Extensionworkshop

Effective Ways to

Appraise Web Content

National CoP Workshop 2011

ap·praise   

1. To evaluate, especially in an official capacity.

2. To estimate the quality, amount, size, and other features of; judge.

Why Appraise Your Content?

Adherence to organization’s goals.

Effectiveness

eXtensions Goals

Empower people

Provide credible, reliable, research-based tools

Bestow knowledge

Measure of Effectiveness

Content developed becomes part of learning community.

Content creators will be credited for their contributions

Content contributors should believe in collaborating on content

Avoid Duplication of existing content

Contributors should strive to understand who their content is for

CoP content will need to change and evolve

The Appraisal Process

BrainTraffic

A Snapshot of ContentValue Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest Family

Caregiving

Article Content that is solely or primarily text 46% 44% 47%

Answer Content in Answers from our Experts 29% 28% 30%

News Content in In the News 17% 17% 17%

Learning Lesson

Online lessons or tools 6% 6% 6%

Video Content that is solely or primarily video 3% 6% 0%

AudioContent that is solely or primarily sound files 1% 0% 1%

What are You Going to Measure?

Attribute you use to measure your Content.

eXtension’s Attributes

Usability

Relevance

Knowledge Level

Actionability

Interrelatedness

Differentiation

Knowledge Level

What level of subject matter knowledge is needed to

understand or use this page?

Value Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest Family Caregiving

1–LOW No specialized knowledge is required or assumed.

85% 73% 96%

2–MEDIUMSome

knowledge is required.

14% 24% 4%

3–HIGH A high level of subject matter knowledge is

required.1% 1% 0%

Who is Your Intended Audience?

Are you putting content up that is hard to grasp?

Are the needs of your audience met?

• Family Caregiving Low knowledge level

• Plant Breeding and GenomicsHigh knowledge level

Page Usability

On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more

likely.

-http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html

Value Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest Family Caregiving

1–LOW

Numerous minor

problems, a few moderate problems, or

one major problem that

seriously interferes with

the content.

63% 53% 71%

2–MEDIUMMinor to moderate

problem(s).32% 39% 24%

3–HIGH No significant problems. 5% 8% 4%

Enhance the Scan

Clear, descriptive headings and subheads

Appropriate sentence and paragraph length

Use of graphics, bullets, tables, charts, etc., where appropriate

Overall readability

Relevance

Is the content up-to-date and of current interest to its intended

audience?

Value Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest Family Caregiving

1–LOW Outdated, no longer relevant 8% 14% 2%

2–MEDIUM

Appears dated/stale or is of interest

only to a small geographic

area

18% 21% 16%

3–HIGH Timely or

“evergreen” content

73% 64% 82%

In With the New Out With the Old

Outdated content takes up valuable space and should be dropped

New content keeps the readers interested and coming back for

more

ACTIONABILITY

Does the page provide a clear next step for its current

audience, and does it facilitate that step?

Value Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest Family Caregiving

1–LOW No next steps given. 33% 28% 39%

2–MEDIUM

Next step is implied or

vague; next step depends

on a link that is broken;

indirect or absent CTA.

37% 43% 31%

3–HIGH

Next step is clear, specific,

and stated explicitly;

effective CTA.

29% 28% 30%

Lead that Horse to Water

If there is a next step, lead the reader down the path

Not all content has a next step

INTERRELATEDNESS

Does this content fit well with, and link to, other CoP content?

Value Meaning TOTAL HorseQuest

Family Caregiving

1–LOW

Lack of working links to other content

Tone is inconsistent with other content in a way

that’s strongly distracting.

Content is off-topic

48% 41% 56%

2–MEDIUM

Links exist but some are broken

Tone is moderately inconsistent with other

CoP content

Tags are mostly absent (e.g., only one tag and

it’s non-specific)

36% 46% 26%

3–HIGH Good links, tone, tags 15% 11% 19%

Why Link?

Encourages users to dig deeper in the site

Rely on eXtension as an information source

DIFFERENTIATION

Does the page fill a unique need, providing information or perspective that is not readily

available elsewhere?

Re-Inventing the Wheel

To link to or not to link to that is the question

Other Attributes

Depending on an organization’s goals

Step 2

The System to Collect

Data

Google Docs

1. A form for each CoP to collect data

2. All data will be collected in a spreadsheet

3. Make changes from the data

eXtensions Sites

https://sites.google.com/a/extension.org

Make sure you are not already logged into Google

LOOKING AT SOME SAMPLESLet’s Rate a Page

Shellfish

Article

Fire Ants

Answer

Congongrass

News Article

Wine Symposium

More News

DELETE

Leads and Appraisers

CoP Roles

Appraisal Lead- 1 per CoP

Complete the appraisal plan and return to Content appraisal director.

Create and maintain an inventory of CoP content.

Assign appraisers to content (approximately 60 pages per person).

Ensure that appraisers understand the appraisal process.

Manage appraisal process, including collecting and consolidating the findings.

Create appraisal report (using template) based on findings.

Appraiser

Approximately one appraiser per 60 pieces of content.

CoP members or others identified by the CoP.

Evaluate pages assigned by the appraisal lead.

Return page-level findings and overall comments to the appraisal lead.

MY INFO

Nick BroadyeXtension InitiativeUniversity of Kentucky235-A Scovell HallLexington, KY 40546-0064Phone 859.323.8461Fax 859.323.1006nbroady0001@gmail.comwww.extension.org