Evaluation of Web Sites on Information and Entertainment Properties

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Swami ◽  
Ram Krishna
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Consumer Involvement ◽  
Psychological Constructs ◽  
Mood Variability ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Site Evaluation ◽  
The Web

This paper addresses the role of consumer involvement in Web site evaluation. We investigate the factors that lead the consumer to be involved with one site more than another. Based on previous research, we use the psychological constructs, information-seeking tendency, and focused attention (Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 1996; Novak, Hoffman, & Yung, 2000) to define the “information profile” of a consumer; and sensation-seeking tendency and mood variability to define the “entertainment profile” of the consumer (Eliashberg & Sawhney, 1994). The information and entertainment factors are hypothesized to affect consumers’ utilitarian (need, value) and hedonic (interest, appeal) evaluations of involvement, respectively, and ultimately, the affect toward the Web site (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Mano & Oliver, 1993; Zaichkowsky, 1985, 1994). We examine these evaluations for various Web sites, whose respective information andentertainment profiles are defined using elements such as informativeness, organization, and entertainment properties (Chen & Wells, 1999). The Web site properties are hypothesized to moderate the relationships between individuals’ profiles and their evaluations of involvement and affect. We conducted our study using three surveys: (1) collection of data for classifying Web sites on information and entertainment properties, (2) collection of data for measurement of involvement, and (3) collection of data for time-based measurement of involvement. Our results show that the consumer’s information and entertainment profiles significantly affect utilitarian and hedonic evaluations of involvement. We also find positive and significant relationships between the evaluations of involvement and affect toward the Web site. Further, we find that the Web site’s information-specific properties moderate the relationship between information profile of the consumer and his/her utilitarian evaluation of involvement. A set of results from representative time-based evaluations of involvement shows that the respective elements of evaluation of involvement show increase/decrease over time if there is a match/mismatch between the user and site properties.

Complementary Features of Reverse Auction Web Sites

2007 ◽  
pp. 306-325
Author(s):  
Aayush Shrivastava ◽  
Gautam Gupta ◽  
Pratap K.J. Mohapatra
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Evaluation Index ◽  
Reverse Auction ◽  
Evaluation Indexes ◽  
Site Design ◽  
Site Evaluation ◽  
The Web

The objective of this chapter is to study the features of reverse auction sites. Twenty-five features of 38 reverse auction sites have been studied. The features are divided into core and complementary features. These sites are broadly divided into B2B/B2G and B2C/C2C groups. We show the differences that exist in the site design of these two groups insofar as the inclusion of these features are concerned. We derive weights, signifying the importance which the site designs have assigned to various complementary features. These weights are used in two ways: to provide benchmarks to evaluate the design of the Web sites, and to find out the site evaluation index of any Web site for comparison with the benchmark. Using their complementary features, we derive weights for the features and develop site evaluation indexes for them.

Voter Information Web Sites

2011 ◽  
pp. 1623-1628
Author(s):  
A. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Site Design ◽  
Voter Information ◽  
Voting Decisions ◽  
The Web

Several election studies observe that considerations regarding issues and policies have been gaining weight in voting decisions in Western countries, at the expense of previously existing class or partisan alignments (Denver, 2003). This development may imply that voters show more information-seeking behaviour. In the 1990s, various Web sites have emerged that are designed to support the voters in this job. These voter information Web sites are nonpartisan Web sites that provide the users with information on the election promises, issue positions or past performance of political parties or individual candidates. The term Web site should be understood as including various Internet-based resources and facilities, such as databases, decision-support systems, and discussion forums. In this article, we address the question what these voter information Web sites may offer in terms of their potential of enhancing the quality of voting decisions. The core of this exposition will centre on the Web site design features and on how the voters make use of the Web sites. In the next section, we will highlight the distinction between prospective and retrospective Web sites. The section titled “Voter Information Web Sites” provides an overview of the main design features of voter information Web sites. Some examples of prospective and retrospective Web sites will be discussed. In the Future Trends section, we point toward some future trends. Finally, a tentative assessment will be given of the significance of voter information Web sites for enhancing the functioning of representative democracy.

