Evaluation of community web sites. A case study of the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto web site
| Date | 20 February 2009 |
| Published date | 20 February 2009 |
| Pages | 96-116 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520910944418 |
| Author | Lan Anh Tran |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Evaluation of community web
sites
A case study of the Community Social Planning
Council of Toronto web site
Lan Anh Tran
School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington,
Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore an evaluation approach and to develop a model of
web site evaluation that includes the specification of evaluation criteria, key issues to discuss and
recommendations for improving the web site – in this case, that of the Community Social Planning
Council of Toronto (CSPC-T).
Design/methodology/approach – The research consisted of three phases: phase 1 involved
selection of the general evaluation criteria for web sites, based on a review of the literature plus the
collection of factual data on information systems related to the CSPC-T web site; phase 2 included a
step-by-step evaluation of the existing CSPC-T web site based on the general criteria presented in
phase 1; and phase 3 provided recommendations in association with the key issues identified in phase
2 in order to improve the CSPC-T web site, and developed the key components of the evaluation model.
Findings – The evaluation of the CSPC-T web site found mostly positive results in terms of the
content of the site and its ability to deliver information to the residents and local communities of
Toronto. However, the design of the web site had some negative points requiring improvement,
including site structure, page layout and interface design.
Practical implications – The paper demonstrat es a step-by-step, pr actical evaluation of
community web sites. The research provided a detailed report to CSPC-T about its existing web
site. This should be useful to CSPC-T in considering how to improve its web site or whether to
redesign it to deliver information and services more effectively.
Originality/value – This paper contributes to the knowledge base in the fields of community
networks and web site evaluation, and to the improvement of the quality of information and service
delivery to local communities via the web.
Keywords Worldwide web,Function evaluation, Canada, Communitydevelopment, Optimum design
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Evaluation enables you to document progress and, more importantly, to determine what
impact your expenditure of resources (e.g. people’s effort, time, and money) is having. That is,
are you making a difference in your community? (Bajjaly, 1999, p. 166).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
The author wishes to express his thanks to John Campey, Executive Director of the Community
Social Planning Council of Toronto for allowing him to undertake this case study. Special thanks
are also extended to Maria Serrano, Director of Operations and Margaret Hau, Program Support,
who assisted the author during this case study.
OIR
33,1
96
Refereed article received
24 January 2008
Approved for publication
7 December 2008
Online Information Review
Vol. 33 No. 1, 2009
pp. 96-116
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520910944418
The evaluation of community organisation web sites is an area of frequent discussion
among researchers, who have expressed differing views on the content, value and
usefulness, multimedia employed, interface design and site structure of such web sites.
Some of these views are presented in this paper, which provides the objecti ves for web
evaluation, a brief literature review on web evaluation and general evaluation criteria,
and a step-by-step evaluation of the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto
(CSPC-T) web site as a case study of a community organisation web site.
The evaluation of the CSPC-T site was based on two standard sets of criteria for:
(1) web content (authority, accuracy, cur rency, objectivity and coverage); and
(2) web design (multimedia applications, the user, usability, accessibility,
searchability, navigation and organisation, and interactivity).
Each criterion is assessed here in detail, followed by the identification of key issues and
recommendations for improving the web site.
This research contributes to existing knowledge in the fields of web evaluation and
design, and may serve as a practical model for evaluating other community
organisation web sites. It is hoped that the example of web site evaluation presented
here can support web designers in improving similar community information web sites
to make them more efficient in meeting the needs of residents and local communities.
Research objectives and key questions
This study explored an evaluation approach that included the specification of
evaluation criteria, the discussion of key issues and the provision of recommendations
for improving the existing CSPC-T site. Through this case study, an evaluation model
has been developed that is intended to be employable by web designers to improve
other community organisation web sites.
This research was not intended to evaluate the quality of the CSPC-T web site as an
information provider. Also, the web site evaluation in this project was not directed to
users, but rather to web site authors and designers in the hope that they will derive
useful information to help them improve their web sites. It should also be noted that
this paper represents the results and outcomes of the evaluation of the CSPC-T web site
(www.socialplanningtoronto.org/Index3.htm) as it was before 20 February 2007.
To meet these objectives, this case study investigated the following questions:
RQ1. What are appropriate specific evaluation criteria for the content and design of
the existing CSPC-T web site?
RQ2. What recommendations can be made to improve the existing CSPC-T web
site?
RQ3. What is an appropriate evaluation model for community organisation web
sites?
Methodology
This research consisted of three phases:
(1) Phase 1 comprised the grounding for the research an d involved the selection of
the general evaluation criteria for web sites based on a review of the literature
plus initial fieldwork involving visits to the CSPC-T in Toronto in order to gain
Evaluation of
community web
sites
97
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