2. Web 2

The goal of this assignment was to look up 12 websites and write a review about them. These 12 websites are divided into certain categories of e-commerce. Writing a review about them sounds simple but it is not. The meaning of this assignment is to let you think about the design and what happens at the background of making and sustaining a website. A lot of people do not realise the fact that making an interesting website is very hard work. This is a report about the reviews we gave to these 12 websites.

Criteria used:

We checked the websites on certain criteria:

Audience
Authority
Accuracy
Objectivity
Currency
Relevance
Usability

Group members:

- Vincent Van Quaethem

- Benoit Verlinde

- Fjodor Bellet

- Henri Deslee

- Fréderique Wemmers

- Thomas Pruvoost

University of Edinburgh

n.d. (n.d.). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/

Audience

[1]The website is intended for students who wish to know more about the school, parents who wish to look at a potential school for their children. The website could also be used by people who would like to know more about the school itself and what it stands for. People who want to keep in touch with the school can see more under the news tab which gives them the latest news about and from the school.

Authority

The author of the website is not identified because all the articles are probably written by multiple people. However, there is an 'about' tab which showcases all information you could need about either schools and departments, mission and governance and key publications, visits... The author is probably affiliated with the school.

Accuracy

A school's website will probably have very few spelling mistakes. The text is very well written and grammatically correct. I believe several people will have checked the text before it was published. If someone would seem to find a mistake they could let this know and it would be fixed asap.

Objectivity

Most of the information provided are facts about the school and what you can study there. There might be some personal opinions called testimonials from students, teachers, parents... This would then be made clear that it's a personal opinion.

Currency

Under each article it says when it was published (day, month and year). The site is constantly updated with new information or new articles, if there would be a new study course, for example, this would immediately be added to the site.

Relevance

The website clearly showcases everything one would like to know about the school. If a student would like to know more he/she could easily find their way to what they need. I can't imagine that one would have a question which would not be answered on the website.

Usability

The website is very easy to use, you just navigate your way around the tabs. If you have a browser and an internet connection you're ready to go. The website loads very quickly in comparison to some other sites. All the information on the website is free to use, you don't have to pay for it at all. There is no option for text only, frames or a suggested browser for viewing.

Huffington post:

n.d. (n.d.). Huffingtonpost. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Audience

[2]The website's audience are people who are interested in the blog. More so, people who are interested in US news, World news, business, politics, lifestyle... The blog offers a very wide assortment of topics which are discussed. There's not really a target audience because the topics are so widely varied. They range from opinion pieces to Queer communities (two most outer ones). There's also not really an age on it, everyone can check the website if they want to.

Authority

Under every article the name of the author is written. There's no indication whether the author is affiliated to an academic institution or credible organisation. There is an 'about us' section which lists all people involved with the blog and its authors.

Accuracy

The website and its articles seem to be free of spelling mistakes and errors. I believe multiple read it before the stories get published on the site. The text is very well written and grammatically correct, something you expect from a blog with such high standards as the Huffington post.

Objectivity

The authors do make objective arguments but they also make it clear when they are expressing biased opinions. On the blog there is even a section called 'opinions' here the authors can expert their analysis and commentary on stories.

Currency

Above every post it says when the article was posted. It showcases the date, time, which time zone it's in (ET for this website) and even when it was last updated. Every link I've clicked on works very well and gets me where I want to go.

Relevance

The blog is very helpful and definitely relevant. Because it has such varied topics everyone will find something interesting to read about so it's very useful for research purposes. Because it gets updated so much everything you will find will be relevant and up to date.

Usability

The site has a very quick load and response time. The site does not require any specific program or anything, if you have an internet connection and a browser installed on your computer you're ready to go. The website is completely free as well, all of the information is viewable for everyone. There is, however, no option to view only text, frames and there's no suggested browser for better viewing.

Politie zone RIHO

n.d. (n.d.). Politiezone RIHO. Retrieved from https://www.politiezoneriho.be/

Audience

[3]The audience of this website are all the people from Roeselare and surroundings. (Roeselare, Izegem, Hooglede)

Authority

The author will be the police itself. There is no information about the creator of the website. Contact details are very clearly provided together with a lot of other important information. In my opinion the site would need have a visual update because it is a bit outdated.

