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Web Site Evaluation Project
Guidelines for Class PresentationsGeneral DescriptionFor this project, you want to pretend that you are about to design a Web-based service. The requirements of the project are: · The service should help a particular group of users to do a particular task by giving them the information they need · Try first to improve an existing Web-based service
For the purpose of the project, the class is divided into ten teams, at least three members in each. The team’s task is: · To find the best Web site available for the user group · To investigate the information behavior of members of the user group · To evaluate the Web site according to two major aspects: o Its quality as a Web site o Its ability to help the specific user group · To come up with some suggestions for improving the site, or for the design of a new service · To present the results of the team’s investigation in class Presentations should be no longer than 45 minutes. The date of your presentation will be decided upon on April 13, 2004.
Procedure 1. Create a team around a user group in which you are interested. Think about a user group in which you are interested and find other classmates who are interested in the same, or a similar, group. Examples of such groups are: · Journalists writing a story · Nurses working with patients · High school students doing homework assignments in a particular subject · Engineers solving design problems · Councilors for undergraduate students · Elementary school teachers preparing for classes · Craft people preparing for a show · Graduate students writing a thesis · Students looking for vacation places · Social workers working with runaway youth · Musicians looking for gigs · Flight attendants looking for a job
Important hint: To make your work easier, you want to select a group with which you are not familiar. For example, don’t select “musicians looking for a gig” if you are a musician yourself. At the same time, you want to find a group that is of interest to you, and to which you have some degree of access. Deadline: During class session on April 6, 2004.
2. Make a final decision about the user group.
Meet with your team members and come to a final and clear understanding about the user group and the task they want to accomplish. Then, send Hayden by email: · The group of users you selected · The names of your team members
Deadline: April 8.
3. Select a Web site that is useful to the members of the user group you selected.
Find the Web site that you think will best serve your users. You want to identify a site, rather than a single page. It should include a reasonable number of links, some to its own pages, and others to other sites. Deadline: April 15, or earlier.
4. Evaluate the quality of the Web site. In your evaluation, please consider the following criteria: o Purpose & Intended Audience o Authority o Nature of the domain o Inclusion of advertisements o Documentation o ways to get help o ways to learn about advanced features o Format o layout, fonts, effects (e.g., blinking, animation, sound) o size, number of graphics o Access and organization o navigation methods o search features o links o categories o Quality of Information o accuracy o completeness o language o who determines content o who creates content o Quality of services o updating o other services o Privacy
o Cost o Any fees for registration?
Record your evaluation. Later on you will integrate it with the second evaluation of the site. Deadline: April 27, or earlier. Deadline: Email to the class listserv the URL for the team’s Web site. By May 6. 5. Interview a representative of the user group. Each team member interviews one representative of the user group. The interview questions are coordinated among the team members. The interview takes no longer than half an hour and follows the questions and interview methods discussed in class. Each member then transcribes the interview he or she conducted. Deadline: April 27.
6. Create a description of the information behavior of your user group. Based on the interviews conducted by each of the team members the team constructs together a description of the information behavior of the user group, using the basic concepts discussed in class.
Deadline: During class sessions on May 4 and 6.
7. Evaluate how useful is the Web site to the users.
Now that you know the information behavior of your group of users, evaluate the Web site and its ability to support the users in performing their tasks. In your evaluation please consider how important each factor listed in #4 above will be to the user group you selected. In addition, consider how the content and the method of presentation are satisfactory (or not satisfactory) for this group.
Deadline: at least a week before your presentation date.
8. Combine the two evaluations (#4 & #7) into one presentation.
Create a presentation that evaluates the quality of the Web site in general and specifically its usefulness to the group of users.
Deadline: at least a week before your presentation date.
9. Consider how the Web site can be improved.
Based on your evaluation and on your knowledge of the information behavior of the user group, suggest ways in which the Web site could be improved for this group. You may also think about new ways to help this group.
Deadline: at least two days before your presentation date.
10. Prepare your presentation.
In your preparation, you want to take into consideration the time distribution among the parts of your presentation and the criteria according to which your presentation will be evaluated.
Approximate time distribution among the parts of the presentation:
Criteria for Evaluation: · Content
· Delivery
· Team Work
Link to Presentation Evaluation Sheet. Deadline: at least the night before your presentation date.
All team members will receive the same grade for the presentation.
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