Evaluation of digital information resources: cyberguide update proposal

Abstract

Objective: To propose an update of the content CyberGuide created by Mclachlan from the perspective of the documental approach of the electronic resources’ evaluation.
Methodology: This qualitative and descriptive research used the case study as the main method. According to the methodological procedure used, this study has a theoretical-empirical basis. The CyberGuide update proposal was applied anonymously to a non-probabilistic sample of 46 users from five Brazilian social observatories and was implemented in the form of Google forms. Descriptive statistics were used, specifically measures of central tendency for data processing.
Results: A set of adaptations to CyberGuide's content and structure were proposed, with emphasis on the parameters and indicators that configure it and on the graphic evaluation scale. In the update, the evaluation criteria proposed by Kapoun, Codina and the Electronic Government Department of Brazil were considered. It was also proposed a free software and open code tool, CyberGuide Tool: CGT, capable of performing the statistical cross processing of Google forms resulting from the proposed CyberGuide application. The CyberGuide update and the proposed CGT tool were applied in a specific case of digital information resources (the social observatories).
Conclusions: With the application of the proposed CyberGuide, it was possible to identify the parameters that most influence the evaluation process of social observatories. The results obtained show that the proposed CyberGuide can be a viable and easy-to-use tool in the context of digital information resources evaluation.