Thursday, January 22, 2009

Day 10

Evaluating a chosen site

There are several criteria to evaluating a site whether it is effective or not in facilitating and helping the user to research on the topic. Some of the criteria are accuracy, currency, authority, coverage, propose, presentation and arrangement.

Because as discussed in earlier posts, website have different categories and the first thing when evaluating a site is to identify the type of website, whether if its an organisational, entertainment, personal or advocacy website. This is because an organisational website is more likely to be accurate than a personal website as the users of the organisational website may be experts in the areas of concern. Organisational websites also need to uphold the reputation

Being accurate means that the information provided is exact, properly documented and backed up. With this, information is more established and more reliable for the user. This is also a form of ethics because providing people with proper information is only right and inaccurate information would only mislead users and might produce negative results.

If the website is current and constantly updated, it shows that the website is contently active and the information is up to date. For the user, this would also mean that the information they extract would still be reliable and relevant.

If the website allows users to post articles and other forms of information, the profile and the background of the users should be provided. This would give other users and readers a brief idea of the authors and to allow them to evaluate if the authors are trustworthy or not.

Having a wide coverage of information would give users a better understanding and other relevant information on the topic. The depth and details of the information is also important as it provides more for the user to understand and comprehend.

Normally advocacy sites trnd to have a stronger purpose than the other sites. Its main objective is to convince or influence users to do or purchase something.

Having an organised and neat interface for the website would also mean that the website is well maintained this could be seen through the presentation and arrangement of the information.

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