Best Website of Practices by Malaysian Environmental NGOs: A Comparative Study

• Main Authors: Abdullah, Aida Nasirah, Hussin, Hanipah, Hasan, Hazmilah, Kalthom, Hussain, Aziz , Yahya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Penerbit Universiti, UTeM 2010
• Subjects: TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/11719/1/ICCD_Proceeding_2010__Best_Website_of_Practices_By_Malaysian_Environmental_NGOs_A_comparative_study.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/11719/

This research is the first attempt to cover best practices for environmental websites in Malaysia. We choose five environmental NGOs in Malaysia (ENGOMs) for a case study and evaluated website practices they used to communicate their missions and goals. A quantitative data was collected and analyzed via content analysis of the five ENGOM websites. The content analysis of the websites sought to determine, identify and assess the best practices of the environmental issues and potentially mobilize government or public action on these issues. How do the ENGOMs effectively use the website to communicate their organizations' missions goals? We conducted an extensive literature review to identify features of websites such as the usefulness of information, interactivity, navigability and design that have been evaluated as important by previous researchers. Then we used these features as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the practices of environmental websites in Malaysia. The web content analysis demonstrates that all the five ENGOMs had relatively small websites, providing useful information such as mission, goals and organization background. Most of the global issues advocated by them were meant to mobilise support and action. This is considered a rather ineffective use of OC. Interactivity features available across their websites were categorized as a 'low' level of utilization. The ENGOMs did not fully utilize them for the purpose of conducting online campaigns and encouraging dialogue. The navigability of the five ENGOMs websites was categorized at a 'good' level, given that the majority of them provided good and easy navigation. The majority of the websites also met the 'well designed' requirements. Overall, the five ENGOMs have delivered most of the best practice features expected in effective environmental websites; Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) was ranked as the best websites, while Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is at the opposite end of the spectrum. ENGOMs in their endeavor to develop their websites. However, a key finding is that the websites with more resources did not use them as effectively as websites with fewer resources. Thus, one or two conscientious and well trained employees could be successful with limited resources.