Evaluating a commercial human services website using Lesley University criteria

¶ … Web Page. Research properly analyze a web page. Search Internet identify a Web site intended a resource human services analyze site. This website I chosen: http://www.

Website evaluation is done to sort out the good sources of information from the junk that is on the internet. There is a criterion that is formally used to evaluate websites. The criterion as per Lesley University begins by looking at the purpose of the website, then the authority, objectivity, appropriateness and relevance, currency, responsibility, clarity, and lastly, the accessibility Lesley University, 2007()

The purpose of the site or webpage can be seen by looking at various aspects in the text or graphics of the website. This will help to place the site as commercial, personal, institutional, educational, informative, persuasive, entertaining, or a hoax. One can check the purpose of the website by looking at the website URL to find the top level domain of the website such as .gov for a government agency, .org for an organization, .com for a commercial site, .net for an internet service provider, .mil for a military site, .edu for an educational institution, etc. Lesley University, 2007.

Looking at the webpage being analyzed, it is seen that the website URL is weblocator.com. The Top level domain is .com therefore this is a commercial site.

Authority

The second factor to look at is the authority in the website or webpage. This is done by looking at who the author of the webpage is, what the author's credentials are, contact details of the author, any organizational or corporate sponsor for the webpage, how reputable the webpage or website is, whether there is a reference list, etc. Beck, 2009(; Lesley University, 2007)

. Looking at the webpage being analyzed, it is found that there is no information on whom the author of the webpage is. The credentials of the author are also not given, neither are his contact details. There is no information on any organizational or corporate sponsor who is sponsoring the website or webpage. Additionally, there is no reference list. However, the author has listed some valuable resources which the reader can visit to get more information on the subject matter. On evaluating the webpage for reputability, it is found that there is no way to determine its reputability since there is no information on the author of the webpage.

Appropriateness and relevance

The fourth factor is the appropriateness and relevance of the information on the website or webpage. Here, it is important to look at whether the content is appropriate for the subject being searched for and whether the level of writing of the content is appropriate for the study level of the students. It is also important to evaluate the website or webpage for its accuracy, completeness, mode of writing and relevance to the topic at hand Beck, 2009(; Lesley University, 2007)

. Under this evaluation factor, the webpage under evaluation shows that the information is appropriate for the subject of the Elder law in California. The information on the website is good for the college senior level and it is written with accuracy and completeness,

Currency

Under currency, here it is important to look at how up-to-date the information on the website is and when the page was last updated. It is also important to look at the difference in time between the date of creation and update Beck, 2009(; Lesley University, 2007)

. The webpage being evaluated does not have any dead links. However, it does not give any information on the date of creation and date of last update of the content.

Responsibility

Here, it is important to look at whether the authors have provided any information on their purpose of creating this content and any credit given for information used Lesley University, 2007.

The webpage under evaluation does not list any purpose of the information provided neither do they give any credit to sources used.

Clarity

Here, the information is looked at in terms of presentation, neatness, legibility, formatting, graphics, advertisements, organization and errors Lesley University, 2007.

Looking at the webpage at hand, it is found that the page is generally neat and has some form of organization into headings. There are no noticeable errors, both grammatical and spelling.

Accessibility

Here, it is important to look at how fast the site loads, whether navigation round the site is easy and whether the text is legible Lesley University, 2007.

Looking at the website at hand, we find that the page does load quite fast and navigation is quite easy. Additionally, the text is legible.

Conclusion

The webpage under evaluation does not fit to be a credible website for several reasons. One is that there is no information on the author of the webpage and how they can be contacted. Additionally, there is no information on the date of creation and date of update of the website. However, the website does fit the criteria of evaluation on several aspects. For example, it is neat and well organized and legible.