Accuracy

The site is free from spelling errors but a small mistake is always possible. The texts are in a big font style and most of the texts are simple so that everyone can understand them.

Objectivity

The author gives a lot of information about dangers for example phishing software, so the information is objective. It doesn't express personal opinions but it expresses information for people with the cause of helping them.

5.Currency

It is not mentioned when the articles are published. The links are working and the site is regularly updated, you can see this in their tables of things that they find on certain dates.

Relevance

Yes, it is appropriate.

Usability

The site is very clear and easy to use so that people from all ages can make use of it. It's a normal site so there is no special software needed.

AliExpress

n.d. (n.d.). Aliexpress. Retrieved from https://www.aliexpress.com/

Audience

[4]People who want to buy something that is a lot cheaper than buying it in Belgium for example. Also people that don't need their products directly because it can take while before you receive the goods that you ordered.

Authority

The author is the Alibaba Group. Contact details are provided. It looks very professional and well maintained.

Accuracy

It is free from spelling errors but there are a lot of spelling errors in the reviews written by the costumers. There is not so much text only the descriptions of the product

Objectivity

The reviews express personal opinions and the product descriptions also. The only way you can trust something from this site is to read the comments and see the amount the item has been sold.

Currency

This site is updated every day a lot of times.

Relevance

It is appropriate.

Usability

The website is very practical and it is easy to find certain products. Sometimes it's a bit difficult to decide what to buy because of all the different items that you have. There is no special software needed and it is accessible for everyone. The site can be found in almost every language.

Het Nieuwsblad

n.d. (n.d.). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved from https://www.nieuwsblad.be/

Audience

[5]This website is intended for all people who can read, from the age of 6 till ... Of course not everybody is interested in this info but we think 85% of the population is interested.

Authority

the website is a summary of all small articles, the author of each article is mentioned with the date and name. If you click on the author you can see a picture of the person who wrote the article and find some small personal info to confirm the authors credibility.

Accuracy

This website is free of spelling mistakes, every article is checked by the head author of the website. Het Nieuwsblad is a very big newspaper so it cannot have spelling mistakes or they will appear in the news themselves.

Objectivity

This website presents the events that have happened or will happen in the world, their opinion is not personal yet some people say that the newspaper sometimes has a personal opinion. Some articles also do not tell the truth, they are sometimes based on rumours. But this is mostly because nobody else can prove the facts.

Currency

You can find the date of when the article was published directly underneath the article itself. The website gets an update every minute because new articles appear all the time.

Relevance

The info you find on this website is very appropriate if you are doing research about a specific topic.

Usability

This website is very user-friendly, the principle behind the website is quite easy. The main purpose of this type of website is to inform people in the fastest way. The fastest way for people to receive info is to make it easily accessible.

Soundcloud

n.d. (n.d.). Soundcloud. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com

Audience

[6]The target audience of this website is quit wide. It is a music platform differently from Spotify. First of all it is free, this attracts more potential users. They do want to reach a more specific audience than Spotify because Soundcloud is a platform to discover music instead of just listening to it. I would say that you can limit the users between the age of 16 until 45.

Authority

No, you cannot find an author or any specific person linked to the website. You can find the company/organisation that is behind the website. The CEO of the company is Alexander Ljung, this is easy to find and a lot of info about the company is given.

Accuracy

This site is limited in text but the text that is visible is correct. No mistakes where found. You have the possibility to change the language of the site and even with this function on I could not find a mistake. You could say this website if very well-written and grammatically correct.

Objectivity

This website is very personal, you can save setting to your own desire. You can also leave personal opinions that can be read by other persons.

Currency

You can find it very easy when the website gets an update, they even post it on the social media when an update has occurred or will occur. The website is very well maintained.

Relevance

If you are a person who likes to discover new songs and new artists then this website fulfill your needs very well. The content of the websites matches your needs.

Usability

Soundcloud is a very user friendly website, The idea behind the website is simple. Artist post their music and everybody can see those posts, if you like them then you can save those songs in a separate folder. Nothing more, so we could say that the layout of this website is very well put together.

