Yahoo! changes 'most wired' survey criteria

With controversy surrounding the methodology of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine's "most wired" survey, 88 universities refused to participate last year. Despite the protests, Yahoo! placed such schools on its 2001 "most wired" list, sparking controversy. For the upcoming 2002 list, Yahoo! has changed its criteria so that no school officials will be involved. \nFor this year's "most wired" list, Yahoo! will gather information from university Web sites as well as cooperate with an unannounced third party that will gather other data, said Jeremy Caplan, senior associate editor for Yahoo! Internet Life.\nAlthough the magazine has yet to announce the new factors that make a university "wired," Caplan said the data will include similar qualifications as were used previously, including schools' web portal, infrastructure, wireless access, tech support and student resources, such as online involvement in courses and registration.\n"We use very extensive data that's very accurate and very thorough," he said. "Regardless of where it comes from, it will provide an accurate assessment."\nChristine Fitzpatrick, an IU information technology spokeswoman, questions the accuracy of Yahoo's unnamed third party.\n"Having seen the survey over a couple of years, the methodology has changed, and it's hard to draw comparisons," she said.\nUniversities around the nation once touted their place in the "most wired" survey, but now their rankings are a fading memory.\nSome colleges have forgotten completely.\nSpokespeople for Ohio State, the University of Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan State didn't know the survey existed, even though their rankings in last year's top 200 were 48th, 35th, 64th and 84th, respectively.\n"There was some growing concern over the extent to which it truly reflected differences," Fitzpatrick said.\nAlthough IU refused involvement in the survey, it managed to achieve a seventh place ranking in the 2001 edition of the survey.\nPurdue University also refused involvement but didn't make the 2001 list. Purdue spokesman Joseph Bennet remembered the survey's existence, but questioned its new ranking system.\nDespite questioning the rankings' validity, Fitzpatrick wouldn't mind having IU high on the list.\n"If Yahoo! Internet Life acknowledges the leadership of IU in info tech, we're pleased to see that," she said.\nCaplan pointed to a school's concern with prestige as the deciding factor for discontinuing involvement in a survey that he described as a beneficial service to the magazine's readers.\n"Anytime institutions are put under (a) microscope, it's easy for them to ride on reputation, rather than the objective opinion of an independent outside source like we are," he said.