This paper evaluates two various medical websites. The websites are compared and evaluated in terms of content, usability, and accessibility. The level of accessibility is also accessed and compared for both website. This paper compares as the subject of comparison. Using “Common Cold” as the topic of comparison; this paper aims to help distinguish the more accessible and usable medical website from the two subject.
Website Description
BBC is United Kingdom’s world respected media/news network. The official website of BBC offers users with local and international news, business news (stock exchange, market data, economy, etc.), health news, science and nature news, Technology news, and as well as entertainment news, there is also a radio and TV feature in the web site, and as well as weather news and language selection feature.
BBC’s official website has the typical component and features of a website, but the website of BBC offers new innovation and features, such as accessibility help feature (which allows a user to modify his/her desktop to be more accessible to the website, according to the user’s desktop Operating System), text only feature (which transfers the website into text version or HTML version and only available in BBC International version), and mobile/PDA’s feature (which informs the users on how to gain access to BBC website using mobile gadgets). The website also features an interchangeable version; where a user can choose from BBC UK or BBC International version. The first version gives prominence to the breadth and depth of BCC content in the UK (which includes news, sports, and weather along with UK radio and TV). This version is preferred for UK-based users. While the latter version, gives prominence on world events, news, sports, weather. This version is preferred for users outside the UK. There is also a language translate feature that allows news to be translated into thirty three (33) different major languages; this feature makes the website more useable and accessible to anyone. Also, one noticeable innovative feature of BBC website (although still in beta or testing stage) is the changeable display setting tool; this feature of BBC website allows user to change the appearance of the BBC homepage. A user can change the Font size and background color of the homepage according to the user’s preference. This feature is currently only available in the BBC UK version page.
In terms of the content of the website; the website is full of different information (from news, education, health, sports, weather, etc.) as expected from a top media network like BBC. The website is well-constructed and easy to navigate even for people with low technical knowledge. BBC home page like any other websites has links button, this buttons direct a user to a certain link about the topic and can also redirect the user to the main home page; this typical feature of a website allows a user to easily navigate and use the website.
BBC’s website has an A-Z search engine. A search engine is a typical website feature that enhances a website performance allowing user to search a particular subject easily. BBC also features a search engine where the user types the particular subject that he/she is looking for. Although search engine are not precise because a simple term such as “common cold” could give various result, the strategy in using the search engine is to input the exact word or phrase you want to find. For example: instead of searching for “common cold”, a user can search “cause of common cold” or “definition of common cold”, this will make searching more precise and narrow.
When I first search my topic using the A-Z search engine of BBC website, the search did not have any information about “common cold”. I notice that the result of the A-Z search engine feature of the website is only available in the BBC UK version and it only contains general topics (such as featured news and articles on BBC radio and TV) and therefore will not return any answers about the subject matter. I tried the other search engine feature of BBC website; I typed the subject “common cold” on the search engine and the search engine returned about 31 pages of related links about the subject “common cold”. Although the search results provided me with numerous links, BCC search engine suggested the two best possible links to the subject that I am looking for. The first best link the search engine provides me is titled “Health – Colds and Flu”; a featured BBC health news article that advices the readers how to tell the difference between common cold and flu, and the best way to recover as quickly as possible to such health conditions.
On BBC website I noticed a health page; this feature of BBC’s webpage is about users asking about doctor’s advice on different illness and conditions. In using this feature; a user only needs to choose from the alphabetically arranged list of illness and health conditions. When I tried to look for “common flu” in the list, it is not included in the list, so I look for “flu symptoms” and the result provides me with information about the symptoms of flu and the best way to get over such illness. I find in the web page that a particular user asked a question about health conditions and illnesses and a doctor responds and answer the question. This feature of the BCC website is informative and covers wide subject and topics regarding health issues. Topics and subjects are group into four categories. A user can search by A to Z, by age and gender, parts of the body, and by subject index. This feature allows users to easily access any information. If using one of the four search method did not return a result, a user is redirected and advised to use another search method.
Website Description (http://www.surgerydoor.co.uk/)
This website is focus in providing users with various health related information. The first thing I noticed from the website is the list of events and celebrations that is uncommon to everyone (such as today, May 16, 2007, is the celebration of Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week and National Breastfeeding Awareness Week).
