Sunday Bloody Sunday - Bush vs U2

Website Evaluation #7 - Defective By Design

This is hilarious!

What web browser are you using?	Explorer
Does the site suggest that it is better viewed with one kind of web browser in particular?	No
What is the URL of the Web page you are evaluating?	http://defectivebydesign.org/en/node
Have a look at the domain name of the URL. How does the fact that the site is an .edu; .com; .gov; or .org influence your opinions about the site?	.org, yes
Who put this information here?	Free Software Foundation
Does the source of the information have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	Yes. It is a website promoting an opinion.
How often is the site up-dated?	Updated Daily, however unsure.
Can you tell when was the last time particular page/section was changed?	Yes
Does the currency of the information have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	No
How old is the material?	Most of the material is recent
Who wrote the information?	Free Software Foundation Inc.
Is the author’s signature on the page?	Yes
Is the author’s e-mail address included?	No but they have an email form sheet.
Is there any other way of identifying the author?	Yes
If you can’t identify the writer does this have any effect on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	-
Does the institutional affiliation have any effect on your judgement about this site.?	Yes
Why is this material here?	To promote the logic of freedom in choice of software provided from Apple.
Is the purpose of this page indicated clearly in a prominent place?	Yes, through a link
Is there any evident bias in the information at this site?	Yes, there is no perspective of reasoning from Apple.
Does the reason for this have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	Yes, it's opinions are slightly one-sided.
Can I do a cross check?	Check out the purchasing regulations for iTunes and iPods.
Do I have any doubts about the accuracy of the material?	No
If so, is there any way I can cross-check the accuracy of the information?	Check related websites.
Is the information available anywhere else?	Perhaps - there are articles from other websites that were reporting their moves.
Would it have been easier to get the information in some other way?	From not that I know of.
Does the site include links to other sites?	Yes
Is there any selection process for the links?	Yes
Are the links organised (i.e. by subject category)?	No, they are organised according to how recent they are.
Are the links described?	Yes
Are the links all still active?	Yes
Do the links seem relevant to the subject of the web page?	Yes
Is the page only viewable by a specific browser or release of browser?	No
Is the site often busy and difficult to access?	No
Does the page download in a reasonable time?	Yes
Does it include any large graphics or files which take a long time to download?	Yes
Is it organised in a way that makes it easy to navigate?	Yes.
Are the navigational links clear?	Yes.
Do you have to scroll through the entire document to find information you want?	No
Is there any provision for searching the site?	Yes
Is the page viewable by a text-based browser only?	Yes
Do all the graphics have a text explanation?	Most of them.
Does the design complement the content?	Yes

Website Evaluation #2 - Stir

What web browser are you using?	Explorer
Does the site suggest that it is better viewed with one kind of web browser in particular?	No
What is the URL of the Web page you are evaluating?	http://stir.org.au/stir/
Have a look at the domain name of the URL. How does the fact that the site is an .edu; .com; .gov; or .org influence your opinions about the site?	.org - Yes
Who put this information here?	Special interest group
Does the source of the information have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	Yes
How often is the site up-dated?	Updated weekly
Can you tell when was the last time particular page/section was changed	Yes
Does the currency of the information have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	Yes
How old is the material?	Nine days old
Does the currency of the information have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	Yes
Who wrote the information?	Someone affiliated with World Vision Australia
Is the author’s signature on the page?	Yes
Is the author’s	Yes
Is there any other way of identifying the author	Yes
If you can’t identify	-
Does the institutional affiliation have any effect on your judgement about this site.?	Yes
Why is this material here?	Public Service - To support a youth community that want to help others less fortunate in third world countries.
Is the purpose of this page indicated clearly in a prominent place?	No, but it has a small link to a place that describes its purpose
Is there any evident bias in the information at this site?	No
Does the reason for this have any influence on your judgement about the usefulness of this site?	-
Can I do a cross check?	Yes
Do I have any doubts about the accuracy of the material?	No
If so, is there any way I can cross-check the accuracy of the information?	Other Internet Material etc.
Is the information available anywhere else?	Yes
Would it have been easier to get the information in some other way?	Depends on the target audience.
Does the site include links to other sites?	Yes
Is there any selection process for the links?	No
Are the links organised (i.e. by subject category)?	No
Are the links described?	Yes
Are the links all still active?	Yes
Do the links seem relevant to the subject of the web page?	Yes
Is the page only viewable by a specific browser or release of browser?	No
Is the site often busy and difficult to access?	No
Does the page download in a reasonable time?	Yes
Does it include any large graphics or files which take a long time to download?	Yes
Is it organised in a way that makes it easy to navigate?	Yes
Are the navigational links clear?	Yes
Do you have to scroll through the entire document to find information you want?	No
Is there any provision for searching the site?	Yes
Is the page viewable by a text-based browser only?	Don't Know
Do all the graphics have a text explanation?	Yes
Does the design complement the content?	Indeed Yes!

