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.
