A usability analysis of municipal government website home pages in Alabama

This study uses e-government and corporate usability benchmarks to compare municipal government websites in Alabama and examine correlations between usability scores and population, as well as usability scores and per capita income. E-government in Alabama is on the rise. At the state level, in 2008, Alabama ranked in the top 10 states in e-government after three years of being in the bottom three. Improvements in state-level e-government have not, however, necessarily trickled down to the municipal level, and this study found no correlation between usability and a municipality's population or per capita income. Indeed, the study reveals substantial problems with municipal website usability, including accessibility; such problems could erode the web credibility of municipalities trying to engage citizens, to create or strengthen sustainable practices, and to attract companies that can bring new jobs and improve the local economy.     

国外开放存取科技论文网站的可用性特点和启示

文章选取开放存取学术出版联盟的第一类正式会员为研究对象,对具有代表性的开放存取科技论文出版网站进行了可用性调研,涉及页面布局、导航、内容组织和获取、检索与移动友好五个方面,以统计分析为主,结合在线评估工具,分析了国外开放存取科技论文网站的可用性特点,并总结了我国开放存取科技论文网站建设应借鉴的经验与吸取的教训。     

Search Engines for Tomorrow's Scholars,Part Two

In 2009, the Technology Development Team at the New York-based Information Delivery Services (IDS) Project created IDS Search, a consortial catalog that promoted the group's collection and interlibrary loan features equally with the local collection and local availability. Because the success of IDS Search relied heavily on users fully understanding the different types of availability, the authors conducted usability studies to investigate how well users could determine how to locate materials and understand the availability of items. Eye-tracking analysis was used to determine how well users understood availability, related text, and meanings of terms. The studies found that users had difficulty navigating the functions of the online public access catalog (OPAC) and could not easily differentiate among items that were immediately available, available in a few days, or available online as a preview.     

An Evaluation of Public Library Websites: Describing Children's Services in Japan

ABSTRACT. This study is the first to investigate the amount and type of information about children's services described in Japanese public library websites, with particular reference to the Web pages intended for children, and the extent to which usability is taken into account in the design of these websites. Further, the study analyzes what kinds of content are more prevalent in children's services as described in Japanese public library websites in comparison with the actual delivery of these services. Finally, the study considers the usability of children's Web pages from the perspectives of how easy they are to read and understand.     

Revisiting Alabama state website accessibility

Potter's (2002) accessibility review of over 60 Alabama state-level websites was designed to establish a baseline for monitoring the state government's progress on online accessibility. The study found significant room for improvement. Only 20% of the reviewed sites met Section 508 requirements, and only 19% of the sites met WAI Priority 1 accessibility standards, based on a combination of automated evaluation and manual inspection of the code. In 2006, Alabama adopted ITS 1210-00S2: Universal Accessibility, which offered basic guidelines to assist developers in complying with Section 508 requirements. The current study revisits the state home pages that Potter evaluated to see how accessibility levels have changed over the years, particularly with the state's adoption of ITS-530S2. Like Potter, the current analysis is based on a combination of automated testing and a manual review of each page's HTML. The study found that compliance has not improved substantially since Potter's analysis and reinforces the idea that the presence of a standard does not correlate with compliance.     

Providing a clearer view: An examination of transparency on local government websites

This study examines the role of content professionalism and public outreach, along with partisanship in the availability of online local public information. Comparing county and school board websites in Florida, the author suggests that online public records serve as a proxy for the entity's overall level of transparency. A content analysis of 134 local government websites reveals that school boards had a higher level of transparency than counties in Florida, while websites with a more professional look and those located in communities with a high Republican proportion had greater transparency than others. Finally, implications for scholars and government leaders are discussed.     

Usability and credibility of e-government websites

Albeit e-government has seen a steady growth, it can still benefit from a better user engagement, and usability and credibility are believed to be among the factors that influence such engagement. This paper presents an empirical study that evaluates the usability and credibility of current e-government websites and looks at user performance while using these websites. The study is based on a heuristic evaluation which aims to capture users' perception of usability and credibility. Our results show a close correlation between usability and credibility, as e-government websites with a high usability were perceived as having higher credibility, and vice versa. A number of usability and credibility weaknesses were identified on our sample of e-government websites.     

我国数字档案馆门户网站服务现状研究及优化建议——以全国示范数字档案馆官网为例

文章以档案信息网络服务为视角,在重新汇总《数字档案馆系统测试办法》中关于网站的评分指标的基础上,采用随机多次访问的方式,调查了29个全国示范数字档案馆门户网站的建设和运行情况。经分析,发现全国示范数字档案馆门户网站在网站链接可使用性、网站的定位、网站内容运行和维护等方面存在问题,提出明确网站定位、深挖数字档案内容、改善网站可使用性、提升用户使用体验等优化建议,以期为我国数字档案馆从建设阶段进入应用阶段的可持续发展助力。     

Crisis Leadership and Hurricane Katrina: The Portrayal of Authority by the Media in Natural Disasters

This study used the perspectives of Kenneth Burke to reveal how the media characterized the crisis responses of legitimate authorities during the natural disaster that affected the residents of New Orleans and its surrounding area as a result of Hurricane Katrina. A textual analysis of 52 articles drawn from the New York Times and the Times-Picayune of New Orleans from August 29 to September 3, 2005, indicate that positive and negative terms clustered around the military, the Department of Homeland Security, President Bush, the federal government, and the local government. The findings suggest that the media stepped outside their role of objective observer and assumed a privileged position to point blame toward those with legitimate authority. This positioning implicitly empowered the media to evaluate crisis responses and create a view of reality reflecting their perspective. Understanding how the media create images and depictions can affect how authorities frame their initial crisis responses.     

