U.S. online giving to nonprofit organizations will be more than $3 billion during the holiday season of 2008, according to a new survey from JupiterResearch commissioned by Convio.

There are about 175 million adults in the U.S. who are Internet users and 7 out of 10 people plan on giving the same amount or more, while the current state of the economy will lead 33 percent to give less to charity this holiday season.

“Consumers continue to go online in growing numbers to learn about, engage and support nonprofit organizations,” said Gene Austin, CEO of Convio.

“With consumer dollars being tight and the competition for donations growing, the efficiency and effectiveness of the Internet as an engagement, communication and giving platform continues to grow in importance for donors and organizations alike. While still smaller in total dollars raised, it is clear that online giving has joined traditional channels as mission-critical part of the giving mix.”

A charity’s Web site is the most useful tool among those who plan to donate online this holiday season (27%), followed by email appeals sent from family and friends (15%). Charity evaluator sites also play a role for 10 percent of online adults in their decision making process.

“More than 50 percent of online consumers say that they plan to donate via the Internet during the 2008 holiday season,” said Vinay Bhagat, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder of Convio.

“This level of online support shows that nonprofits of all sizes need to make sure that their web sites and other electronic communications meet consumer expectations. It is also important to make sure that traditional appeals such as direct mail, television and events provide people with the option to give online.”

State elections Web sites are often too difficult for voters to find and use to answers questions about whether they are registered to vote, where to vote and what will be on the ballot, according to a new study by the Pew Center on States.

“State election offices have made considerable strides in getting Web sites up and running. Yet as more and more Americans seek information online, it is no longer enough for election offices merely to put information online,” said Michael Caudell-Feagan, director of Make Voting Work.

“Voters are turning to the Web with basic questions about how to cast their ballot. And our study shows that state Web sites need to do a better job in meeting those needs. There are simple things outlined in this report that every state can do to improve services and make the democratic process easier.”

The study found the average usability score for election Web sites in the 50 states and the District of Columbia to be 58 percent. Usability ranged from a high of 77 percent (Iowa) to a low of 33 percent (New Hampshire).

When using search engines such as Google, only 38 states appear as the first search term when searching for voting in a specific state. Only 34 official sate Web sites appear as the first search result when users enter their state name with “polling place.”

Thirty-four states have a poll locator tool, but only 11 states will identify a polling location for any address in the state.

Half the states including the District of Columbia (53%) offer ways for users to verify their registration online

By not improving their sties, states are missing an opportunity to save money on voter telephone help lines, which can cost up to $100 per call.

“We know that, on average, people spend less than two minutes on a Web site before they give up on their search for information,” said Kil Huh, research project director at the Pew Center on the States and a lead researcher on the report.

“Too many of the Web sites we visited included historical information, inadequate search functions and mislabeled links that may prevent locating what users need. If voters turning to the Internet can’t easily find the information they need to cast their ballots in November, it could drive up the volume of calls and, thus, costs to election officials with limited resources.”

Usponsored and professional society Web sites provide significantly higher quality information about common elective surgical procedures than commercial sponsored Web sites according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The Internet is a good resource that can help patients make better-informed treatment decision, the quality of content on health related Web sites is not monitored and studies have shown that some Web site offer inaccurate information.

More than 110 million adults in the United States have searched online for health information, and two-thirds of these patients get information through a search engine instead of directly accessing a specific Web site.

“Empowering patients with a trusted source of information will lead to better informed patients and, in turn, improved expectations of surgery outcomes,” said Clifford Ko, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Surgeons should steer patients to high-quality medical Web sites until an accepted, widely used seal of credibility is established.”

An analyses found usponsored sites scored higher in quality, than sites sponsored by commercial organizations such as law firms and representing advertisements (50.6 percent versus 25.0 percent).

A large number of Americans still do not use basic Internet security tools and there remains a substantial gap between the protections people think they have and what is actually installed on their computers, according to a new cyber security study released by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec.

The study found more than 80 percent of Americans say they have a firewall to prevent hackers from stealing personal information installed on their computers. In reality only 42 percent had adequate firewall protection. The majority (95%) of Americans did have anti-virus software installed.

“As we begin National Cyber Security Month, this national study of America’s cyber security protections provides us with a critical baseline of understanding of how we conduct ourselves and protect ourselves online,” said NCSA Executive Director Michael Kaiser.

“Great strides have been made but our citizens, economy and national infrastructure will remain at unnecessary risk until every computer user in America has anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software on their computers.”

The study found almost no difference between the percentage of Americans who had anti-spyware software installed (82%) and the percentage that said they had it installed (83%). Still, almost one- fifth of all users are not running adequate spyware defenses. Spam filters though are a different story. Seventy-five percent of poll respondents said they were using spam filters, compared to only 52 percent who had them installed to prevent unwanted email.

“Anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software are the front-line basic protections that all Americans should have, and they are critical to keeping your computer, personal information and your family safe online,” said Adam Rak, senior director of public affairs for Symantec.

“To continue raising much-needed awareness around this important topic, Symantec has launched several education initiatives this year making it a priority to connect parents and educators with the resources they need to protect themselves and their family online.”