To do this assignment, I first entered my key word, "styx" into the Google.com search engine. I received search results consisting of 247,000 sites. Of these sites, the most accurate and up-to-date one happens to be the Official website for Styx, www.styxworld.com. This site consists of a recent, though not complete, history of the band and a complete Discography of their albums. An abundance of information that is as accurate as can get, since one of the webmasters is Styx’s very own Tommy Shaw.

Two other sites, returned by Google.com that are very informative and progressively up-to-date are www.thegrandillusion.com and www.styxnet.com. Both contain the complete history and legal battles of the band not included on the official site, but they are both unofficial sites. That is, they are sites not maintained or approved by any member of the band.

I entered "styx" into the lycos.com search engine and ended up with over 492,000 sites to explore. Most of the sites, which deal with the band and not the mythic river Styx, are the same as the results I received with Google.com. There were a few exceptions. I found some official sites here for each band member, including http://www3.sympatico.ca/tommy.shaw, the official site for Tommy Shaw (in French and English) and http://chuckpanozzo.com, the official site for Chuck Panozzo. Both sites offer complete histories of that particular band member and of Styx, dating back to the beginning of the band. Both sites are accurate, having constant input and postings from that particular band member, and both sites are current and constantly updated. A true gold mind for the avid Styx fan, me!

Three sites received by using Google.com that I wouldn’t use to teach the current status of Styx would be http://www.nephilim.com/renegade, http://www.tiac.net/users/kat/Styx and http://www.stomachmonkeys.com/Styx. Though these sites offer a very good history of the band, none have been updated since 2001. This alone says that the authority of the site is deficient.

Three sites returned by lycos.com that I would not use, as an informational tool for teaching about Styx is http://www.lockgen.com/mystyx, http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/7139 and http://piecesofstyx.s5.com/index2.htm. Even though these sites are fairly up-to-date, they are based solely on one fan’s experience and knowledge of the band. There are no references in the history section as to where they obtained their information or permission from Styx or their management to post information relating to them. As an educational tool, I would steer clear from any kind of fan site.

Learning what I have from the Evaluating Websites module, I have been able to choose sites deemed appropriate to use as educational tools, and sites that should be rejected. One of the first assessment tools I used when viewing a site was relevance. While reading through the site’s introduction I was able to assess whether the site was for educational purposes or mainly for entertainment, and also if the main purpose was informational or promotional. As I stated before, www.styxworld.com is an official site for the band Styx, therefore the history stated is educational and true, what little there is. But there are also areas of the site that are meant to be for entertainment, such as a message board and chat room. But as far as the relevance assessment, this site would receive top scores.

The same would hold true for both http://www3.sympatico.ca/tommy.shaw and http://chuckpanozzo.com. Both of these sites are based on the knowledge and permission of that band member, so I would consider each site educational and informative, with some aspects being entertaining.

As far as the sites www.thegrandillusion.com and www.styxnet.com goes, both sites are "unofficial" but base their information on official sites such as the three listed above. That tells me that their relevance is acceptable enough for me to use for my teaching purposes.