Website 1: Alzheimer’s disease:
http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/alzheimers/Pages/index.aspx
The website page for Alzheimer disease from OSU (Ohio State University) is written by the Memory Disorder Clinic who can be contacted through the address: 410W.10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, 1-800-293-5123. The website is for informational and educational purposes with the information not to be used as a replacement for a physician’s advice. The reason why the website was produced was to advertise a memory disorder clinic that was based at Ohio State University medical centre. The clinic is qualified to write the document on Alzheimer having had experiences dealing with the patients.
Despite being the author of the document, the webmaster is also the Memory Clinic at Ohio State University hence serving both as a webmaster and author. The publisher of the document is Ohio State University Medical Center, a health institute and lists its qualifications through the joint commission public note. In the public note the center has written that it has complied with the nationally established joint commission standards. The document is published in Columbus Ohio.
The website meets the goal of alerting the viewers on the uniqueness of Alzheimer from other forms of dementia, warning signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, and rehabilitation from the disease. Apart from a diagrammatic representation of what is happening in the brain during Alzheimer, the content in the website is sketchy and sources unknown. The opinion expressed by the memory clinic is that with proper research and knowledge of the disease, Alzheimer can be managed. The web page is not a mask for advertising because the main advertisement is about the Memory clinic.
The website has no publication date and the article on Alzheimer updated in 2010. Its links are all up to date with no dead links. The links and website are updated on a yearly basis hence the information on the page could have been out-dated due to a large time period without updates. The links, such as current research studies, are clearly evaluated and provide information that complements what is on the document’s theme of education on Alzheimer. There is more text than images—one image—signifying that the website is imbalanced. However, the website is cited correctly with clear short texts that are clearly headed for viewing.
Website 2: Is depression a risk factor in Alzheimer Disease?
http://alzheimers.about.com/od/whatisalzheimer1/f/depriskfactor.htm
The author of the website is Dr. Carrie Hill, PhD. who can be contacted at Clinical, 220 Horey Rd Naval, Operational Medicine Institute, Pensacola. FL-32508, phone 850-452-2257. The web page is for research purposes and was produced to review researches on depression as a risk factor in Alzheimer disease. The author Dr. Hill is qualified to write the document having ten years of working experience in the health sector with a PhD in counselling psychology.
The website was published by about.com who is also the same as the webmaster hence not separate. The publisher has listed their qualifications to publish the document by having a HONcode standard for trustworthy certificate. In addition, the content that is published is reviewed by the websites Medical Review Board. The document was published in Florida State in United States of America.
Website meets the goal of alerting the viewers that depression is a high risk factor in Alzheimer disease. The information is detailed as it is backed by two sources which are from the same year of publish, that is in 2008. The opinion expressed by the author is that while studies indicate depression is high risk factor for Alzheimer disease, it is not enough and further research is needed to clearly illuminate the connection between depression and Alzheimer disease. Therefore the website serves both as an adverting and an information site.
The website was produces in 4th April 2008 and last updated on June 18th 2008. The links are not up to date as they are behind two years.
There are numerous dead links which are found in the sponsored link category. The information in the web page is not out dated as current research on Alzheimer is concerning the disease’s linkage with depression. Furthermore, the many links in the page are evaluated with the aim of explaining un-clear information and terms. The web page is all text with images being used in advertising other non related issues. However, the information is cited properly with two sources supporting the ideas and themes.
Comparative Critique
The similarity of the two web pages is that they have a common aim of sensitizing the viewer of Alzheimer being a unique memory disorder different from other forms of dementia. Information in the two web pages has all been written by professional people who have considerable experience in the field of psychology. The use of images in the two pages to drive the objective home is below average as it is very minimal.
The web page from the memory clinic used only one image showing Alzheimer disease in the brain while the other web page from Dr. Carrie has no image to enhance his ideas. Furthermore, there is a likely hood that information in the two pages are out dated as they are not frequently up dated. The memory clinic web page was last updated in 2009 while the one by Dr. Carrie was last updated in 2008.
The contrasts in the two web pages are many compared with similarities. A major contrast is in the authors and webmaster of the websites.
The author of the Memory Clinic website was the clinic’s professionals who are both the webmaster and publisher. The author of the second web page was Dr. Carrie a professional psychologist with about.com being the publisher and webmaster of the article. The information from the first website is not referenced hence could have a potential of being inaccurate. It is for that reason that there was a disclaimer advising readers not to rely on the content but just for advice hence seek a second opinion. The second website’s information was more accurate and less plagiarized as there was recognition of the source of information.
In conclusion, there two web pages have their similarities and differences but the common thing is that they have highlighted that Alzheimer is memory disorder disease that has influence in the field of psychology. The two web pages have different goals to meet. The web page for the educational institute was to advertise the memory clinic while the second website was to provide information on recent research on Alzheimer disease.
Works Cited
Dr. Carrie, Hill. Is depression a risk factor in Alzheimer disease? about.com, 18th June, 2008,
Web, Accessed at:
http://alzheimers.about.com/od/whatisalzheimer1/f/depriskfactor.htm
Memory Disorder Clinic at OSU. Alzheimer. Ohio State University Medical Centre, n.d., Web, Accessed at:
http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/alzheimers/Pages/index.aspx
