Title: Environmental websites: an empirical investigation of functionality and accessibility

Authors: Andreas Pinterits, Horst Treiblmaier, Irene Pollach

Addresses: Department of Information Systems and Operations, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2–6, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. ' Department of Information Systems and Operations, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2–6, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. ' Department of English Business Communication, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2–6, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

Abstract: Although the critical role of the internet for disseminating environmental information to achieve sustainability is widely recognised, academic research has not paid much attention to the functionality and accessibility of environmental websites maintained by organisations in the public or the voluntary sector. To fill this gap, the present study seeks to suggest ways in which environmental websites could make more effective use of the internet|s capabilities for disseminating information. This paper investigates 226 environmental websites, taking into account features, such as orientation devices, interaction, information exchange, timeliness, accessibility and the possibility of donating online. Different types of websites (air, forest, water, directories) are compared and examined for significant differences. The results strongly suggest that environmental websites have not yet fully tapped the internet|s potential, since only few environmental websites meet the overall technical, functional and design-related standards their commercial counterparts have adopted.

Keywords: environmental websites; web analysis; web evaluation; web metrics; functionality; accessibility; site rankings; online donations; internet; environmental information; sustainability; information dissemination; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2006.010075

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2006 Vol.6 No.1, pp.103 - 119

Published online: 14 Jun 2006 *

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