Definition of terms for WHSO website classification project

Functionality

  • Static pages
  • Wiki site
  • Blog posts
  • Forum or message board
  • E-mail listserv
  • RSS feed
  • Social media
  • Podcast

Size

  • Small—site contains very few pages and has limited information about the topic (examples: blogs or websites that describe the contents of archives or holding that cannot be accessed online).
  • Medium—site provides a richer supply of resources than small sites and perhaps contains multiple types data (examples: professional society websites that have links and resources dealing with a particular topic).
  • Large—site provides extensive resources, often of many different kinds and spanning multiple topics and many different eras; could also be a site that is devoted to very rich documentation of a particular individual or subject area (examples: digitized collections of works of major scientific figures, library and archive websites that have created large complex research environments).

Nature of resource field

  • Archival finding aid—site provides findings aids for archives.
  • Archive website—site that provide some information about archival material; some provide access to actual digitized documents, some provide finding aids, some simply provide information about an archive.
  • Bibliographic website—sites containing bibliographic references.
  • Data set—provides historical scientific data in the form of graphs, tables, lists, etc.
  • Exhibit website—museum-like exhibits, whether linked to museums or not.
  • Full-text access to primary sources—sites that make full-text material available in digital format online in html, text, or digitized images of manuscripts or printed works.
  • Full-text access to secondary sources—sites that contain articles or other scholarly materials available on the site.
  • Gateway site—contains lists of relevant links, sometimes annotated, including professional society pages that contain pages with lists of links.
  • Image gallery—sites that provide galleries of digital images.
  • Independent online scholarship—usually blogs or online publications that are not peer-reviewed, and journals that aren’t peer-reviewed.
  • Interviews—recorded in video, audio, or transcript form.
  • Journal website— sites that provide access to print or online journals, though some will only provide tables of contents.
  • Lectures—recorded in video, audio, or transcript form.
  • Library website—sites hosted by a library and that document the contents of a library.
  • Multiple subject collection of resources—sites managed primarily by libraries or professional societies that offer resources on multiple subjects and time periods.
  • Museum website—sites that document the contents of a museum.
  • News of the discipline—sites that provide periodically updated information or notes on progress about the site or project, or news about the field or profession.
  • Peer-reviewed scholarship—provides access to peer-reviewed secondary research.
  • Reference work—online encyclopedias, source books, and subject guides.
  • Research guide to collection—usually on library websites; provide instructions for using collections or for accessing archives.
  • Single title access—sites that makes available a monograph or a single journal article.
  • Thematic or subject-based collection—sites focused on a particular field, period of time, and/or region.

Support

  • University
  • Library
  • Professional society
  • Government
  • Museum
  • Non-profit organization
  • Corporation
  • Individual
  • Publishing house
  • University press
  • Research institute

Website navigation

  • Scroll through
  • Click through
  • Search box
  • Tabs

Format

  • Text
  • Images
  • Sound files
  • Video files
  • Data tables

Access

  • Free
  • Partially free
  • Paid