit for a board and stockholders.

But keep in mind that some sites have adopted the dot-org domain name while representing political parties, companies, industries, etc.  An example would be the Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org/).   It contains a great deal of information about types of insurance and the insurance industry, but its members are...insurance companies, who would like people to think well of them and buy their insurance.

A word of caution: .com, .net, and .org may be used by any entity.  Some non-profit organizations use .com instead of .org.  Some network-access facilitators use .com instead of .net.  And some commercial enterprises use .org. instead of .com.  Sometimes you have to look past the domain name to the content to figure out if the web site is using the domain names in a traditional, non-deceptive way.

Note also that an institution may allow individuals to put personal pages on its web site, without necessarily endorsing the content.  A personal web site is often designated by the symbol ~ (called a "tilde") after the domain but before a abbreviated version of the person's name.  Here is a link to  some examples.  Note the "web page disclaimer" near the top of the page: http://www.apu.edu/community/personalpages/facultystaff/

There are other some other significant domains.  Let's look at those next.