Using readers’ and organizations’ goals to guide assessment of success in information websites

Abstract

Informational and reference websites benefit readers without providing their publishing organizations with any direct or immediate financial benefit; however, organizations do expect return on their investment. We propose two website stakeholder taxonomies: one about the goals of readers when they use informational websites and the other about the goals of organizations when they produce sites. These taxonomies should help organizations measure readers’ success with their sites and understand how well their sites support the organizations’ goals, and in turn help them author and design better web content to meet their readers’ goals.