Submitted
by Tina L. Thomen
SLM
521: Telecommunications & The Internet
Fall
2005 (9/28/05) ~ Elective #2
Evaluating
Websites Checklist
Student’s Name: Date
of Evaluation:
Name of Website #1 Name of Website #2
Questions to Ask: |
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1. Who created this site? List name of person or
organization. |
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ü
Is
this a personal page or site (look for ~ or %, or users, members, or people) |
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ü
List
the type of domain (com,
org/net, edu, gov/mil/us,
non-US, other) |
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ü
What
expertise do the author(s) offer to the content of the site? |
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2. How well does this site provide quality
information? |
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ü
Is
the site biased or focused on one ideology? |
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ü
Does
the site offer diverse perspectives on relevant topics? |
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ü
Does
the site thoroughly explore its topic? |
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ü
Does
this site offer further exploration, or suggested readings, for related
topics? Give one example. |
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ü
Are
links annotated and helpful? |
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ü
Are
there many advertisements? |
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3. How effectively do you interact/learn
with this site? |
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|
ü
Are
the navigational designs user-friendly? Why or why not? |
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|
ü
Are
the graphics engaging or distracting? How so? |
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ü
How
do you rate the writing style for understandability? (Excellent, Good, Fair,
or Poor) |
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ü
Does
the site offer other interactive elements such as sound effects or animation? |
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4. What audience is intended for this
site? |
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ü
Is
this site age-appropriate for you right now? |
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ü
Does
this website offer broad appeal for diverse backgrounds and perspectives? |
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5.
How current is this site? |
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ü
When
was this site last updated? |
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ü
Do
most of the links still work? |
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6.
What do others think about this site? |
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ü
Go to
www.alexa.com. What is this site’s
traffic rank? How many viewers? |
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ü
What
do the reviews say at www.alexa.com? |
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ü
Go to
www.lii.org. Copy & paste each URL in the search
field. Did you find this site in www.lii.org?
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7.
Would you recommend this site to someone who needed to research this
topic (poetry)? |
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ü
Based
on your personal reaction, list this site’s primary strength. |
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ü
Based
on your personal reaction, list this site’s primary weakness. |
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Evaluating
Websites Checklist (Completed Sample)
Student’s Name: Tina Thomen Date of Evaluation:
Name of
Website #1 Name of Website #2
Questions to Ask: |
1. Who created this site? List name of person or organization. |
The |
Created by Craig Nicholson, a former pilot and inspirational
speaker who began site in 2000. |
ü
Is
this a personal page or site (look for ~ or %, or users, members, or people) |
Not a personal site |
Yes, all poems and content maintained by Craig Nicholson. |
ü
List
the type of domain (com,
org/net, edu, gov/mil/us, non-US, other) |
.org – a non-profit organization. |
.com – copyright by Craig Nicholson, 2000-2005 |
ü
What
expertise do the author(s) offer to the content of the site? |
Overseen by a Board of
Directors. Bios of 14 staff members
provided in “About Us.” section.
Experiences of staff include Bachelors & Masters degrees in English/Poetry/Writing. Several served for other non-profits and
had own writings published. Many
taught at college level. |
Nicholson has been a
commercial pilot after resigning from the Air Force. He graduated high school in 1975, with no
college education or teaching experience.
His only published writings appear on this website. His hobbies are
photography and spirituality. |
2. How well does this site provide quality
information? |
|
|
ü
Is
the site biased or focused on one ideology? |
No, several poetic
schools of thoughts (31 movements) are represented, including multicultural
selections of the |
Yes, Nicholson founded the teachings of the Ascended Masters
in 1981 and the poetry focuses on this spiritual ideology. |
ü
Does
the site offer diverse perspectives on relevant topics? |
The site provides 31 different poetry debates by 31 young
writers and visitors to the site can write Letters to the Editor or create
their own essays. |
No – just one author contributes. He does address everything from poetry to
spirituality to geometry. |
ü
Does
the site thoroughly explore its topic? |
Yes, by offering info on poets, the movements, actual poems
(many examples from each poet), literary criticism and resources for both
educators and students. Site is
devoted to poetry. |
In Nicholson quest for balance, he strays between poetry and
geometry, without having any expertise to justify the information. His poetry represents only his views on a
few topics. |
ü
Does
this site offer further exploration, or suggested readings, for related
topics? Give one example. |
Yes, it suggests various anthologies and online resources
such as Poetry Slam, Inc and a Glossary of Poetic Terms. The further readings and links range from
academic to creative. |
Yes, Nicholson provides many links to ideological sites that
support his views about macrobiotics and reincarnation. |
ü
Are
links annotated and helpful? |
Yes |
Yes |
ü
Are
there many advertisements? |
No –one text box on home page for the poetry.org store. |
Not too many – 4 ads by google are
in main left-hand margin. |
3. How effectively do you interact/learn
with this site? |
|
|
ü
Are
the navigational designs user-friendly? Why or why not? |
Yes, 6 main tabs align top of screen; from any page you can
search by poet or title; within each page, site offers related poems and
topics on left-hand margin. |
Yes, left-hand margin contains all topics and remain there as
you enter other pages. |
ü
Are
the graphics engaging or distracting? How so? |
Engaging, I like the many pictures about the poets. For example, for each decade of Whitman’s
life, we can see how he transformed.
We see a photo of Allen Ginsberg when he
wrote “Howl” and later in his life. |
Not distracting but not that engaging. Graphics only appear at top of each page,
either as a photo that I do enjoy or as tacky clipart. |
ü
How
do you rate the writing style for understandability? (Excellent, Good, Fair,
or Poor) |
Excellent, Brief & concise. Each poetic movement is described in about
3 detailed paragraphs, rather than in long dialogues. |
Fair – the multiple uses of exclamation points (and parantheses) are tiresome and unprofessional!!!!! But understandability is fine. |
ü
Does
the site offer other interactive elements such as sound effects or animation? |
This site offers a “Listening Booth” where you can hear over
150 poems spoken, usually by the poets themselves. Poetry is meant to be heard as well as
read. |
I couldn’t find any. |
4. What audience is intended for this
site? |
|
|
ü
Is
this site age-appropriate for you right now? |
Yes. |
Yes, as long as I realize that this site does offer a
specific point of view. |
ü
Does
this website offer broad appeal for diverse backgrounds and perspectives? |
Yes, see above for explanations about all the diverse poetic
movements from all over the world. The
debates are open to anyone. |
No, only Craig Nicholson contributes to this site. Some of his links address only one-sided
perspectives on various issues. |
5.
How current is this site? |
|
|
ü
When
was this site last updated? |
2005 |
2005 |
ü
Do
most of the links still work? |
Yes |
About 50/50 |
6.
What do others think about this site? |
|
|
ü
Go to
www.alexa.com. What is this site’s
traffic rank? How many viewers? |
Rank: 55,199 Viewers: 23.5 million/week |
Rank: 1,289,744 Viewers: .45 million/week |
ü
What
do the reviews say at www.alexa.com? |
No reviews provided |
No reviews provided |
ü
Go to
www.lii.org. Copy & paste each URL in the search
field. Did you find this site in www.lii.org?
|
Yes |
No |
7.
Would you recommend this site to someone who needed to research this
topic (poetry)? |
Yes |
No |
ü
Based
on your personal reaction, list this site’s primary strength. |
Variety- online texts & audio |
Easy to understand -
visually & navigationally |
ü
Based
on your personal reaction, list this site’s primary weakness. |
Sometimes loads slowly |
Ideologically unbalanced (despite it’s primary goal about seeking
wholesome balance in life) |