Like other website, surgery door has a search engine wherein the user types the subject that he/she is looking for, and also an A to Z search engine that arrange medical and health related subjects in alphabetical order. The website provides users with a more sophisticated search engine. The website also allows users to filter and narrow their search by providing a search engine wherein the user chooses from list of categories (group according to age and gender) and the health condition that the user is experiencing. All the subjects in the website are located in the left side of the webpage. The entire subjects are expanded and easily accessible to users. There are also health related news and articles that the user can access,
In terms of contents, Surgery door has more medical related contents from medical illness, to medical conditions, to medical surgery information. The accessibility of the website can be confusing due to the contents and the various links the website provides. But still if a user is at a loss in navigating to the website, the user can always click the home link wherein the user is redirected to the home page of the website. Navigation can be quite confusing for starters. But the concept and flow of navigation is easy to learn.
When I search for my topic in the A to Z search engine of the webpage, the search return a result about the subject; that makes my search fast and easy. The result includes a definition of “colds”, its causes, symptoms, treatments, and ways to avoid catching colds. The result I got from the other search engine (where I typed the subject) is different from the result I got from the A to Z search. The result that I got from this search engine showed related links that contains articles related to the subject.
I noticed that the website has an added new feature; a webpage about various drugs and medicine information. The topics in this webpage is arranged in A to Z arrangement, making searching more easy. A user can gain complete information about a certain drug or medication, including the description of the medicine and proper medication. This feature is comprehensive and very informative.
Comparison
The BCC website is easier to navigate and used, but the information that can be accessed in the website (in terms of medical related information) is not as comprehensive as the Surgery Door website. This may be due to the reason that BCC is not as focus as Surgery Door in the field of health and medical information. BCC is also informative in health and medical topics and subjects, but the contents of Surgery Door are more comprehensive, because Surgery door is more focus and dedicated in the health industry than BCC.
Both websites have distinct feature that makes them stands out to the other. BBC’s website has new innovative features, such as accessibility help feature, text only feature, and mobile/PDA’s feature. The website also features an interchangeable version; where a user can choose from BBC UK or BBC International version. BCC also has a language translate feature that allows users to translated news and articles into thirty three (33) different major languages. Also, one innovative feature of BBC website is the changeable display setting tool; this feature allows a user to change the appearance of the BBC homepage. A user can change the Font size and background color of the homepage according to the user’s preference. This feature is currently only available in the BBC UK version page and is only in beta stage.
The website of Surgery Door is more comprehensive than BCC in providing users with medical related information. Because Surgery Door is more dedicated in providing medical information, the feature that makes this website different from BCC is the monthly medical celebrations and events list. Surgery Door website has an added new feature; a webpage about various drugs and medicine information. Topics are arranged in A to Z, making searching easier. This feature contains complete information about a certain drug or medication, including the description of the medicine and proper medication.
Findings
The common cold is a common infection to the upper respiratory tract (nose, throat, ears and sinuses) caused by virus. Colds are contagious; a tiny droplet or simple hand contact can pass on these infections. People catches flu virus repeatedly because flu virus is constantly changing its structure, so new strains always appears. Humans don’t have immunity to new strains, which is why we can repeatedly catch flu. Anyone can catch a cold or flu; adults and children have an average of 2-4 colds a year.
Symptoms of cold gradually develop that last about two to four days. Common symptoms that a person has colds are a stuffy, blocked (congested) nose, a runny nose, and sneezing. A person with colds feels unwell and tired, and may develop fever. Sometimes the person experiences mild sore throat, hoarseness, and cough, and also dulled hearing caused by mucus build up behind the ears and mild earache.
Colds don’t last long and needs no specific treatment. Instead of giving antibiotics a person with colds, zinc supplement can help treat colds faster. Antibiotics do not kill virus, therefore it is of no use against colds. Useful treatments for colds are Paracetamol or Ibuprofen to ease the fever, sore throat, aches and pains, and drinking enough water and juice to avoid mild dehydration due to body sweating.
Most colds do not cause complications. However, cold may trigger coughing, wheezing and shortness of breathe for people with asthma or other lung diseases. Such infections sometimes travel to the chest, sinuses or the ears. Bacteria may thrive in the person’s mucus that can cause ‘secondary’ bacterial infection. It is best to consult a doctor if symptoms of colds do not start to ease within a few days, to en sure that a complication has not developed. In particular, symptoms to look out for that may mean more than just a cold includes: fever, wheezing or headaches that becomes worse or severe; fast breathing, shortness of breath, chest pains, or if you cough up blood; drowsiness or confusion; a cough that persists longer than 3-4 weeks; and any unexplainable symptom.