层次分析法在B2C电子商务网站评价中的应用

首先在介绍层次分析法原理的基础上,确立B2C电子商务网站评价指标体系,即以B2C电子商务网站的质量为评价的总体目标,该目标包括网站的有用性和易用性两个二级指标,并可细化为14个具体指标。其后运用层次分析法对指标进行量化,建立起电子商务网站评价的量化指标体系。     

Wikipedia versus Encyclopedia Britannica: A Longitudinal Analysis to Identify the Impact of Social Media on the Standards of Knowledge

The collaboratively edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia is among the most popular websites in the world. Subsequently, it poses a great challenge to traditional encyclopedias, which for centuries have set the standards of society's knowledge with their printed editions. It is, therefore, important to study the impact of social media on the standards of our knowledge. This longitudinal panel study analyzed the framing of content in encyclopedia entries of top Fortune companies in Wikipedia and the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica in 2006, 2008, and 2010. Content analyses of the length, tonality, and topics of 3,985 sentences showed that Wikipedia entries were significantly longer, were more positively and negatively framed, and focused more on corporate social responsibilities and legal and ethical issues than the online entries of the traditional encyclopedia, which were predominantly neutral. The findings stress that the knowledge-generation processes in society appear to be fundamentally shifting because of the use of social media collaboration. These changes significantly impact which information becomes available to society and how it is framed.     

OPENING THE GATES

In the light of newspapers’ struggle to maintain readers and viability in the digital era, this study aims to understand better how newspapers in Latin America are responding to this shift toward user-generated and multimedia content. Using a content analysis of 19 newspapers from throughout Latin America, this study found that newspaper websites are bringing citizens into the virtual newsroom on a limited basis, allowing them to interact with each other and with the newspaper but only to a modest degree. Thus, while all newspaper websites have some multimedia content and most have Facebook and Twitter accounts, few allow readers to report errors, submit their own content, or even contact reporters directly. Further, most online newspaper articles include photos, but video, audio and hyperlinks rarely are used. These results further our understanding of how online interactivity is changing the traditional role of journalists and how Latin America is responding to the challenge.     

移动阅读环境下开放存取科技论文网站的可用性建设

随着移动技术的发展,移动阅读受到关注,提高开放存取科技论文网站可用性具有重要意义。调查发现目前国外开放存取科技论文网站的移动可用性总体不够理想。移动网站可用性建设要遵循一定的要求,主要包括高兼容能力、实施优化、保持简洁、关注移动用户与环境特点。移动网站建设不应以“缩小化”策略将桌面网站迁移到移动平台上,而应进行创新设计。结合开放存取的特点,本文从网站设计、交互功能、导航、搜索与资源等方面探讨了开放存取科技论文网站的移动可用性建设。     

学科核心网站综合评价指标体系和测评方法初探

分析了文献计量学方法以及核心期刊评价指标对学科核心网站评价指标选择的借鉴意义，探讨了由重要搜索引擎被索度、评价平台链接点被访量、专家智能评价、网上用户评价指标构成的、定量与定性相结合的学科核心网站综合评价指标体系及测评方法，提出了建立学科核心网站评价平台(网页)的构思，对于开展学科核心网站评价具有重要的方法论意义。     

A Student-Focused Usability Study of the Western Michigan University Libraries Home Page

Abstract

Three sources indicated the need for designing a usability study of the Western Michigan University Libraries' Web site: the results of the 2004 LibQUAL+ survey; the completion of the library's new strategic planning document; and suggestions by library customers and library staff. LibQUAL+ findings and customer comments suggested customers desired more independent use of the library site; better and easier electronic access to library resources, allowing customers to search for and find content on their own; and improved online help. A usability analysis was conducted with graduate and undergraduate students. The results from a task-based questionnaire, observations by investigators, and follow-up discussion sessions are presented. Investigators found usability testing alone may not be adequate to gain the qualitative data necessary for ascertaining the site's ease of use and usefulness and that a multipronged approach might be needed when evaluating a library Web site.     

中美公共图书馆英文网站跨文化适应度的比较研究

论文采用内容分析法与在线问巷调查法相结合的研究方法,从跨文化角度研究网站可用性,分析了中关图书馆英文网站产生差异的原因在于：权力距离和个人主义／集体主义维度上有明显差异,而且差异非常显著。该文为图书馆网站跨文化设计提供理论支持,藉此提升网站的可用性。     

Evaluating Electronic Reference Services

Summary

As electronic reference services become routine in many libraries, it is time to systematically examine how they are being implemented and used. Unfortunately, few libraries have rigorously examined their electronic reference services. We still know very little about who uses electronic reference services or why. We also do not know how satisfied our users are with the new services we are providing. This article provides an overview of the chief methodologies available for conducting assessments of electronic services (e.g., surveys, usability studies, observation, etc.). Existing criteria for evaluating reference services are discussed with suggestions for how they can be applied or adapted to the online service environment.     

Structural change in search engine news service: a social network perspective

This research investigates structural change made by Naver's online news section and how it has impacted the overall traffic flow of Korea's online news. This paper examined 45 websites in 2008 and 2010, and the total number of pages viewed within these sites was considered in the analysis. Social network analysis was applied to study the relationships between the news sites. The analysis through degree centrality and Bonacich powers shows that there has been a shift in market leadership. In 2007, Naver, the top search engine in Korea, stepped down from its leading position after they started to provide news services. Daum, the second largest search engine, has taken over the central position as the most influential news site. Based on the results of this study, practical implications for online service markets and theoretical implications for online services are recommended accordingly.