Organization\'s Web Site, a Checklist

¶ … organization's Web site, a checklist of criteria provided by Management Center International Limited (1) represents a useful tool. We have selected those items of the checklist that best apply to Web sites or blogs created by service or governmental units rather than by commercial groups:

Is navigation of the URL intuitive? Is it difficult to navigate the Home Page and/or the site in general?

Size of home page should not be too large. "A user will only wait so long for a page to download."

"Pages should be easily readable, clear and easy to understand," uncluttered with text and images. "The font size needs to be large enough to be readable and clashing colors need to be avoided."

The user must quickly recognize that the site is of potential use to him or her. What the site is all about should be stated prominently on the Home Page.

Preferably, the site should be interactive, encouraging "user participation from the outset. There should be direct links to key action points immediately visible on the homepage."

Interest factor. "The goal should be to get the user to stay as long as possible and to come back to the site again."

Contact details. On the Home Page there should be a link to contacts for the organization and appropriate staff.

Using, on the Home Page, a statement from a top official or a figure of some status lends credibility to the site and also helps to establish rapport.

Using this tool, we will assess a Web site's effectiveness in explaining the purpose of its source; we shall look at the sites of two non-commercial groups, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Hunger Project.

Formed in 1948, many purposes were stated for the Organization of American States. However, under pressure from its dominant member, the United States, the primary thrust -- though a somewhat covert one -- became fighting Communism wherever it cropped up within any of the member states. (the year, 1948, marked the approximate beginning of the Cold War.)

What is the purported purpose of the organization today, now that communism is dead? That should be revealed at its Web site, http://www.oas.org/en/default.asp.

Its Home Page is a rather cluttered affair; no particular block of content among the many pops out at the reader. The closest that the page comes to some excitement is a rotating photo slide show, the photos typically showing conference participants sitting around conference tables. Here, too, like the content, there is little to attract the viewer.

Navigate to a menu line in the upper right corner of the Home Page. Faint and in a small type font, it's not immediately obvious. With the cursor, hover over the first listing, "About the OAS." This opens a drop-down menu whose second listed item is "What We Do." Clicking on that brings up a page with this statement:

The OAS uses a four-pronged approach to effectively implement its essential purposes. The Organization's four main pillars -- democracy, human rights, security, and development -- support each other and are intertwined through political dialogue, inclusiveness, cooperation, and legal and follow-up instruments that provide the OAS with the tools to maximize its work in the Hemisphere.

Below that, there are links to "Political Dialogue," "Cooperation," "Follow-Up Mechanisms," "Juridical Heritage," and "Topics." Clicking on the "Cooperation" link takes the reader to a page where one finds this paragraph:

The OAS provides critical support to member states in building institutional and human capacity to meet new challenges. For example, the General Secretariat has worked with member states, at their request, to help implement technical reforms of their electoral systems. It has also provided training for government officials in areas as diverse as trade negotiations and natural disaster mitigation. OAS training programs and scholarships have given many citizens of the region the opportunity to develop skills that they can put to use in their home countries.

On the OAS Home Page, there is also a tab labeled "Get to Know Us." Clicking on it brings up this statement:

The Organization of American States is the premier regional forum for political discussion, policy analysis and decision-making in Western Hemisphere affairs. The OAS brings together leaders from nations across the Americas to address hemispheric issues and opportunities. Together, they seek to build cooperation among states and advance a common regional agenda on democratic governance, human rights, multidimensional security, and sustainable development.

Now, what specific actions does the OAS perform? Going back to that "What We Do" page and opening the "Topics" link brings up an alphabetized list under this statement:

The OAS supports the efforts of its member states aimed at reducing poverty and achieving economic development. It contributes to strengthening democracy and governance in the Hemisphere, to confronting threats to hemispheric security, and to defending the rights of the citizens of the region.

Clicking on the first listing in that list, "Actions Against Corruption," puts one on a page with the link "Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition." Go there to find:

The public component of the Network (the site you are currently on) is a virtual library which provides legal information related to mutual assistance and extradition for the 34 OAS member states. By clicking on a country in the left-hand column, you can view a description of the country's legal system, link to its basic legal documents (Constitution, criminal code, etc.), and read the text of bilateral and multilateral treaties related to mutual assistance in criminal matters and extradition.

So, if the reader is willing to put in a fair amount of work searching, he or she can discern the purpose of the OAS and also discover the existence of at least one virtual library. Trying to determine what the OAS has accomplished, specifically, in such areas as, say, fighting poverty -- one of its stated missions -- is more difficult, time consuming, and less productive.

How does the site match our criteria? Navigation is easy only for someone who has a great deal of experience using the Internet; it is not intuitive. The Home Page loads quickly, but this reporter is using a very fast connection. Pages are neat; however, there is definitely too much text, and it's printed in fonts that are too small for easy readability.

As this reporter set an easy task for himself, finding what the OAS is all about, he found the site useful to that purpose. Also, he discovered that, with some digging, the site could provide a wealth of information of potential use to him.

There is a moderate degree of interactivity, most of it provided by numerous links, and videos and photo slides are accessible. There are no attempts to draw the reader into discussions or surveys. As to the interest factor, the site would be interesting only to a political science wonk; it's dry as dust. No figures, with or without household names, appear on the Home Page. At the bottom of the Home Page, where such things are usually listed, is a "Contact Us" link.

In sum, this site makes negligible attempts to make itself attractive to the average person. Grade: C-. Contrast this to a site belonging to a U.N. consulting agency, the Hunger Project. Its Home Page, while no more brilliant than the OAS Home Page, is a good deal simpler, less cluttered. Its link, "What We Do," is readily found in a menu at the top of the page. Clicking on it takes one to:

The Hunger Project is a global, non-profit, strategic organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger.

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Hunger Project seeks to end hunger and poverty by empowering people to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build better futures for their children.

The Hunger Project carries out its mission through three essential activities: mobilizing village clusters at the grassroots level to build self-reliance, empowering women as key change agents, and forging effective partnerships with local government.