## 3 Findings
### The Personalization of Processes  
Many of the interviewees indicated in their responses to various questions that the processes for preparing content for the website on which they worked depended on \"the people involved\", rather than on existing procedures. Three areas were noted as \"depending on the person in charge\": the importance that the organization attributes to its website, and, consequently, the budget it allocates for website management; measures of proper website management; and website and content usability. Interviewees from two different websites said that funds allocated for the website are subject to the good will and the personal interest shown by certain decision makers within the organization: \"...management should be holding the reins in these procedures, spearheading these efforts... I saw this in 2003; when the hospital manager thought it [the website] was important, things gained momentum--big time, but if not, then nothing gets done...\"; \"...it really depends on whether the organization's manager really understands the significance of the website...\"; \"...for example the area of pharmaceuticals: they appointed a pharmacy student...she was really fond of the subject [of the website] and she could really relate, so we were able to make some significant progress in that area\". Interviewees from the same two websites also said that due to the fact that there was no official position [of website manager], and given the lack of clearly defined criteria (such as a recognized standard) by which to assess [the quality of] websites, both management and assessment of websites was subject to the website manager's personal approach, preferences, background knowledge, training, and interest in the Internet medium. _Without ignoring the contribution of commercial and marketing concerns, I myself come from the field of information technology, which places a great deal of emphasis/valueon the information that the health consumer or the customer at the hospital receives... to me that's important... I can't cut any corners when it comes to that [i.e., to the quality of information provided]._  
Interviewees affiliated with nine different websites claimed that they use themselves and/or people they know to gauge the effectiveness of a website's technology or content. The interviewees in this study revealed that instead of a process equivalent to Beta testing, _i.e.,_ assessing the effectiveness of a health-related website by subjecting the site and its content to a wide range of potential users, the website team members and their friends served as both potential end users and the assessors of the findings, not only judging the site's usability and effectiveness, but also assessing the relevance of the contents in light of their own needs. This process then replaces the normative procedures of mapping the needs and abilities of a wide range of potential users, as the following quotes demonstrate. _\"There's a project [called] disease management, which aims to help patients with a chronic disease, such as diabetes, monitor and manage their disease online. When we discussed this project at a management meeting, we talked about the fact that these patients are often elderly and, unlike us who were born connected to a laptop, they often lack access to the Internet, and therefore it's important to take them into account when planning. As it happens, my father is a diabetes patient, and another team member also had a parent with diabetes. So we ended up using the example of our parents as a sort of criterion in the planning process, without them even being present or participating in the discussion... \"How do I know [who the readers are]?... I don't know who they are. I think about myself and the things that interest me and what might interest the people around me... \"How do I know which topics [to choose]?