Eliminating Invisible Barriers: Health Web Site Accessibility

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-86
Author(s):  
Christine Rzepka
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Simple Evaluation ◽  
The Web

One of the top reasons given for use of the internet is the ability to search for health information. However, much of the planning for web-based health information often fails to consider accessibility issues. If health care organizations and community agencies’ web sites have the latest, most wellresearched information on the health topics of the day, it is useless to those who cannot access it because of invisible technological barriers. Many flashy, high-tech sites were designed only to appeal to the needs of the mainstream population, with no consideration given to how people with disabilities must adapt their use of the web in order to access information. This article addresses issues of access specific to web site development, and will explore barriers to accessibility frequently experienced by web users with disabilities, requirements for ADA compliance, and how people with disabilities use the web. Web site accessibility guidelines, as well as simple evaluation tools, will be discussed. A thorough review of the article will enable even the least tech-savvy of health educators to enhance their skills in planning and evaluating web sites to promote access for people with disabilities.

Personalization Systems and Their Deployment as Web Site Interface Design

2011 ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Nanda Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Practical Relevance ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Communication Capability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Web

This chapter reviews the different types of personalization systems commonly employed by Web sites and argues that their deployment as Web site interface design decisions may have as big an impact as the personalization systems themselves. To accomplish this, this chapter makes a case for treating Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) issues seriously. It also argues that Web site interface design decisions made by organizations, such as the type and level of personalization employed by a Web site, have a direct impact on the communication capability of that Web site. This chapter also explores the impact of the deployment of personalization systems on users’ loyalty towards the Web site, thus underscoring the practical relevance of these design decisions.

Understanding Brand Web Site Positioning in the New EU Member States

2011 ◽  
pp. 99-117
Author(s):  
Shintaro Okazaki ◽  
Radoslav Škapa
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Similarity Ratings ◽  
New Eu Member States ◽  
The Web

This chapter examines Web sites created by American Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the Czech Republic. Utilizing a content analysis technique, we scrutinized (1) the type of brand Web site functions, and (2) the similarity ratings between the home (U.S.) sites and Czech sites. Implications are discussed from the Web site standardization versus localization perspective.

Exploiting Collaborative Tagging Systems to Unveil the User-Experience of Web Contents

2011 ◽  
pp. 1374-1387
Author(s):  
A. Malizia ◽  
A De Angeli ◽  
S. Levialdi ◽  
I. Aedo Cuevas
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Collaborative Tagging ◽  
Computational Tool ◽  
Web Contents ◽  
Site Evaluation ◽  
Potential Use ◽  
Traditional Evaluation

The User Experience (UX) is a crucial factor for designing and enhancing the user satisfaction when interacting with a computational tool or with a system. Thus, measuring the UX can be very effective when designing or updating a Web site. Currently, there are many Web sites that rely on collaborative tagging: such systems allow users to add labels (tags) for categorizing contents. In this chapter the authors present a set of techniques for detecting the user experience through Collaborative Tagging Systems and we present an example on how to apply the approach for a Web site evaluation. This chapter highlights the potential use of collaborative tagging systems for measuring users’ satisfaction and discusses the future implications of this approach as compared to traditional evaluation tools, such as questionnaires, or interviews.

Personalization Systems and Their Deployment as Web Site Interface Design Decisions

2009 ◽  
pp. 212-219
Author(s):  
Nanda Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Practical Relevance ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Communication Capability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Web

This chapter reviews the different types of personalization systems commonly employed by Web sites and argues that their deployment as Web site interface design decisions may have as big an impact as the personalization systems themselves. To accomplish this, this chapter makes a case for treating Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) issues seriously. It also argues that Web site interface design decisions made by organizations, such as the type and level of personalization employed by a Web site, have a direct impact on the communication capability of that Web site. This chapter also explores the impact of the deployment of personalization systems on users’ loyalty towards the Web site, thus underscoring the practical relevance of these design decisions.

