Real or Fake?: Ecopods

By Vivi

(This post has nothing to do with our topic, gender identity. It is my summary and opinion on a class assignment on distinguishing good and bad web content.)



    Today, in class, I partnered with YUTO to try and figure out whether a website relating to "ecopods" is actually real. At first glance, the website looked sketchy. There were pictures of acorns on the header and the title wasn't "ecopods" but "ARKA Acorn Urns". I was able to figure out that ecopods were biodegradable coffins that were meant to be ecofriendly. At that time, they were unavailable and were selling biodegradable urns instead. There was also no information on the price and just referred to other funeral sites. 

    However, after further digging on its reliability, I came to the conclusion that ecopods were real. On the website, they mentioned the designer of ecopods, Hazel Selina. I googled her to see if she was a legitimate person and found a BBC article talking about her accomplishments on ecopods. Also, I went and checked to see if the retail websites they showcased were accessible. Even though some of the names of these websites sounded made-up, I was able to access them. The website did have a way to contact them for any questions, too.

    I was able to learn through this assignment the importance of factchecking and crosschecking a website. Just because a website looks official, it doesn't mean that the content is trustworthy.



References:

Website for Ecopods: https://www.ecopod.co.uk/

Alternative funerals. (2004, February 9). BBC Inside Out. https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/southeast/series5/alternative_funerals.shtml



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