FIFA

n.d. (n.d.). Fifa. Retrieved from www.fifa.com

Audience

[7]The vision of the FIFA is to promote the game of football, protect its integrity and bring the game to everybody in the world. The General Secretariat is comprised of divisions dealing with the development of football competitions, football administration, finance, business, personnel working in a football environment, services and communications. An example of a message that the FIFA stands for is say no to racism.

The site of the FIFA is intended for all the people who have an interest in football. The site is red by all the people who are involved within football. The players, referees, trainers, supporters ... The homepage shows the most important highlights within football. Namely the world cup and the accompanying supporters. Football is sport that brings everybody together and these images really show that message they want to carry out.

Authority

There isn't an author mentioned on the site. Everything is being updated and adjusted from the office in Zurich Switzerland. They chose not to publish who is/are the author(s) of the website. The fact that it is the official website of the FIFA, we are certain to say that all the information on the site is very reliable. The layout looks very professional. The author is the first person who knows all the novelties and then publishes these on the website. For example, where the next world cup will take place, the raffle for the tournament etc.

Accuracy

Millions of people around the world read this site every day. Because the FIFA is a highly respected organisation, it can't afford to make any spelling errors on its website or they would lose their credibility. All the content that is published on the site went through a lot of reviewing procedures before going viral. By doing this they remain trustworthy towards third parties.

Objectivity

The most part of all publications on the site are based on facts and figures. For example, information about recent changes on the transfer market of players. Information about who was the top scorer, best keeper, etc. on recent tournaments is also available. They also communicate all new competition formats they introduce. Some recent examples were the VAR (Video assistant referee) and the development of a new tournament of friendly games called the UEFA nations league.

Currency

Every article that is published on the site is marked with a time frame. All the articles that you find on the home page aren't older than a month. You can conclude that there are a lot of people behind this site in order to keep it up to date. You also find a lot of articles about football legend who give their opinion about the next world cup. There is also a big emphasis on children because football can give children a better life. Not just for the money but also as a way of relaxation and making new friends.

Relevance

The layout is very attractive, but the information that is on the site is even attractive. Everyone who wants to consult the FIFA ranking can easily find this on the homepage. At the top of the site you have several tabs with direct links to all the most important information.

Usability

From my experience the website of the FIFA is very user friendly. There also is a search bar which is very useful if you have any difficulties with finding something on a site. There is also the possibility to change the language. They offer 6 different languages namely English, French, Spanish, Deutsch, Arabic and Russian. All these tools help contribute to a user-friendly site. You also don't need to download additional software in order to use the website.

BASE

n.d. (n.d.). Base. Retrieved from www.base.com

Audience

[8]The target audience is mentioned on the top left corner of the homepage. They target 3 kinds of audiences namely private customers, self-employed people and enterprises. Based on their target audience they adjust their product or service. By using this more personal approach they are more likely to attract new customers.

Authority

The author who created the website is administered by Telenet Group bvba/sprl, rue Neerveld 105, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, Registry of Legal Persons (Brussels) VAT BE 0462 925 669, base.support@telenetgroup.be, Fortis 210-0877799-01. The website chooses not to mention all the names of the persons who are involved in the process of making the website. The simple reason for that could be that there are just too many people involved. The fact that it is a very modern site with a lot of options in case of customer service requires a lot of maintenance. Telenet chooses not to publish their names.

Accuracy

This site is free of spelling errors. This will be due to the fact that there have been multiple grammatical checks. A big company like Base which is part of the Telenet group can't risk the fact of image loss because of stupid grammatical errors. To be taken serious by the outside world you have to make sure that your website is free of any kind of spelling mistakes.

Objectivity

The author of the website acts in behalf of the company so it is of vital importance that all the information on the website is relevant and objective. The main goal of the site is to persuade new customers to switch between providers. They offer a monthly plan that adapts to you and that is more beneficial for the customer.

Currency

The website doesn't show dates when the site was published but their offer is up to date with the newest mobile plans based upon the customer's needs. There are always unlimited calls between base to base and free texting. You can choose to make more calls or do lots of surfing on the internet. The BASE provider adapts to your needs. By doing this no data or calls will be wasted. In case you go over budget, the extra gigs and minutes won't cost you any cent more than included in your plan. You can control your monthly plan with the free my BASE app. And finally you can end your monthly plan at any moment.

