COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC WEB SITES

The purpose of the present study was to analyze student perceptions of academic web sites and to determine the principal criteria that students use in forming positive and negative perceptions. Thirteen university web sites were evaluated by students using a questionnaire that touched on information content, entertainment value, and site design. The findings indicate that the most crucial parameters influencing the overall perception of web site effectiveness by students reflects all three of these categories. In particular, students highlighted overall entertainment value, ease of access to information, and certain stylistic design issues such as color coordination as being most important. The authors caution that this study may be context-bound, but due to the high convergence of opinion by the student researchers the study clearly suggests what sorts of parameters may influence the perceptions of student users of campus sites.
Introduction The Internet has rapidly become one of the most powerful information media of the century, with the number of web sites nearly doubling each year (Hibbard, Dalton & Thyfault, [...]