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Any rating or evaluation of anything--whether it be automobiles, college football teams, bagels, Web sites, or whatever--is subjective. Each person looks at an Internet site differently and judges the site from his or her own perspective. Thus, Strategian's ratings of the top sites on the Internet in the various subject areas covered are unlikely to match perfectly the ratings of anyone else. Strategian's perspective is that of education--the processes of learning and teaching why, how, and about by, chiefly, undergraduate students and faculty at colleges and universities and, more broadly, students and teachers from the high school to graduate school levels, and other adults. Strategian selects and rates Internet sites by their usefulness to those processes. More specifically, sites evaluated by Strategian are rated on the basis of the following 5 criteria (listed with their values out of a total of 100): Quality (30) -- Does the Internet site provide information that is relatively objective and valid? Or, if a distinct viewpoint is promoted, is that view admitted and explained? Does the information have value; that is, does it fulfill a real purpose? The better a site does these jobs, the more highly Strategian will rate it for this criterion. Uniqueness (25) -- Does the Internet site offer unique information and/or does the site provide something else to the viewer that is unique? By unique, we do not necessarily mean information or capabilities that are absolutely found nowhere else. The information and/or capabilities may, in fact, be available at other sites but, at a site rated highly by Strategian for this criterion, the information or capabilities are delivered in a better way. Refresh Rate (20) -- How often are the pages at an Internet site updated with new or modified information? How often are the pages checked to make sure all the links are operational, all the Javascripts are functional, all the software is working correctly, etc.? Strategian rates sites highly for this criterion if pages are updated and/or checked on a regular and frequent basis. Loads Fast (15) -- Are pages at an Internet site so filled with unnecessary and/or annoying graphics or sounds or other features that the pages load slowly enough to frustrate the user and/or motivate the user to leave the site (assuming the user is accessing the Internet by at least a 28,800 bps modem)? Is the site constructed in such a way that it hinders access by some significant part of its intended audience? If so, Strategian would rate such a site very low for this criterion. Organization (10) -- Is the Internet site easy to use and navigate? Is the site put together in a way that is clear, makes sense, and assists the user to locate needed information with a minimum of fuss? Is the text on the pages well-written and easy to read on the screen? The better a site fulfills these needs, the higher Strategian will rate the site for this criterion. The values beside the criteria total 100. The higher the total score for a site, the higher it is ranked. In addition, sites will not be listed unless they have a total score of at least 60. As stated elsewhere on these pages, saving time and preventing frustration are priorities. Sorting through dozens, hundreds, or thousands of site links--even when that number is winnowed down from something much larger--may not be very helpful if you do not have the time or inclination to investigate them at length. In addition, we thoroughly investigate the sites to provide succinct reviews and how-to-use information to assist you to use those rated sites quickly and effectively. Questions about any or all of the above? Please let me know. |
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