Position Paper 2: Internet Searching Project Website

Position Paper 2

Internet Project Web Site: Principles and Practice

Presented by Greg Hale, for team discussion

Context

The following material is aimed at both highlighting the positive aspects of the project website as well as defining its boundaries. It should be explicitly stated to visitors that the site will grow as the project grows.

Mission Statement

To be the most interesting and useful web site in Britain on Internet searching, to other information professionals.

Operational Statement

We want people to enjoy and regularly re-visit our website. Therefore the website should be attractive, contain high quality and innovative content and be easy to use.

Four informing principles

Principle 1: Utility: It should be easy for information professionals to find and valuable to them once there.
Principle 2: Accountability: The grant holders have responsibilities to the funding organisation (allocation of resources) to participants (confidentiality) and the University of Sheffield (non actionable web content, amongst other things) that need to be discharged.
Principle 3: Transparency: The team want the project to be transparent to visitors and the funding body. Within the bounds of other responsibilities (such as confidentiality and allocation of time resources) team documentation should be put on the website. We are risk takers in that we are prepared to expose the developmental nature of the research and report our own mistakes.
Principle 4: Usability: The web site should be easily used by visitors. The site has already been developed using informal user centred evaluation. Team members, other university staff and external visitors have also contributed to this process. External visitors and a graphic design professional will also contribute.

Operationalisation

The website will, in addition to the usability assessment above, be assessed by external visitors over the course of a week in November and February, via a small scale e-mail questionnaire.

Attractive- restrained use of graphics, muted and complementary colours, sufficient visual space around elements

Easy to use- immediately graspable control structure, sparing use of small fonts. One click return to any page within the first level of pages (preferably three clicks to any document on site), dated content, frequent visitors access to new additions. General clarity and simplicity

High quality innovative content- in our own work we should ensure that we are always challenging boundaries and bringing in cross disciplinary insights. The aim is specifically new theory, well written up.

People enjoying and regularly revisiting- as the above items are fulfilled it is likely that peole will bookmark and visit our site regularly. This will be examined (as above) via e-mail questionnaire.