A net surfer? Most probably you are. So how is your surfing experience? Do you get what you need when you need it? A good website addresses the basic needs of its target audience and provides factual and up-to-date information. Your goal when searching the Web is content, information on a given topic. To know whether you can trust a site's content, take a critical look at the site for certain characteristics that will make it worthy of your trust. The two points of your critique will be design (stability, clarity, navigation) and authority. If you arrive with positive impressions of the site's design and authority, then you can be more confident in the site's information content. A good design should be able to provide you with a stable address, meaning the URL should be the same as you expect it to be and not require you to exert extra effort to look for it again. It should present its information clearly so as to facilitate your faster use of the site. A goal of good design is to save the time of the user. Moreover, the site has to present the user with easier access to needed data through appropriate links and friendly navigation buttons to further enhance the user’s surfing experience. It would be very ideal if the site is able to provide the user with a variety of download formats be it in PDF, HTML or Plain Text format. Versions in other languages would be a welcome addition.
A site should give enough information about the author for it to be a reliable source of information. To determine the authenticity of a web information, you should know the relationship of the author to his topic. The more familiar he is with what he is talking about, the more reliable is the information he presents. Also, you need to decide if the author is sincere with what he says. Value will be added if pertinent information regarding the author’s personal background and affiliations is clearly provided in the site.
Content Once the site is accepted as responsible and reliable, you can get to the purpose of the visit: the retrieval of information. Your checks of authority and effective design imply that the information on the site is likely to be reliable. But, as with any other source, you should ask a few questions about content to be sure. · Scope: is the site's scope or its contents clearly indicated? From what you know independently, or can verify from other sources, is anything obviously missing from the site's content? Does the site place its information in the context of a broader field of knowledge? Is the information provided enough to satisfy the needs of a typical user? Does it provide adequate depth and detail? Is the information supported by sufficient evidence? · Audience: is the site's intended audience evident from the first page? Upon further inspection, is the information content of the site appropriate to that audience? · Consistency and Balance: is the information provided consistent with other known sources in the field? How did they get the information? Is a bibliography or citation provided? Is a balance of viewpoints on the topic presented? If the topic is controversial, is the bias of the site/author identifiable? Is the information free of racial and gender stereotypes? · Factual Information: is the information in the form of facts or data? Can you verify their accuracy? If the subject matter requires currency, does the site indicate how old the information is? A good web site should be able to provide the user with a hassle-free surfing experience and it should be designed to cater to the needs of the target audience.
