Dear Moderator, Request to post on lisforum Dear All, I have noticed that some of the queries on lisforum are repetitive / common in nature, since usually being in the similar environment we face similar situations. Hence a simple suggestion / request. Can some of those responses (which have the chances of repeating ) be compiled /documented? For eg, I had requested for "EVALUATION OF WEB CONTENT". I am sure many of them would be interested to know or may need in future. For the purpose of easy referece, I have compiled the responses and put it at one place so that it becomes easier for moderator to just forward the mail. Can a system be developed so that automatically these queries gets responded directly to the user without circulating on the lisforum??? Any takers for this suggestion???? A. In recent time there has been a few works in this area. A review of such studies on web content analysis has been reported in an article "Content analysis of library web sites: A review" published in KELPRO Bulletin 10(2), 2006. B. There are organization in various subject areas which issues some guidelines for site. Eg. organization for health related sites. It is Health on the Net Foundation - http://www.hon.ch/ . They evaluate a health related site and give a certificate of authenticity. They evaluate a site on a set of eight parameters. They call these parameters as code of conduct. [ http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html ] 1. Authoritative We should consider who are the authors of site. Govt.; Academic and Research Institutions are normally given higer priority (Even Google Scholar follows that policy). 2. Complementarity Clear indication that Information supports, but does not replace professional help. 3. Privacy Good sites lists out their privacy policies in relation to information submitted (like emails etc) by users. Good sites should not pass on this information to third parties or use it for spaming its users. 4. Attribution Look for attribution statements. Good sites cite the source(s) of published information and publication and updation dates for its pages. The dates should not be system generationed - some sites give today's date automatically generated ( Take it a negative practice if this is to indicate date of information ). 5. Justifiability If any claim of benefits and performance is made then look for justification and methodology for arriving at such a claim. 6. Transparency There should be clear indication of organisation or people behind the site and what is the purpose of their site. Is it for bussiness, advocacy, intellectual intestest or lobbinging. Look for accurate email and other contacts. 7. Financial disclosure Identify funding sources. 8. Advertising policy Advertising as such may not be bad, some good site give quality information and sustain from advertising revenue - like newspapers and magazines. However what should be seen is that advertisements are clearly indicated and seperated from the main content. The information should be unbaised on the site and should not be influenced by sponsors or the adversitors. C. There are a variety of ways like user feedback, rank list comparison, etc. Research is in progress in these areas D. Criteria for evaluating the Web/Internet resources is: Accuracy - free from error and alteration Authority - credibility of author/publishing or sponsoring body Objectivity - creator and/or sponsor's point of view/bias Currency - timeliness of information Content - Scope and depth of material Design - style, structure and functionality Accessibility - availability of the resource E. Check the below URL. It may be of your interest. http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalbiblio.html F. The information contents on the web should be accurate, authoratative its objectivity and uptodate information (check the latest year or date of upgradation of the website which is always written at the bottom). check for the ownership of domain, writing style, reliabale information, error-free information. does the website has useful links to other webpages. G. For evaluating Web content ,one need to a methodology known as "content analysis" .there are lots of methodology available for content analysis.Many content analysis software available in open source ie drupal ,jumla etc ,you can use it for your analysis. H. Different authors have suggested different set oaf parameters to evaluate web content and/or results. Like F. W. Lancaster has suggested so many criterias to evaluate an information retrieval system. Some of those parameters may be applied to evaluate web content. List of Parameters Easy of Use Response Time Networkability Required Computing Environment/Platform Accessibility Archiving Authorship Coverage Currency Stability Search Fields and Search Facilities Value Added Searching Link to other resources Display of Results Indexing Help Features Documentation Browsability & Organization Hope this w'll help you. Regards, Vandana Karande Information Specialist Corporate Development Reliance Industries Mumbai Tel No. 22847139 "Confidentiality Warning: This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s), are confidential, and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, re-transmission, conversion to hard copy, copying, circulation or other use of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return email, and delete this message and any attachments from your system. 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