Evaluating Web sites

The Web is "like the telephone system except there are computers instead of phones at the end. You can connect to the computer across the street or around the world, just like the phone system. You can get good information or bad information, talk on a party line, leave or get messages, get no answer, or get a wrong computer... The value or lack of value is in the files that people have put on a computer and made available. AND, just like a phone call, some of those files are valuable and useful and some are the equivalent of the 14th credit card offer you've received in one evening." 2

Web sites are as varied and reliable (or UNreliable) as the persons, corporations and institutions that produce them. Large portions of the Internet and the Web are unfiltered and unrefereed as to content or accuracy. Many professional-appearing sites are solely for commercial promotion and sales, the unreviewed efforts of individuals, or collections of outdated information. Still, there are hundreds of sites offering legitimate and useful information. The trick is to separate the wheat from the chaff.

This section lists a few criteria you can use for evaluating a web site. Some of the criteria may not be appropriate to every web site, especially personal or fan web sites.

You may download a simple form to use for evaluating a web site:

• Web site evaluation form (PDF)
• Web site evaluation form (Text)

Criteria for Evaluating a Web Site

1. Authorship, Affiliation & Authority.
   
   • Is the web site an individual effort or is it sponsored by an organization or company? What is the "domain" of the web site?
   • What are the credentials of the author or organization that produced the site? Is this information easy to locate?
   • Is contact information for the author or organization provided? Is this information easy to locate?

2. Purpose of the web site.
   
   • Educational.
   • Personal creativity (vanity publishing).
   • Fan or hobby-based.
   • Advertising/Sales.
   • Political.
   • Religious.

3. Objectivity & Bias.
   
   • Is information presented objectively or is there an obvious bias?
   • Is the bias clearly stated?
   • Is the bias appropriate?
   • What are they selling? Is promotion or advertising being presented as education?
   • Is the sole purpose of this web site the promotion of a particular belief, idea or political agenda?

4. Accurancy & Currency.
   
   • Is the information on the web site reliable and accurate? Is the appropriate credit given for non-original information? Is opinion clearly separated from verifiable fact?
   • Is the information on the site static, or is constantly updated? Is easy to tell when the information has been updated?
   • Are the links current? Are any broken? Is there a mechanism to report broken links?

5. Coverage.
   
   • How well is the subject covered? Is it cursory or in depth?
   • Are there links to other similar resources on the Internet?

6. Audience.
   
   • Who is the intended audience?
   • Is the level of information appropriate for your needs?

7. Design & Ease of Use.
   
   • Are the web pages messy?
   • Is the site easy to navigate? Is it easy to return to the "top" of the site, or to a table of contents?
   • Is the site well organized and logically arranged? Do you always know "where" you are?
   • Is a site-map available?
   • Is a search function available?
   • Are there grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors?
   • Are the background graphics (if any) plain enough for the text to be easily read?
   • Do the background and text colors make the page difficult to read or print?

• The "Barbarino Test"
  • Who created this web site?
  • Why did they create it?
  • Where are they located?
  • What are they trying to sell?

Guides to Evaluating Web Resources

• The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
  http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
• Critical Evaluation of Resources on the Internet
  http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/criticalevaluation/index.cfm
• Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
  http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/index.htm
• Evaluating Quality on the Net
  http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.html
• Gullible's travels: Marylaine Block shows how to teach students to guard against misinformation, disinformation, and spin on the net.
  http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA210719
  [Block, Marylaine. "Gullible's travels: Marylaine Block shows how to teach students to guard against misinformation, disinformation, and spin on the net.” (cover story). Library Journal, v127 i7 (April 15, 2002): pS12(3)]

• Evaluating Internet Resources: Factors to Consider
  http://phpartners.org/eval.html
  by Gale Dutcher, National Library of Medicine.
• Tips for Healthy Surfing Online: Finding Quality Health Information on the Internet.
  http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/content/tips.html
  by the Internet Healthcare Coalition.
• Guidelines for Medical and Health Information Sites on the Internet
  http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/283/12/1600
  Principles Governing AMA Web Sites. This is a good example of the criteria a medical information provider is using to ensure the quality of their web site. This article appeared in JAMA, March 22/29 2000, 283(12):1600-6.

• Internet Detective: an interactive tutorial on evaluating the quality of Internet resources
  http://www.sosig.ac.uk/desire/internet-detective.html
  An online tutorial to enhance critical thinking skills for evaluating web-based information.

Web Site Rating Guides

• Librarian's Index to the Internet
  http://lii.org/
  "The Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 7,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources."
• Health On the Net Foundation Code of Conduct for Medical and Health Web Sites.
  http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html
  The Health On the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) has been issued by the Health On the Net Foundation in response to the varying quality of medical and health information currently available on the World-Wide Web. The HONcode includes Principles, meant to be applied as guidelines, to help unify the quality of medical and health information available on the WWW. These Principles have evolved from discussions with Webmasters, patient support groups and medical professionals in several countries.