HomePlug Technology and Wi-Fi
Homeplug technology, sometimes referred as Powerline communication describes several systems for using power distribution wires. In this system computers can connect to one another through the use of the same electrical outlet, this method is the cheapest method of computer connectivity. Homeplug technology is based on the original technology called passport, developed by the Intelogis Company. On the other hand, a WiFi network uses radio waves in communicating across a network. The radio waves used in WiFi communication is very similar to the radio waves used by walkie-talkie and cell phones.
The advantages of homeplug technology against WiFi are: homeplug technology is inexpensive unlike WiFi connection because it uses existing electrical wiring, there is need for a new connection; installing homeplug connection is easy due to the reason that every typical building has several electrical outlet; printers and other devices doesn’t required to be directly connected to a computer, or physically near any of the computer in the network. WiFi has a lot of advantages: WiFi are easy to install and inexpensive; because WiFi has a higher frequency more data can be transferred faster; using WiFi connection allows a user to connect to the Internet conveniently even in public places; also one the best feature of WiFi is its convenience and connectivity, it allows a user to easily connect to multiple computers and move them from one place to another without disconnecting and reconnecting wires.
There are also disadvantages in using the powerline connection when using the older Intelogis technology. The connection is slow, therefore limiting the performance of hardware devices; the old technology only works in Windows-based computers; it uses large wall devices in accessing an electrical outlet and can only use 110-V standard lines; it requires data encryption for a secure network and using older wiring can affect the performance of the network.
Road Watch
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is the latest technology used by the UK police force in law enforcement. ANPR has been used for over a decade and is originally intended to enforce traffic law and apprehend traffic violators. But, over the years this technology developed into mainstream police tool. ANPR helps in information and intelligence gathering, because such technology is capable in monitoring and recording vehicular information (such as number plate, journey of the vehicle and destination, etc.) of every vehicle in Britain. ANPR was based on an existing M15 counter-terrorism technology and is capable of capturing five million number plates a day.
National ANPR Data Centre (NADC) is a data warehouse that is responsible in storing data (such as number plate and along with ‘hot list’ of suspect cars). The NADC is capable in storing up to 35 million number plates in a day. Each scan in the NADC will generate four different files: first, a text file containing the car’s registration number, time and date the data was stored, and the GPS location where the data was taken; second, an image of the number plate; third, a video image of the number plate; and lastly, video of the vehicle occupant. Data from the NADC came from the 43 police forces of England and Wales via their respective ANPR servers.
Such technology is useful in law implementation because of the capability of such technology, although in some way it can be ethically unruly. Personal privacy can invaded due to the information that it can capture regarding about a person’s travel. Although such technology is a break trough in fighting and preventing crimes, it call also be used to commit crimes. The database in the system is comprise of valuable personal information, if the system fails and the data are compromise it can be used for personal benefits.
ANPR surveillance technology is an efficient approach in law implementation due to its proactive approach with the power of modern computing, storage, and networking technology. Although effective, ANPR surveillance technology undermine liberty and the very fundamental principle of the saying “Innocent until proven guilty” through surveillance. In general, the ANPR system is quite impressive, but no surveillance system relies on multiple government databases is entirely error free.
1) The National ANPR Data Centre can store up to 35 million number plate reads per day. How many number plates reads is the network of 3000 cameras capable of providing per day?
- A single camera is capable of capturing 11666 of number plate reads per day. To compute for the answer, I simply divided 35 million to 3000.
2) How many times greater than the number the Data Centre can store is this? Explain why this probably doesn’t matter.
- The data centre has 10 times the storage capacity. I think it really doesn’t matter this is because each server of the 43 police force both in England and Whales is capable of storing large data. The server only needed large storage due to the reason that these 43 servers store all their data in the data centre.
3) The article says that each scans’ generates four files. One of them is an image of the number plate. Calculate how many bits would be needed for one image if it is coded using a 256-level grayscale bitmap in a format of 700 x 250 pixels. Assume-no compression is used.
- 44800000 bits are needed in coding an image using 256-grayscale with no compression.
4) We’re told that the image is transmitted as a JPEG how many bits would be needed for one image if the JPEG applies a compression ratio of 35:1?
- It will only require 1280000 bit to transmit a jpeg file using compression ratio of 35:1.
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