Evaluation of a Website www.pbskids.org - Essay Example

I am particularly attracted by the website www.pbskids.org. This website combines entertainment with education, and is very attractively designed. The main draw of the website is the great technical skill of its design, which facilitates its use by children. It is a great example of how learning can be made fun. By incorporating characters, such as Barney & Friends, Curious George, Sesame Street, and Thomas and Friends, into spelling, number and letter games, the website educates and entertains.

The bright colors, and easily understandable links, are very child-friendly. With websites ranging from the institutional to the personal, it is essential to develop the skill of objectively evaluating a website. Obviously, a commercial website cannot serve as a source for academic purposes, and a website with links to a pharmaceutical firm cannot be cited for medical research. Several criteria, such as accuracy, authority, objectivity and currency, come into play in evaluating a website (Cornell University Library, 1998).

Evaluation of the website www.pbskids.org, based on the criteria of reliability of the source, the credentials of the author, and the information available, gives an accurate picture of the website. The reliability of the source is of paramount importance in evaluating a website. . Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. PBS reaches nearly 123 million television viewers and more than 21 million online visitors in a month. It is America’s largest public media enterprise. The organization’s mission statement clearly reflects its focus on education.

It is a measure of the strength of its credentials that the website has a link to the home page of the PBS, where a detailed account of the organization, its mission statement, and terms of use are all clearly laid down. As the domain name is clearly preferred, the producer of the website is unequivocally stated, and the credentials of the organization are reliable, it may be accepted that www.pbskids.org is the product of a reliable source. The credentials of the author is the other strong criteria in the evaluation of a website. www.pbskids.

org does not list any author. In this case, the absence of a single author is not relevant, as the domain name of the website indicates that the source is an organization. As the website is sponsored by an organization, and the credentials of this organization, PBS, are genuine, the authority of the website may be accepted. In the absence of an author, the credentials of the organization may be taken in its stead. PBS KIDS is the winner of several Daytime Emmy Awards and features on many reliable surveys, including Nielsen and Google Analytics.

It is clear that PBS is a leading player in curriculum based media, and has the authority to deal with this content. The page gives a direct link to the home page of the organization, where detailed contact information, including e-mail id’s and telephone numbers, are provided. Again, it is evident that the organization is very transparent in stating the purpose and