1. General Terms

Web Festival is a special event within the CARNet Users Conference - CUC 2004. Through the Web Festival the organizers want to improve the quality and expand the Croatian Web information space. Web Festival provides the authors with an opportunity to present their work and compare it with the work of their competitors, at the same time allowing the general public to evaluate the best achievements.

CUC 2004 Web Festival will be a competition for the best Web site with educational content.

These rules prescribe the criteria for the selection of web pages which enter the final competition and the criteria for their evaluation.

The evaluation process will be carried out by the Web Festival Jury.

2. Criteria for the Participation in the Contest

General conditions for the application of the Web site are the following:

• the Web site may be entered for the competition only by a natural person, a Croatian citizen or member of the Croatian diaspora,

• the Web site may be entered for the competition only by the (co)author or the owner,

• the language used at the entered Web site has to be Croatian or English,

• one person can enter only one Web site.

If the Web site does not fulfill the mentioned conditions, the Jury has the right to disqualify the Web site from further competition. The jury will tend to solve all the problematic situations in compliance with the objectives of the Web Festival Organization.

Although they can take part in the Festival, the prizes and awards cannot be granted to Web sites entered by:

• members of the Jury,

• Program Committee or Organizing Committee of the CUC 2004 Conference,

• CARNet employees,

• employees in the managing positions or persons sharing ownership rights in companies sponsoring the Conference, and

• family members of any of the groups mentioned above.

Web sites with the following content are applicable for the competition:

• Web pages which contain educational material on a particular subject in a certain field;

• Official web sites of faculties or schools in case they contain educational content;

• Digital textbooks;

• Additional online material accompanying traditional lectures (presentations, exercises, simulations)

• Dictionaries, lexica, encyclopedia;

• Scientific and specialized magazines.

3. Competition Deadlines

Candidates can apply for the CUC 2004 Web Festival starting from the day the Rules have been published until and including 6 September 2004. Registration can proceed exclusively via Web.

The Jury will shortlist the candidates for the awards among the Web sites entered for competition. The list of the selected Web sites will be published at the Conference site after September 20^th, 2004.

On the last day of the Conference, September 29^th, 2004, the Jury will announce three awarded Web sites. The Jury has the right to alter the number of awards according to the quality of Web sites in the competition.

The general public will have the opportunity to vote via Conference Web site for the winner of the "Users' Choice" award among the shortlisted Web sites. Voting via Web will be opened on the day the Web sites shortlist is published, and closed on the last day of the Conference, 29 September 2004 at 12 o'clock.

4. Criteria for the Selection of the Winner

Web Festival Jury will evaluate selected web sites according to the criteria listed in the Table 1. Three web sites with the highest score will be official winners of the Web Festival.

NO.	CRITERION	NO. OF POINTS	EVALUATION FACTOR
1.	Interactivity and the possibility of obtaining feedback	1-5	3
2.	Amount of information	1-5	3
3.	Quality of content from the point of view of users	1-5	3
4.	Quality of navigation	1-5	2
5.	Design	1-5	2
6.	Multimedia	1-5	2
7.	Technical solution	1-5	2
8.	References to similar contents in Croatia and abroad	1-5	1
9.	Style and language	1-5	1
Table 1,Criteria for the evaluation of web sites in the competition

5. The Explanation of the Criteria

5.1. Interactivity and possibility of obtaining feedback

If one uses web technologies to present educational material, it is important to use the advantages of these technologies, which are interactivity and possibility of obtaining feedback. For example:

• possibility of selecting the range and level of training;

• simulations and modeling;

• tasks;

• selftesting of the acquired knowledge with feedback (true-false, explanation, instructions for further training in order to achieve better results etc.);

• possibility of contacting the mentor;

• possibility of searching

• dictionary and glossary.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Online education is one of the applications of web technologies which asks for interactivity and feedback. Therefore this criterion has the evaluation factor 3.

5.2. Amount of information

While evaluating this criterion, the Jury will look at the applications from the point of view of users, learning the presented content. The emphasis will be on the information and not on the technology implemented

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Since the content determines the quality educational material, this criterion has the evaluation factor 3.

5.3. Quality of content from the point of view of users

Important parameters in the evaluation according to this criterion are:

• acquisition of knowledge;

• content enriched with examples.

It is impossible to include professionals from all fields into the Jury. Therefore this criterion does not evaluate the professional aspect of the material presented.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Since the content determines the quality educational material, this criterion has the evaluation factor 3.

5.4. Quality of Navigation

According to this criterion, the Jury evaluate the arrangement of the presented material, transition from one unit to another, the way units are linked to each other, and the presentation of the content from the point of view of navigation (site map).

Explanation of the evaluation factor

A good navigation is very important in web technologies. On the other hand, it is not a crucial criterion in the construction of educational material. Therefore this criterion has the evaluation factor 2.

5.5. Design

An important parameter in this criterion is the influence of design on the way web pages are read and the educational material is perceived.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

A good design is important in web technologies but not crucial in creating educational material. Therefore this criterion has the evaluation factor 2.

5.6. Multimedia

It is important to use the multimedia elements with care and inline with the subject. The misuse of multimedia is as bad as the lack of it.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Good use of multimedia elements will enhance the learning experience.

5.7. Technical solution

Design and technical composition are two closely linked criteria. If one uses special effects (dynamic pages, Java, databases…) beside the visual effect the technical solution (speed, stability) is also important.

A simple design does ask for complicated technical solutions. This applies for their creation and downloading.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Good designer and technical solutions on web pages are very important, but these are not the most important criteria in the construction of educational material. Therefore this criterion has the evaluation factor 2.

5.8. References to similar contents in Croatia and abroad

This criterion evaluates the existence of references and their quality. The quality refers to:

• relevance of references in relation to the subject;

• quality of references;

• presentation of references (grouping according to the subject matter)

Explanation of the evaluation factor

The existence of references is important for the utilization of web technologies and enabling users to expand their knowledge. The Jury are aware of the fact that it is impossible to include all references, therefore this criterion has the evaluation factor 1.

5.9. Style and Language

Educational material must be written in correct language and style. The members of the Jury are not linguists, however they will evaluate the web pages, which applied for the contest, according to this criterion, as well as the content, from the viewpoint of the user.

Explanation of the evaluation factor

Since the style and language are not crucial for the quality of web pages with educational content, this criterion has the evaluation factor 1.