2.2 Who produced the site

Web sites are produced for many different purposes and reasons and by many different types of organisation, as well as by individuals, for example:

• professional organisations, such as universities, hospitals;



• support groups, ranging from big national charities to small, local groups;



• government departments like the Department of Health;



• commercial organisations, selling health care products or services;



• individuals:
  (a) a medical researcher;
  (b) a person suffering from a condition, or a carer of such a person, who has described their own experiences and views.

Be more cautious of information in:

• commercial sites, as their main purpose is to sell something not to inform or educate;



• individual patient or carer's sites, particularly the medical information as there is a chance it could be incorrect.

Information provided by the Web address can also tell you what type of organisation has produced the site.

Look at the first part of the Web address (the domain name) between http:// and the first /, for example:

• http://www.cafamily.org.uk/
• http://omni.ac.uk/

This 'domain name' is the unique name which identifies that organisation on the Internet. The codes at the end represent the type of organisation and its country of origin.

Common organisational codes include:

• .com (for commercial organisations);
• .edu (for educational organisations);
• .gov (for governments);
• .org (for organisations, usually non-commercial).
  

Country codes, for example:

• no code (for the USA);
• .au (for Australia);
• .int (for international);
• .uk (for the UK).

Second level codes, for example:

• .ac.uk (for educational organisations in the UK);
• .co.uk (for commercial organisations in the UK);
• .org.uk (for non-commercial organisation in the UK).

The name of the organisation producing the site should be clear and obvious on every page.

Full details about the organisation should be given. Look in sections such as "About us" and "Contact us". They should include, where applicable:

• contact details:
  (a) name of organisation;
  (b) postal address;
  (c) telephone number;
  (d) fax number;
  (e) e-mail address.
  
  
• location:
  (a) map;
  (b) details of how to reach the organisation by car and public transport;
  (c) opening hours.
  
  
• charitable status:
  (a) registered charity number.
  
  
• list of staff.
  
  
• list of other people involved, for example Management Committee, Medical Advisory Panel, Editorial Board.
  

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© Copyright for this site is held by Contact a Family and the Information Society Research and Consultancy Group, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University. Site published February 2003. Last updated October 2006. Review date October 2007.