Website Evaluation #1 - Greenpeace International

Firstly, I'm using a worksheet to evaluate this website but I'm going to reorganize this into paragraph sections in my own words.. just for the challenge and originality.

<http://www.greenpeace.org/international/>
Greenpeace is an .org site which means it is a non-profit organization. This is quite interesting since my English teacher, Mr Lemmey put it at the bottom of the reliable websites list. However I'd like to question that reliability with this certain website. The sources of information to this website are quite solid and up-to-date (depends mostly on where you go on the website - there is news undated daily but also articles which date over a year ago). The only thing to query with this website is how persuasive and influential is it to the reader to believe in it's perspective of the environment. Greenpeace is VERY influential to the reader because it focuses on motivating people to take action to the problems that are facing the earth's future. That is part of the website's purpose as it clearly asks us to take part in their organization.
The currency of the information on this website is designed to make it relevant to today's problems. From my knowledge I know there are plenty of videos and books about global warming and environmental issues that were published during the late 1980's and Greenpeace has no such information on it's website because that is not part of it's focus. Greenpeace is working for NOW issues, so it's website is very now. It's website is not very clear on the individuals who exactly publish the articles on the website but there is information published from people that are activists that talk about what's happening with their work. Additionally, from what I recall, all other resources Greenpeace use for their reports and information are cited professionally in full bibliography standards and also use information from reliable sources such as newspapers or professional .com organization websites. The website also includes contact details and even directions of their location and welcome all who come as a friendly gesture.
The material on Greenpeace is mainly for it's audience to take an activist approach to the environment by politically influencing world leaders around the globe to listen to their voice. Not only does Greenpeace asks for people to declare their environmental opinion to powerful persons but also asks for donations to help their missions to protect severely threatened areas. Greenpeace explains this on it's first link on it's menu bar about it's mission and results it's striving towards. This is why Greenpeace's perspective on the issues it faces seem incredibly influential towards the information it provides to the public. It's website, in my opinion, can be used as a reasonable website full of information about present global issues, but should be treated with care in terms of accuracy to ensure that the information they have presented is not exaggerated or blown out of proportion.
There are plenty of other environmental websites on the internet that can verify information in a different perspective to Greenpeace which can be useful for cross-checking it's accuracy. WWF is one example of a reliable resource to verify the information of Greenpeace. Personally I would discourage news media articles because their validity of information could be used from Greenpeace or less reliable information unless it indicates otherwise. Printed sources would have to be quite recent; within the year or less.
There are however no links that go outside of Greenpeace on the international site, except for websites supported by particular country websites which is shown specifically on a picture map of the world. The links are described by the title of the country through a flash activation when you roll over the red dots. The design of the webpage includes crystal clear graphics with understandable symbolism, colour which harmonizes together with a main theme of green and neutral blues to give a feeling of being a "green thumb" to the audience, organized tables with dashed lines with the centre columns used as the main source of information. Animation and java is used occasionally and mainly use a video player on their webpage for their interactive medium to show actual areas around the world that are needing greenpeace's attention. The website (I assume) is available to all webbrowsers and is not slow or difficult to surf around the site, in fact loading from page to page is done in a flash. It's menu is very organized on the left side of the website, however the font does seem slightly small and hard to read at first. The news updates are on the right column make up for that with larger font. When an articles is loaded it is opened in the large middle column which is spaced out and overflows down the website which therefore gives the impression that the website is planned in a traditional downward motion to read the articles but also fills most of the screen at the top which does give a hint of the new way of perceiving information (clockwise). There are no irritating graphic advertisements slotted anywhere in the website because it's not sponsored or funded by any company or corporation. Greenpeace decorates it's websites with graphics with textual aids to grasp the reader's attention to important issues on its site.
So finally, in conclusion, Greenpeace has much to commend for it's fantastic useful website and has definitely proved itself as a useful perspective on the major environmental problems of today.