The Machine Shop's Blurty
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 18 most recent journal entries recorded in
The Machine Shop's Blurty:
| Monday, November 29th, 2004 | | 7:36 pm |
Question of the Week (12-6-04)
What have you learned about Web writing during the semester? What do you think the most important or significant difference is between Web writing and other forms of writing?
- I have learned that Web writing has taken control of writing in a new futuristic way. It will soon knock off the newspapers and magazines and take full control of writing in the future. Its form of writing is the new wave of writing. Email, Blog, IM, are all new ways to write on the Web. Soon enough, the Web will be the only way to write. Jobs will all be based on the Web, there will be millions among billions of websites and to think that all this has happened in a real short period of time. | | Sunday, November 28th, 2004 | | 9:58 pm |
Question of the Week (11-29-04)
What are the most important tasks that users need to be able to accomplish on your site? Write a paragraph about what those tasks are and how you can use usability testing to figure them out.
-The most important tasks needed to be able to accomplish on our site is Learn ability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction. How easy is it to learn the material we are presenting on our site? How quickly can we perform the task set forward? Is it easy to re-establish proficiency of the site after abandoning it for a certain period of time? How many errors did we make? Are those errors fixable? How difficult is the procedure to fix the errors? How pleasant is the design of the site? | | Monday, November 22nd, 2004 | | 8:38 pm |
Question of the Week (11-22-04)
Based on your reading about the qualities that Web text should have and your experiences with writing and reading on the Web, do you think that other forms of media (such as newspaper and magazine articles and books) are changing to be written more like Web writing in response to the increasing popularity of the Web? Why or why not?
Eventually, as the years go by there will be no use for newspapers. Everybody will get all their news and information from the Web. I believe newspaper, magazine, and books are not changing to be more like Web writing to keep the original structure and to keep people away from changing the way they view the web. The Web will always have the edge in information and news, but the newspapers, magazines, and books will always have that original extravagancy to them. | | Tuesday, November 16th, 2004 | | 3:29 pm |
Question of the Week (11-15-04)
What do you think are strategies for developing effective navigation on a site? How will you use these on your group’s site?
-Developing an effective navigation map on a site is a key ingredient to a successful Web site. Being able to know where to put the navigation, what it will contain, and where it will lead to are all strategies to think about. Our group site will contain a navigation map that contains everything you want to know about St. Angelos. | | Monday, November 8th, 2004 | | 2:53 pm |
Question of the Week (11-8-04)
Using the information in the first chapter of Hot Text that discusses creating personas, describe and create a persona for an individual or group that you feel will be using your site.
-I believe students from local Universities and Colleges will visit the site for menu details and pricing. Also, the community of Niagara Falls, NY and bordering cities will visit the site. I think they will want to see pictures of the food on the menu, descriptive details of the food. Reviews of the food by people who have eaten there and reflect on the way the food tastes. Driving Directions could also be on the site for out of town visitors.
-Currently enrolled at NU, I think I will know what I would want to see on the site, like what beer is good on tap, and other alcoholic beverages. | | Monday, November 1st, 2004 | | 2:32 pm |
Question of the Week (11-1-04)
For the rest of the semester, we’ll be working in groups to construct a medium-scale Web site for a local group or client. What local community (on-campus or off) departments, groups, businesses, or other organizations can you think of that might need a Web site created? What type of Web site would they need?
- I believe there should be a site for online tutoring. The current Discussion Boards on Blackboard is useful but not every professor uses the Blackboard advantage. By having a school wide tutoring station online, people aren’t restricted to a certain number of hours they meet. Instead of setting a schedule with a tutor in person, online tutoring is possible between the professor and the students. I don’t know if this is remotely possible but it would be a great advantage to both the student and the professor if it were ever to happen. | | Monday, October 25th, 2004 | | 2:55 pm |
Question of the Week (10-25-04)
In your opinion, what are the three most important qualities of a Web site that make it “good”? Feel free to provide and link to examples.
-After reading all about Web sites and creating my own site, there are a few things that I feel make a Web site “good.” First, you must have good contrast. The fonts, the colors, even the proximity of pictures related to stories are key elements on a Web site. You don’t want to make the site look like it is for a particular group of people; you want to make it look like it is for everybody. The content is another quality that is important on a Web site. You want to give the visitor something to take away from the site. Including interesting facts and pictures instead of propaganda is something that people can learn and take away a learning experience from a site. Another quality that makes a Web site good is style and themes. You don’t want to have stuff all over your page in no particular order. Arrangement of a Web site is a good way to be organized and reveal nothing but what you want to reveal. Banners, buttons, site maps, an index are just some of the many styles and themes to include on a site. | | Monday, October 18th, 2004 | | 2:10 pm |
Question of the Week (10-18-04)
In Hot Text, the Prices describe attention as the currency of the Internet. What do you think they mean by that? How will you draw a reader’s attention to your online portfolio? What will keep them there?
