Abstract
The Internet, particularly the Web, has opened new vistas for businesses. The ability that anyone, using (virtually) any device could be reached anytime and anywhere presents a tremendous commercial prospective. In retrospect, the fact that almost anyone can set up a Web Application claiming to offer products and services raises the question of credibility from a consumers’ viewpoint. If not addressed, there is a potential for lost consumer confidence, thus significantly reducing the advantages and opportunities the Web as a medium offers. Establishing credibility is essential for an organization’s reputation (Gibson, 2002) and for building consumers’ trust (Kamthan, 1999). The rest of the article is organized as follows. We first provide the motivational background necessary for later discussion. This is followed by the introduction of a framework within which different types of credibility in the context of Web Applications can be systematically addressed and thereby improved. Next, challenges and directions for future research are outlined. Finally, concluding remarks are given.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Quality Model: A set of characteristics and the relationships between them that provide the basis for specifying quality requirements and evaluating quality of an entity.
Personalization: A strategy that enables delivery that is customized to the user and user’s environment.
Quality: The totality of features and characteristics of a product or a service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.
Delivery Context: A set of attributes that characterizes the capabilities of the access mechanism, the preferences of the user and other aspects of the context into which a resource is to be delivered.
Semantic Web: An extension of the current Web that adds technological infrastructure for better knowledge representation, interpretation, and reasoning.
Semiotics: The field of study of signs and their representations.
Web Engineering: A discipline concerned with the establishment and use of sound scientific, engineering and management principles and systematic approaches to the successful development, deployment, and maintenance of high quality Web applications.