Relevance

It's a cool website with a lot of nice moving images. But the content actually meets the general requirements to be a qualitative website. They offer all the different options that a customer or a potential customer could demand.

Usability

To view the website you don't need to download supplementary software which is of course an important requirement. If you want a qualitative website that is used by a lot of people you have to make sure that it is easy to use. The general speed level of the website is within the norms that every customer demands. For the visitors of the website it's very important that they can find everything they need to find within the shortest period of time. Within the case of this company they did everything within their power to make it as user friendly as possible.

Napoleon Games

n.d. (n.d.). Napoleon sports & casino. Retrieved from https://nl-be.sports.napoleongames.be/sports#home

Audience

[9]The website aims at people interested in gambling online. This goes from sports betting to online casino games. People on this website are only adults as creating an account requires entering your passport information. People who bet their money on sports are all over age 18 and the online casino players are all over 21.

Authority

All the information about the company can be found on the website. Contact information is available and there is a helpdesk to assist you with any occurring issues.

Accuracy

I haven't found any spelling mistakes yet but the website doesn't contain a lot of text. The website mainly contains numbers representing the odds of the games.

Objectivity

The website has to be and is objective. Otherwise they would lose a lot of users.

Currency

The website is updated continuously, day and night. Odds of games change according to the situation of that particular game. News is updated about once a week. The website also sends out newsletters via e-mail to its users.

Relevance

Yes, it is.

Usability

The website sometimes loads slowly. Especially on sports events were a lot of people are betting at the same time. In general, there is no bothering delay on the website. Overall it is a user friendly website with quite easy structure. This makes it easy to find what you are searching for.

Vijf TV

n.d. (n.d.). Vijf. Retrieved from https://www.vijf.be

Audience

[10]The website is intended for people who want to know more about certain tv shows emitted by "Vijf". Users can also watch episodes again on the website.

Authority

Contact information is available at the bottom of the webpage. Links to other TV channels by the same owner are in the top right corner.There is also an special contacting option for press or advertisers. Few information on the owner is available on the website. There is also no "about us" tab/link.

Accuracy

There are no spelling mistakes, the website doesn't contain a lot of text. It mainly consists of videos and pictures. The titles are clear as well.

Objectivity

The website is normally quite objective. Nowadays temptation island is being casted on TV and thereby the website posts a lot of videos with subjective titles and spreads rumors. This is mainly to create drama.

Currency

The website is updated constantly. There is a TV guide available on the website which shows what is being broadcasted on VIJF at the moment. Articles and videos are placed on the website daylily.

Relevance

Yes, it is.

Usability

The video player has some lag issues. You also need to create an account on the website to be able to watch episodes online. It would be more user friendly if everyone can just directly watch shows without having to sign up for the newsletter.

Wikipedia

n.d. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoofdpagina

Audience

[11]Wikipedia has a very broad audience. Most importantly you have the people who want to know more about a topic and will consult the website. In the same group you find the people who are making an assignment for school and will use data from Wikipedia. The audience being so broad is also caused by the fact that there are a lot of different languages available. Another audience is the people who want to make/create a new Wikipedia page about a topic they want to write something about and put online.

Authority

With Wikipedia there is not really one author that makes it all, but everybody who wants to make a Wikipedia page can do it on their own. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of Wikipedia.

Accuracy

Again, there could be some mistakes in the texts, since it is created by normal people and everybody can put what they want to put. You as a visitor of the website can edit the page. But fortunately the community standing behind Wikipedia will always check whether the information written down is accurate and objective.

Objectivity

It's hard to check the objectivity of Wikipedia, since it was created by people online. This people can have a master degree in the topic but can have made up some facts as well. But sometimes the sources will be mentioned. Wikipedia is all about providing as much as information as possible and being a fast changing encyclopaedia, but they lack the resource/review of their sources. Also in the text they have certain words that can refer to another Wikipedia page. Via this way it can get controlled as well.

Currency

Wikipedia is constantly evolving and getting new information on it. Also topics that are already on the website will get edited all the time. Also when the page was edited or created, the date and sometimes the hour is also present.