-Attention is what keeps a web page in existence. If it is boring, nobody will enjoy it. They will move on and forget all about it. Things such as all words and no images can cause a browser to go right past it.
-My online portfolio will keep a reader’s attention with a mix of dark and bright colors, good pictures and many links to other interesting pictures and/or stories. It will have a hockey theme to it because much of my college life has been working with the team on campus. I might include profiles of every NCAA hockey rink I have visited and include a picture of the rink. I will also have music playing in the background. The typical sports fan will be drawn in and want to see everything. | | Monday, October 4th, 2004 | | 11:29 pm |
Online Portfolios in my field of study
Now I’d like you to do some research for online portfolios, professional Web sites, or self-presentations such as online resumes in your major or career field. Find at least two sites to examine. Then answer these questions in your blog entry:
How are the portfolios in your field different from the other ones you’ve looked at? Communications portfolios are simple and to the point whereas others are page and pages of the same information.
How are they similar? Why are they different (if they’re different)? The online resumes that I found and researched are similar to the one I have but there are more honors and accomplishments on theirs.
Are there things that these portfolios have that are specific to your field? What are they? Television production, media design, coordinating communications, blockage to the public.
Based on your observations and what you know about online portfolios in general, what do you think the “rules” are for creating a portfolio in your field? In communications, the who, what, where, when, why and how are a lock to have in your online portfolio. | | 11:10 pm |
Online Portfolio Analysis Activity
What elements do these online portfolios have in common? In the artists’ portfolios, it seems as if the paintings are dreams of a world not yet reached, or a world that has already passed. The symbolism is something that will tweak your brain and wonder. The Creative Hotlist brought about paintings and photographs that also symbolize some sort of dream world that really make you use your imagination. That is the strange thoughts that were going through my head as I viewed both sites of portfolios.
Is there one (or many) aspect that they all present, such as a resume or an opening statement? The Creative Hotlist more than the Artists’ website had more of a personal feature such as resumes and opening statements.
What elements are unique to each portfolio? The price ranges on the paintings vary dramatically and each portfolio is different from any other portfolio.
What textual features do these online portfolios have in common? What textual features are unique? Both sites have the same feature in that the people want to sell their paintings and maybe even be hired by a business for their work.
Who do you think the audience for each portfolio is? How does that affect what’s being presented? I believe the audience for each portfolio is fledgling businesses and independent contractors looking for artists to start up their own studios. Depending on what type of artist a business is looking for, it doesn’t affect what’s being presented.
What Web-specific elements (such as navigation, colors, fonts, graphics, etc) do these portfolios have in common? The color scheme is very similar in both sites. The fonts also are similar and the graphics are more represented in the Creative Hotlist site.
Based on your observations, how would you describe the genre of online portfolios? What’s it like? I look at is a business genre. There are artists who are selling themselves and their work in order to profit. Making money is business and I can’t find any business that is against making money. | | 8:03 pm |
Online Portfolio Brainstorming Activity
My major is: Communications
When I leave Niagara, I want to: Move to Chicago and be an integral piece to a major sports team in the area of sports management and communications
To work in my chosen field, I will need to: Work hard in working my way up the ladder to a major sports market by working in smaller fields as soon as i graduate
Ways in which I’ve already demonstrated my professional skills include: Student Manager for the Men's Hockey program here at Niagara and doing an internship with a local radio station in my home state of Michigan.
Activities that I feel contribute to my professional life include: Being around sports all my life, being included in decision making for the men's hockey program, and going to college for 3+ years.
I have/have not written a resume. I Have
Samples of my writing and/or art or other creative endeavors include: Nothing professional, but some web writing
I am most proud of: The position I am in now. Setting up my life to be a success.
Colors that I feel represent me include: Blue and white
Types of images that I feel represent me include: A smile and a look of determination | | 6:44 pm |
Question of the Week (10-4-2004) Search for at least three home pages (or other personal presentations) and online portfolios (or other professional presentations). Provide links in your blog entry. What are some of the key differences you notice between personal and professional presentations? How much personal information can you discern about a person from their Web presentations? Do you notice any differences in how people choose to present themselves based on personal characteristics? 3 websites 1. http://www.creativehotlist.com/index.asp?linkTarget=searchPort.asp&country=intl 2. http://www.thehip.com/3. http://www.talentx.com/creative/arts/new_view/portfolio_list.html?category_id=50Obviously personal presentations are far more resourcesful in following the theme of personal portfolios. In site # 1, I noticed each illustrator had his own recollection of illustrated ideas and he collaborated them into a vision he thought would be noticeable. Site # 2 is a professional portfolio from the Canadian rock band, "The Tragically Hip." This portfolio describes what songs they play at every concert, where they are playing next, a discography, a link to merchendise, and especially a link to their music and photo gallery. Even though it is a website, I believe this is as close to a portfolio a band website can get to be. Site # 3 presents an interesting personal portfolio of animation. This looks like it was either time consuming or it didnt take long. One or the other it is an incredible personal portfolio that should have television markets looking at it and analyzing for a long time. | | Monday, September 27th, 2004 | | 11:31 am |
Question of the Week (9-27-04)
What have you learned from the research you’ve conducted for your project? Give us a brief summary of your thesis and research.
