Evaluating website slide for session 3.pdf

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Evaluating Web Sites

Why is it important to evaluate Web

Sites?



Why is it important to

evaluate Web Sites? The quality of information on the Web varies.

Unfortunately, anybody can publish anything onthe Internet. They can print whatever they want and call themselves what they like - nobody

checks. Consequently, although there are someexcellent sources of information on the Internet,not every site can be relied upon to providereliable information.



Why is it important to

evaluate Web Sites?

Don't spoil your chances of getting a good

grade in an assignment by basing it on

poor quality information provided by

unreliable sites.Check every site which you intend to use

by answering the following questions

about it and if you are in any doubt about

it, then don’t use it!



7 Criterions

Authority

Accuracy

Coverage

Aim and Purpose of the Site

Objectivity

Currency Structure and Functionality



Criterion One: Authority

Is it clear who is responsible for the contents of

the page?

What authority does the individual or

organization have in their field?

Is any indication given of the person’s

qualification or is there a link to information

about the author or sponsor?



Criterion One: Authority

(Continued) Is there a contact name for following

up any queries you might have?

Is the site sponsored? If so by

whom? What is the domain in the URL? (eg

ac.uk, edu for educational or research

material, gov for government

resources, com for commercial

organisations.)



Criterion One: Comments

Anybody can put anything on the Web.

It is often hard to determine a Web Page’s

authorship.

The author’s qualifications are not alwaysgiven.



Criterion Two: Accuracy

Are the sources for any factual information

clearly listed so they can be verified in

another source?

Is the information free of grammatical,

spelling and typographical errors?

Is it clear who has the ultimate

responsibility for the accuracy of the

contents of material?



Criterion Two: Comments

Unlike print resources, Web resources

rarely have editors or fact-checkers.

Spelling mistakes etc not only indicate a

lack of quality control, but could be anindication that the content is inaccurate as

well.

At present there are no Web standards to

ensure accuracy.



Criterion Three: Coverage

What topics are covered?

At what level is the page written? How in

depth is the material?

Does the page offer anything that is not available elsewhere?



Criterion Three: Comments

Web coverage often differs from print

coverage.

Frequently, it's difficult to determine the

extent of coverage of a topic from a WebPage. The page may or may not include

links to other web pages or print

references.



Criterion Four: Aim and

Purpose of the Site

What is the aim of the site?

It is important to think about the purpose

behind a site being put on to the Internet.

The site could be a have been put on by somebody with “a bee in their bonnet”

about a particular topic.

It could have been put on as a spoof or asa hoax.



Criterion Five: Objectivity

Are there political, ideological or

other biases?

Is the information free of

advertising?

If there is any advertising on the

page, is it clearly differentiated

from the information content?



Criterion Five: Comments

You do not want to base an assignment on

something which has an extreme political

bias.

Nor do you want to base an assignment on material which is just advertising.



Criterion Six: Currency

When was the page written?

When was the page first placed on the Web?

When was the page last updated? Are the

dates of update clearly stated? If the material is presented in graphs and/or

charts, is it clearly stated?

How up to date are the links?

How reliable are the links, are there blind links or references to sites which have

moved?



Criterion Six: Comments

You do not want to base an assignment on

out of date material.

Remember, though that:

Publication or revision dates are not always provided.

If a date is given, it could be when the

material was first written, or when thematerial was first placed on the Web, or

when the material was last revised.



Criterion Seven: Structure and

Functionality

Is the structure and presentation of the site

relatively clear? Is it laid out clearly and

logically with well-organized subsections?

Can you navigate round it fairly easily?

Can visitors get the information they need

within a reasonable number of links?

Is there online help and guidance?

Can you get through to the site reliably and

quickly?



Criterion Seven: Comments

This section is more subjective than the previousones. In the States a survey asking people to ratethe layout of sites as either being “good” or “bad” showed that some sites were rated in both

categories. However, if you are going to be using a site often,

then it is important that you can navigate round the site easily and that you can get to theinformation you require with the minimum of

clicks.



Final Evaluation

Once you have checked a site against all

the criteria, you are in a position to decide

whether you would use it for an

assignment.



References

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: or, Why It’s

a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sourceshttp://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Evaluating website slide for session 3.pdf

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