Relevance

Wikipedia is a very relevant website, but not always. You always have a description bellows that mentions when the page was created. Very important to notice as well is that there could be standing as well 'last updated'. This means that the page can be seen as relevant according to the date. It is still a very relevant website because some topics are hard to find a description about online. Wikipedia has a page for a lot of topics.

Usability

It is very convenient to use Wikipedia. You don't need an account, but you can just navigate n their website. You can make an account by just typing your email address and a password. Further by learning more, you just simply type in the name of the topic you want to learn more about and press enter. On the left side there are some buttons, for example to change the language of the topic. On their head page you can find the news of today or some hot topics.

Youtube

n.d. (n.d.). Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/

Audience

[12]The website has a very broad audience. They aim at all kind of people, no matter the age. People who like to watch vlogs, music videos, videos posted by their friends,... Their main goal is to entertain people and that via things people posted online their selves. This you can also find in their slogan "Broadcast yourself". Also for companies it is a great way to reach a big audience. Not only through advertisements, but also through having a YouTube channel and keep it up-to-date.

Authority

Eventhough Youtube is mainly consisting of videos put online by any person, they do check whether the content is appropriate. For example videos with sex in are taken ofline. Also when a certain person who is spreading a certain message that is not appropriate they will take it down. As a visitor of youtube you also have the right to report certain videos. Then youtube will check it and if necessary take it offline.

Accuracy

The number of spelling mistakes will be huge, since it is made and named by any person online. There is not really a way for YouTube to check every video that came online.

Objectivity

There is a small border between what is objective and subjective. The videos put online will be a mix of both and that is not really an issue. But what an important factor is, is that there are certain people who get sponsored by brands. They will always talk positively about those brands, and therefore it is very subjective. We also don't really know what the rule is for a video to be taken down. This is very hard to do in an objective way I think. They do provide a very detailed guideline in their website and a lot of information on privacy too.

Currency

The website is getting new input every second of the day. Also the advertisements and short breaks are updated constantly. It is a very fast moving media brand.

Relevance

Every day so many people are putting new things online. Mostly to inform people, but also to entertain or to give a platform. If you create an account you can make playlists, upload videos yourself, react,... It is important that everybody is able to let their voice speak and to say what's on their minds. And via youtube everybody can tell their story the way they want it.

Usability

It is very easy to navigate to their website. Just type in Youtube.com. Then in the search bar you can type in anything you want to watch. If you don't have an account, you can still watch almost all videos online. When created an account you can do a little more though. You can put something in the row and make playlists. You can also go to a certain category and find your desired video there. The company made it very easy to find things and have a result as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

To conclude all of this research, we can state that it is important to be critical at all times when visiting websites. You can learn a lot of the information provided online, but it is important to realize for yourself whether the author of the document is providing the right information. Also what we can remember is that it matter where the website comes from in their form. As you can see, the politiezone has a very different lay out than the national websites. For example Vijf TV. Then more international used websites have a different lay out and provided information as well again. This for example comparable to YouTube or Wikipedia. Important side note, those two websites are also the ones where the author or information provider are the ones we are least confident or sure about.

[1] n.d. (n.d.). The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/

[2] n.d. (n.d.). Huffingtonpost. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[3] n.d. (n.d.). Politiezone RIHO. Retrieved from https://www.politiezoneriho.be/

[4] n.d. (n.d.). Aliexpress. Retrieved from https://www.aliexpress.com/

[5] n.d. (n.d.). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved from https://www.nieuwsblad.be/

[6] n.d. (n.d.). Soundcloud. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com

[7] n.d. (n.d.). Fifa. Retrieved from www.fifa.com

[8] n.d. (n.d.). Aliexpress. Retrieved from https://www.aliexpress.com/

[9] n.d. (n.d.). Napoleon sports & casino. Retrieved from https://nl-be.sports.napoleongames.be/sports#home

[10] n.d. (n.d.). Vijf. Retrieved from https://www.vijf.be

[11] n.d. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoofdpagina

[12] n.d. (n.d.). Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/

References

E-skills. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://arteveldehogeschool.be/e-skills/websites.html

(n.d.). Aliexpress. Retrieved from https://www.aliexpress.com/

(n.d.). Base. Retrieved from www.base.com