Automated benchmarking Of local government web sites

This paper describes an automated approach to the benchmarking of Web sites. The author reviews the approaches which have been taken by UKOLN’s WebWatch work to auditing and evaluating Web sites across a number of public sector communities, initially through use of locally-developed software, but more recently through use of freely-availably Web services. The benchmarking surveys have provided useful information to members of the communities. However comparisons of results from use of different tools have revealed significant differences. The paper argues that there is a need for standard definitions in order to allow benchmarking results provided by different services to be comparable. The paper concludes by describing some of the technical limitations of the approach described and suggesting that a “Web Service” approach is needed.