Abstract
In a matter of seconds, a person using the Web will make a decision. Do I stay on this Web site or click to another? There are many reasons for this reaction. For many the decisions are unconscious behavior and for others it is a matter of speed. Still others focus on content. Regardless, the ability to get users to a Web site and keep them there has become big business for both business and educational institutions. According to Internet Usage Statistics (2007), the Internet World Stats Web site, over 1 billion people use the Internet worldwide. The MIT home page is accessed about 2000 time a day from around the world. And use is on the rise. In 2009 the completion of an 18,000 km oceanic cable drop linking South Korea, China, and Taiwan with the United States Internet sends a clear signal that usage and dependency will only increase in the future and spread around the world. This creates an imperative that users are keenly aware of where they surf, what information they share, and, most importantly, if they can believe what they read and see.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning Objects: Small digital units of learning that can be reused and are tagged with metadata.
Completeness: The comprehensiveness of the information.
PEW Institute: An independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues.
Internet Navigation: Moving from one Web page to another.
Currency: Regularity of the Web page information