Updated Review of NIDRR Grantees' Web Sites

The use of the World Wide Web as a medium for communication and dissemination by NIDRR grantees has increased dramatically over the four years of the NCDDR pilot project. In mid-1999, approximately 81 percent of grantees (N=232) have sites on the Web. Figure 4 shows the increase in the percentage of NIDRR grantees with Web sites from 1996 to 1999. It is important to note that all the funded projects were not the same grantees each year, as some projects were completed while new ones were initiated. However, it is possible to describe the status of NIDRR grantees’ Web sites as a group.

Figure 4. Percentage of NIDRR grantees with Web sites.
[Text Version of Figure four]

NCDDR staff reviewed grantees’ Web sites in 1997 (The Research Exchange, Volume 3, No. 1) and again in 1998 (The Research Exchange, Volume 3, No. 3) to identify common characteristics and look for trends (NCDDR, 1998a, 1998b). These analyses examined 20 characteristics of Web sites, such as:

• use of copyright symbols, disclaimers, acknowledgment of NIDRR, and noting the most recent update of the site;
• links to NIDRR and other NIDRR-funded projects;
• use of text only or text and graphics, as well as, more interactive features such as audio and video, animation, chat rooms, etc.;
• design elements including navigation tools, frames, search engines, and feedback mechanisms, such as email or contact forms; and
• accessibility of the Web site to users with disabilities.
  

Some trends observed from 1997 to 1998 included:

• In 1998, 98 percent of grantees' Web sites used both text and graphics (up from 70 percent in 1997).
• In 1998, nearly three-quarters of the grantees (70 percent) acknowledged NIDRR as the funding agency supporting the project (up from 57 percent in 1997).
• Over half (51 percent) of grantees included one or more links to other NIDRR-funded projects in 1998. This more than doubled, from 23 percent in 1997.
• Nearly one-third (31 percent) of grantees in the 1998 review included a link to NIDRR's home page from their Web site (up from 24 percent in 1997).

Accessibility of Web sites should be an important issue to NIDRR grantees who work to benefit people with disabilities and their families. Grantees that provide information via the World Wide Web should strive to ensure that information is accessible to people with disabilities. Bobby software developed by the Center for Applied Special Technology <http://www.cast.org/bobby/> rates the accessibility of Web pages as Bobby Approved (accessible) or ‘not approved’ (some elements not accessible).

In the 1998 review, NCDDR staff also looked at several content aspects of grantees’ Web sites. All grantees use their Web sites to introduce the organization and/or NIDRR-funded grant project, as well as their products and services. Approximately 56 percent of the NIDRR grantees’ sites provided some type of information that could be downloaded or printed, while 5 percent demonstrated a strong marketing focus that allowed visitors to order information for purchase that was not directly available on the site.

The updating of Web sites ensures that information is current and encourages visitors to return frequently to seek new information. In 1997, an update notice was found on 51 percent of grantees’ Web sites. The 1998 review found that 41 percent of NIDRR grantees' Web sites provided a notice of the last update to their home pages.

New Review in 1999

A further review of grantee Web sites was conducted in August of 1999. This time, fewer characteristics were examined. Accessibility was reviewed again to determine if grantee home pages were Bobby Approved (not every page in a Web site). Since the issue of copyright is evolving along with the Web, NCDDR staff looked at home pages to see if a copyright symbol/statement was included. In order to evaluate currency of information, the reviewers looked for evidence of update notices on home pages. Finally, site content was examined by identifying if research results were available on the Web site, and if so, how current those results might be.

Accessibility. The August, 1999 review examined the accessibility of home pages for people with disabilities, as measured by Bobby. Specific NIDRR program areas were examined as well as all grantees as a group. These data are presented in Table 7 for all three review periods. Overall, the percentage of NIDRR grantees' home pages that are accessible has increased each year, and 1999 marks the first time that over half (53 percent) of all grantees’ home pages were Bobby Approved. Some NIDRR program areas had 100 percent accessible home pages (Utilization, ADA Technical Assistance) while others had none. It is important to note that some of these home pages were constructed by individuals (Fellowships) and others were not developed for use by consumers (Contracts).

TABLE 7
Percentage of NIDRR Grantee Home Pages that are Accessible as Measured by Bobby, by NIDRR Program Areas, 1997-1999
[Text Version of Table Seven]

Program Area	1999 N=232	1998 N=213	1997 N=171
ADA Technical Assistance Programs	100	92	39*
Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Projects a	57	33	50
Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects b	41	30	56
Fellowships	0	0	25
Field-Initiated Projects c	60	40	20
Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems	29	27	25
Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers	43*	34	31
Rehabilitation Research Engineering Centers	69	38*	56
Small Business Innovative Research	20**	100	50
State Technology Assistance Programs	56	51	37**
Utilization Projects	100	100	67
Contracts	0	0	0
TOTAL	53	43	36

* 1 Missing, Bobby unable to evaluate
** 2 Missing, Bobby unable to evaluate
a Formerly Research Training Grants, 1997-1998
b Formerly Research and Demonstration Projects, 1997-1998
c Formerly Field-Initiated Research Projects, 1997-1998

Care must be taken in drawing conclusions about the percentage of home pages that are Bobby Approved. The criteria for approval has changed as the Bobby software was revised. The current Bobby is version 3.1.1, released on June 9, 1999 (CAST, 1999). The original Bobby (no version number) was used in the 1997 review, and Bobby 2.01 was used for the 1998 review.