-So far, my research of Internet gambling has led me that this is an emerging sub-genre of entertainment rather than that of a legal genre. I have gotten links to actual sites where you can just create a screen name and password and type in your credit card # and be gambling right away. Very interesting genre to be on the web and writing for these types of websites must be in confidentiality or serious trouble could ensue.
My thesis is Internet Gambling is emerging as one of the most popular hobbies in the world. | | Monday, September 20th, 2004 | | 7:56 pm |
| | 7:45 pm |
Question of the Week (9-20-04)
How do you think changing technologies are changing writing for the Web? In other words, does how we can produce writing and what we can do with it on the Web change what kinds of writing are done? If you think that there are changes, what genres of Web writing are changing the most (or being created)?
-Technology is taking over the web day by day. Brand new features are being uploaded and new innovations are making writing more futuristic. I can open up a website and it can have all kinds of flash media, different kinds of writing that makes you wanna click on it because it looks so inviting. Sooner or later, these technologies will take over the Web and drown out web writing that people may be doing as a job the last 10 years. You really can't go to a site that has boring technology on it because people will be turned off by it and visit a site with more technological capabilities.
-ALL entertaiment sites are changing along with many major sports sites. The idea of in-game updates and play-by-play statistics dramatically change the technology of all sports sites. And in fact, many of these play-by-play sites are free. All you really can do is click on that instead of reading the game story the next day. It makes reading the game story pointless. As for entertainment, name me 1 band that does not have a flash site to enter. These new technologies are taking over the web and eliminating ordinary web writing. | | Sunday, September 12th, 2004 | | 9:30 pm |
Question of The Week (9-13-04)
In “Blogging May Make Teens Better Writers,” Dr. Samantha Blackmon says: “Who cares if a student, to save time, types ‘u’ for ‘you?’ I want to see them writing more and if that means breaking a few rules, that’s OK.”
What do you think about Dr. Blackmon’s comment? What do you think the authors of Hot Text would think about Dr. Blackmon’s comment?
-Dr. Blackmon makes a great point. A point that has been looked at as underrated for a good amount of time. If you look at the generation of children using Instant Messenger and other tools of communicating, they are young. I know a friend who is 18 and he has a 6-year-old sister who uses Instant Messenger to talk to her friends. She is still learning to spell and use proper punctuation but the point is she is writing at a very young age. This also means that her friends are also writing as well. 6 is a young age to even know how to use a computer. I know I was 14 when I started using Instant Messenger. As Dr. Blackmon put it, “breaking rules is OK as long as they are writing more.” This stands as a great point because you can learn punctuation and proper spelling in school, but writing at an early age is the key to learning subjects better and faster.
-I do not have the Hot Text textbook yet, so I cannot answer part 2 to the question, but I will gander a guess and say that the textbook says that this article would be a bad way to learn. | | Monday, September 6th, 2004 | | 9:58 pm |
Question of the Week (9-6-04)
What have your experiences been with writing for the Web? Describe your experiences as both a consumer of Web writing (someone who uses the Web) and a producer of Web writing (someone who creates writing for the Web). If you haven’t had experience with producing Web writing, you don’t have to answer that part of the question. How do you think you will write for the Web in your major or career?
- I was introduced to the Web back in my sophomore year of High School. I took a class called Introduction to Technologies and was quickly taken in depth into the new program called the World Wide Web. Since then, I have used it resourcefully for nearly every event and every research topic I have been assigned. I also use the web as a tool for school related topics. For my Senior Project in High School, I produced a Senior Video and to have most, if not all of the Senior Class respond to me, I used e-mail to reach my fellow seniors and to let them know of the ensuing project.
- The only experience I have writing for the web was in High School by sending game stories of sporting events to our School Webmaster for posting on the School’s website.
- I believe web writing has a place in my future. Being a Communications Major, the Web is a means of communication and an easy tool to communicate with, | | Monday, August 30th, 2004 | | 6:36 pm |
Classes Start!
Today is the first day of my Senior Year at Niagara University!! |
|