How to Review a Website Essay

Essay: How to review a website

Websites can be effective or ineffective sources of information. Good websites give visitors a reason to come back again while poorly designed websites give the visitors a nightmare and a reason not to come again. 

We will be observing three websites after which we will make our judgment using the parameters below:

I. www.cybf.ca

How the website loads

It is common to hear the saying; ‘first impressions last’. This is true as concerns www.cybf.ca. Firstly, the name is not related to what you expect to get at the end of your search. Furthermore, after initiating a search, the websitetakes like forever to load. You can actually take your tea as you wait for the website to load. The SEO effects are very effective; the website ranks number one on the first page of Google search (Benedict, 1996, 477).

The graphics of the website

The web designer for this site used white text on a black background. This design is not appropriate for the eyes. It causes the eyes to strain more than necessary.

The links

The links are not Brocken. On clicking on the textual or image links, I was taken to relevant pages. This means that the links are working as they should.

The quality of the reference

The information on this website is both helpful and elaborate. This is a website that I can recommend to any business owner (Bitler et al, 2000, p 21).

II. www.acoa.ca

How the website loads

The site is superb in terms of loading. The designer must have ensured that the HTML code was not overloaded. However, I find fault with the fact that the once you key in the name of the website, this is the result you get: http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca instead of www.acoa.ca.

The graphics of the website

I don’t like the formatting of some of the text. Just as in the first case, the designer has used white text in a black background. This really strains the eyes.

The links

The links are perfect. The links take you to a valid destination. However, the website is not impressive to the eye. I could not ascertain the objective of the website in the first 30 seconds (Whitney, 2002, p 45).  

The quality of the reference

A can give the website a 3/10 in terms of the quality of the reference.

III. http://www.entrepreneur.com/

How the website loads

According to my scorecard, I gave the website a 10/10 in terms of loading. It is very fast. Additionally, just as in the first two cases, the website ranked number one on the results of the Google search.

The graphics of the website

I like the way the designer proportionately designed the website to fit on any browser. However, I believe the common mistake of using white text on a black background is a common mistake that also appears in this website.

The links

The links are working as they should. They really help in getting the specific information on entrepreneurship that one may want to access. All that you have to do is click on a particular link and you will get the required information.

The quality of the reference

This website is amazing. It is the kind of website I would wish to recommend to any owner of a business who wishes to get information as well as advice on various business matters.

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E-Government Service Essay

The impact of national culture on using E-government service

Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989). In their book “Multicultural education.” Define culture as the values, interpretations, symbols and perspectives that differentiate one group of people from another. It is the intangible aspects of human society. People from the same culture interpret thins in similar ways.

The United Nations (www.unpan.org) defines E-government (AOEMA report) as the utilization of the internet and World Wide Web for passing on government information and services to the citizens of a given country.

There are certain theories that are purported to explain the reasons for diversity in culture, they include:

a) Schwartz’s Cultural Values Orientations:

Schwartz uses a multidimensional scaling procedure in analyzing different cultures. He uses seven value types in his analysis and these can be summarized in to three dimensions namely: Embededness verses Autonomy, Hierarchy verses Egalitarianism and Mastery verses Harmony.

b) Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner’s Cultural Model:

Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner’s cultural model explains cultural differences in terms of the challenges that are faced in social communities. This theory is different from Hofstede’s in that Hofstede defines culture in terms of one’s psycho emotion while Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner make their approach be based on challenges that one face. They show that one is not aware of their socialization. They see culture as the different ways in which people solve their problems which enables them to survive.

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c) Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions:
Hofstedes cultural theory expresses culture to be influenced by:

• Individualism-collectivism; this explains how one perceives themselves as an individual an as being part of a group. This theory is the most studied and is the most complex.
• Masculinity-femininity: this describes the Importance of a cultures achievement versus considerations of relationships. Achievement is characterized by Success, having an assertive character and acquisition of money and power. Relationship is characterized by Equality of genders and the community caring for those that are disadvantaged and harmony.
• Power distance: this is characterized by ones acceptance of persons of different power. Those with high power distance accept the position, the follow authority, are concentrated and follow hierarchy of power; those of low power distance generally avoid concentration of authority, are decentralized and consist of few layers in management.
• Uncertainty avoidance: this shows how different cultures react to uncertain events. Those with low uncertainty avoidance easily embrace uncertain and unpredictable events are less likely to adhere to rules and hierarchies, consider risk taking to be a desirable trait. Those cultures that have high uncertainty avoidance are greatly threatened by any ambiguity, generally prefer stable and predictable situations and greatly rely on rules.

Merchant (2007) stated that many IT researchers have greatly relied Hofstede’s cultural theory when conducting their research on the impact of cultural dimensions on technology. Hofstede’s dimensions have been widely used when measuring work- related cultural influences. Hofstede has previously researched cultural dimensions at IBM sites in over 40 countries. He asked different employees about their general preferences.

Shivraj Kanungo (The George Washington University, USA) and Vikas Jain (The University of Tampa, USA) in their book “Organizational Culture and E-Government Performance: An Empirical Study”, show that the government sector is generally different from the private sector in all countries of the world. This is because of cultural differences between the two sectors. The government is mostly characterized by being rigid and following hierarchy system of management. The government is usually believed to resist changes and does not easily embrace changes in technology. Shivraj Kanungo and Vikas Jain conducted a study on E- government and found that the government institutions that embraced E- government had different cultural traits to than those that did not. The results also showed differences in hierarchy and power tendencies.

Conclusion
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions are the best when it comes to analyzing the impact of culture on e- government services. This is because the theory is based on the psychological traits that affect one.

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