As Health In Action moves from its original role of serving as a clearinghouse for information on injury prevention and health promotion to presenting more selective, well vetted web site content, the following selection criteria presents a series of questions that resources will be measured against to determine if they represent appropriate content and quality suitable for the purpose and standard of Health In Action.

Criteria #1 - Content

• Does the content of the information have timely and credible information to offer practitioners working in health promotion, injury prevention and population health?
  
• Does the content serve Albertan practitioners foremost?
  
• Is the content relevant to the HIA mission statement1 and vision2?
  

Criteria #2 - Source

• Does the information come from a credible source? For example, is the information maintained by a professional organization whose members have appropriate qualifications?
  
• Is authorship clearly stated?
  
• Are the author's qualifications for writing on this topic clearly stated?
  
• If the source is not a professionally or legally accredited authority, is there sufficient supporting information to establish an informed perspective?
  
• If the source of medical information is not a medical professional, is that fact clearly stated?
  
• Does the source provide information that will help establish the legitimacy of the resource (such as contact information)? An email address is not enough.
  
• Is the resource, or benefits of a specific service, supported by appropriate, balanced evidence?
  
• Are original sources clearly referenced?
  
• Health In Action does not link to for-profit sites unless the information is not available elsewhere and/or information is exceptional.

Criteria #3 - Currency

• Is the information current and up-dated. The currency of the document will be left up to the discretion of the Health In Action staff.
  
• Are the updates clearly indicated on resources?
  
• Is time-sensitive material clearly labeled?

Criteria #4 - Resource and/or website visuals
Resource

• Graphics, layout, frames and colour choices must not interfere with readability.
  
• Are there any spelling, grammatical or typographical errors present? Such errors reduce quality control and can produce inaccuracies in information.
  
• Health In Action avoids poorly translated documents. Translations must be of acceptable quality.
  
• Web Site
  
  • Is the information presented clearly?
    
  • Is the web site user-friendly?
    
  • Is the organization's email address visible?

Criteria #5 - Morality

• Is the resource biased toward any culture, gender, sexual orientation or race?
  
• Is the resource free of hatred or stereotyping of groups of people or linked to other sites that do?
  
• Is the resource free of obscenities, offensive, inaccurate material or linked to other sites that do?
  
• Does the resource encourage illegal or anti-social behaviour or linked to other sites that do.

Criteria #6 - Disclosure

• If the resource only presents one side of a controversial issue, is this clearly stated?
  
• Are commercial sponsorships clearly indicated?
  
• Is there a potential for a conflict of interest?
  
• If user data is requested and collected, are reasons provided and privacy guidelines stated?
  
• If the resource is protected by copyright, do we have explicit consent to post in on HIA? Is the name of the copyright holder given?

Criteria #7 - Are clear and adequate caveats used?

• Is there a clear statement that health information should not be taken as health advice, and is not a substitute for consultation with a physician?
  
• Are fees associated with resource use, copyright restrictions, or legal statements explained?

If a previously accepted resource or web link to Health In Action is determined to not satisfy the Quality Assurance Selection Criteria, the staff of Health In Action project may exercise their right to remove the resource or web link from the databases of the Health In Action website.

Health In Action Mission Statement:
Providing an interactive website and associated service which supports Alberta practitioners in the areas of health promotion, injury prevention and population health.

Health In Action Vision:
Health In Action will be the premier source of information on health promotion, injury prevention and population health for practitioners in Alberta

References

Alexander, Jan., Tate, Marsha (1999). Checklist for an Information Web Page. Chester, PA: Wolfgram Memorial Library [1].

Beck, Susan. (Sept 1997). The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. New Mexico State University: Institute for Technology Assisted Learning. At http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html [2] .

Dept of Mathematics, Science, Technology Education at North Carolina State University. Evaluation of Science WWW Resources. At http://www.ncsu.edu/imse/3/evalweb.htm [3]