InformationWeek

Y2K Sites: Gold, Silver, Bronze

Few of the government-sponsored Web sites worldwide that explain a nation's Y2K preparedness are as informative as they could be, according to survey findings by the International Y2K Cooperation Center, a United Nations body financed by the World Bank.

Of 107 government sites surveyed by the Cooperation Center, only 22 are considered "highly informative"--the U.S. and Canadian sites among them--according to findings released yesterday. Fifteen sites are labeled "somewhat informative," and 23 sites provide only "limited information," according to the study.

The survey evaluated each site's information about Y2K readiness in critical industries such as energy, telecommunications, and finance, says Bruce McConnell, director of the Cooperation Center. Not examined, he says, were issues such as site navigability and whether a lack of information means that Y2K remediation and contingency planning did not take place. "What we were looking for," McConnell says, "were sites that provided enough detail which established a level of credibility."

Sites without English translations were not evaluated at all. The Cooperation Center has recommended that countries such as Bosnia, El Salvador, Iran, Israel, and Yugoslavia create English-version sites because of the importance of English in world finance and media. The report can be viewed at http://www.iy2kcc.org.