Multilingual Web Sites in Global Electronic Commerce

2011 ◽  
pp. 823-828
Author(s):  
Shaoyi He
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Many ◽  
Content Design ◽  
The Web

The World Wide Web (the Web), a distributed hypermedia information system that provides global access to the Internet, has been most widely used for exchanging information, providing services, and doing business across national boundaries. It is difficult to find out exactly when the first multilingual Web site was up and running on the Internet, but as early as January 1, 1993, EuroNews, the first multilingual Web site in Europe, was launched to simultaneously cover world news from a European perspective in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. (EuroNews, 2005). In North America, Web site multilinguality has become an important aspect of electronic commerce (e-commerce) as more and more Fortune 500 companies rely on the Internet and the Web to reach out to millions of customers and clients. Having a successful multilingual Web site goes beyond just translating the original Web content into different languages for different locales. Besides the language issue, there are other important issues involved in Web site multilinguality: culture, technology, content, design, accessibility, usability, and management (Bingi, Mir, & Khamalah, 2000; Dempsey, 1999; Hillier, 2003; Lindenberg, 2003; MacLeod, 2000). This article will briefly address the issues related to: (1) language that is one of the many elements conforming culture, (2) culture that greatly affects the functionality and communication of multilingual Web sites, and (3) technology that enables the multilingual support of e-commerce Web sites, focusing on the challenges and strategies of Web site multilinguality in global e-commerce.

Customer Goals Online

2011 ◽  
pp. 163-167
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Product Line ◽  
Specific Product ◽  
Large Product ◽  
Apparent Reason ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior ◽  
The Web

Marketing managers charged with developing effective e-marketing strategies need to understand the implications of goal-directed behavior online. Traditionally, the marketer’s job has involved capturing the customer’s attention and communicating a message about products or services. The customer is essentially a passive receiver of the marketer’s message with little control over the marketing messages they are exposed to. Contrast the traditional approach to marketing with a Web site. Online the customer arrives at the marketer’s Web site with a goal. The customer has something that he or she wants to accomplish, whether it be to acquire information about a product, to make a purchase, or to just be entertained. By understanding the customer’s purpose for a Web site visit, the Web marketer is in a position to develop a Web site that provides significant value. Furthermore, a failure to deliver a Web site that enables customers to accomplish their goals is likely to result in dissatisfaction and defection to other more useful Web sites. Understanding customer online goals is critical because it gets at the heart of what the Web site should or could “do.” The challenge for e-marketers is that for most businesses, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” customers could come to the Web site. For example, an e-tailing site might be very effective for customers who already know the specific product they want to purchase. However, there are likely to be many other goals that could lead people to visit the site, such as selecting the appropriate product form a large product line, selecting an appropriate gift, or perhaps receiving customer service. If important customer goals are not supported by the Web site, the firm is at risk of losing a significant amount of business. Other times businesses compete in markets where there may be little apparent reason for a consumer to visit a Web site. As a result, and because firms feel they should have an online presence, many e-marketing sites are created that offer little more than online reproductions of the marketer’s off-line advertising. The purpose of this article is to help e-marketers better understand the nature of customer goals online so that they may be prepared to create the types of Web site experiences that provide value to their customers.

A Proposed Template for the Evaluation of Web Design Strategies

2009 ◽  
pp. 293-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Xanthidis ◽  
David Nicholas ◽  
Paris Argyrides
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Web Design ◽  
International Literature ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done ◽  
The Web

This chapter is the result of a two years effort to design a template aiming at standardizing, as much as such a task is feasible, the evaluation of Web sites. It is the product of a few publications in international conferences and journals. A thorough review of the international literature on the subject led the authors to conclude there is a very large number of opinions, thoughts and criteria from different professionals involved, directly or indirectly, with the process of designing a good Web site. To make matters even more complicated there are a number of different terms used by various scholars, scientists and professionals around the world that often refer to similar, if not the same, attributes of a Web site. However, it seems that all these differences could boil down to a systematic approach, here called evaluation template, of 53 points that the design strategies of the Web sites should be checked against. This template was tested on a significant number (232) of Web sites of Greek companies and proved it can be used to evaluate the quality of Web sites not only by technology experts but by non-experts alike. The evaluation template, suggested here, is by no means the solution to the problem of standardizing the process of evaluating a Web site but looking at other work done on the subject worldwide it is a step ahead.

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