There also were changes in the configuration of some NIDRR program areas between review periods, and each year some project work is completed and new projects are initiated.

Copyright and update. Table 8 reports percentages of grantee Web sites with home pages that:

• included a copyright symbol/notice, and
• included a notice of last update

Data are available for each of the review periods (1997, 1998, and 1999). Less than one-third of grantees used a copyright symbol/notice on their Web sites in 1999. This showed a slight decrease, after an increase from 1997 to 1998. Approximately half of the Web sites provided an update notice, which was an increase to near 1997 levels after a decrease noted in 1998.

The inclusion of copyright symbols and update notices on home pages does not show consistent trends over the three years, yet it is important to present these data to stress the need to provide stakeholders with protected and current information.

TABLE 8
Percentage of Characteristics Noted Across NIDRR Grantees’ Web sites
[Text Version of Table Eight]

Characteristics	1999 N=232	1998 N=213	1997 N=171
Copyright Notice included	28	31	21
Update Notice included	50	41	51

The NCDDR also looked at the update notices provided on grantee home pages to determine how long it had been since changes were made to the home page. This review was seen as a rough measure of the extent to which Web site information is kept current, although it is not possible to determine the nature of any changes or updates.

Of the 232 grantee home pages reviewed, 115 (50 percent) included an update notice. Table 9 presents data for 1998 and 1999, showing percentages for time periods of update notices on home pages. Of those home pages that included an update notice, 38 percent had updated the home page within three months prior to the review in August, 1999. This figure is lower than that observed in 1998, but was still the largest proportion of the Web sites that included an update notice. An increase was seen for the two subsequent categories (3-6 months and 6-12 months). The percentage of sites with an update over 12 months prior to the review dropped to 9 percent in 1999.

Table 9
Time Periods of Update Notices on NIDRR Grantee Home Pages
[Text Version of Table Nine]

Home Pages with Update Notices (n=155, 1999; n=87, 1998	Percent
	1999	1998
Udate notices less than 3 months old (n=44, 1999)	38	66
Update notices 3 to 6 months old (n=38, 1999)	33	11
Udate notices 6 to 12 months old (n=23, 1999)	20	7
Update notices over 12 months old (n=10, 1999)	9	16

Research Results on the Web. In 1998, the NCDDR looked at the content of grantees’ Web sites by identifying information that could be printed or downloaded for free, or for advertising of materials available for purchase. In this new review, the NCDDR examined each grantees’ Web site for the presence of research results. These research results included online newsletters, fact sheets, articles, monographs, and reports. The NCDDR did not include marketing brochures, research abstracts, or online catalogue descriptions as examples of online research results.

Table 10 shows that of the 232 Web sites reviewed, 123 (53 percent) provided research results on their Web sites. To determine the time periods of the research results presented on Web sites, the same time periods observed for the update notices were used in this review: less than 3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, and over 12 months. Dates were not found for 17 of the Web sites (14 percent) that provided research results. Of the Web sites presenting research results, the largest time period (27 percent) was results that were included on Web sites from 6 to 12 months before August 1999. The next largest time period represented was over 12 months (24 percent), followed by 3 to 6 months, (23 percent). The smallest time period was results less than 3 months, with 12 percent. The NCDDR found that 109, or 47 percent, of the grantees’ Web sites did not include research results.

TABLE 10
Time Periods of Research Results on NIDRR Grantee Web Sites
[Text Version of Table Ten]

Web Sites with Research Results (n=123)	Percent 1999
Research results less than 3 months old (n=15)	21
Research results 3 to 6 months old (n=28)	23
Research results 6 to 12 months old (n=33)	27
Research results over 12 months old (n=30)	24
Research results with no date (n=17)	14

Conclusion

The August 1999 review provides some encouraging information about increases in the number of grantees’ Web sites and in accessibility for people with disabilities. These increases were seen for grantees as a group, and within particular program areas, over a three year period from 1997 to 1999. Although Bobby has become increasingly stringent over its different versions, the accessibility of NIDRR grantee home pages has steadily increased.

The use of update notices also increased to equal the 1997 percentage yet there remains a need for more grantees to provide update notices on their Web sites to help online users determine the currency of information. Given recent concerns about copyright of Web contents (see The Research Exchange, Volume 4, Number 3), the relatively level percentages of copyrighted home pages across three years point to the need for grantees to increase copyright usage to protect research information from unauthorized use.

Measures of the time periods of home page update notices and of research results on Web sites provide preliminary indications that information on Web sites is frequently updated. Overall, these data indicate that grantees are developing and improving their Web sites over time, and are increasingly using the Web as a user-friendly and accessible vehicle for disseminating research information.

References

Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). (1999). Bobby Web accessibility validator, version 3.1.1. Retrieved September 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: <http://www.cast.org/bobby/>

National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR). (1998a). Common characteristics of NIDRR Grantees’ Websites. The Research Exchange, 3(1), 1-4. Retrieved September 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ncddr.org/products/researchexchange/v03n01/chara1.html>

NCDDR. (1998b). New review of NIDRR grantees’ Web sites. The Research Exchange, 3(3), 1-4. Retrieved September 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ncddr.org/products/researchexchange/v03n03/newreview.html>

NCDDR. (1999). Publishing on the Internet: Possibilities and problems. The Research Exchange, 4(3), 11-13. Retrieved September 1, 1999 from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ncddr.org/products/researchexchange/v04n03/internet.html>

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