Modules 3 + 4 (weeks 7-12)

The web-tracking assignment is an ethnographic exercise that will help you explore the web's particular form and content requirements, as they differ from print and broadcast media. You will also learn about opportunities for journalists who work on web-site teams, either as content webmasters or writers or designers.

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF WEB DESIGN:

• Navigation: How easy is it to move through the site? Do labels for links provide good information about what is available once the link is clicked? Do you get lost? Is it easy to get back to the home page? Do you find the experience seamless or frustrating? Why?
• Presentation: This is all about style and looks. On a surface level, does the site's outward appearance invite you to stay?
• Organization: This is all about substance. Is there good information available at the site and is it organized logically? Are there too many clicks to get to important information?
• Change: Is the site up-to-date? Is information posted in a timely manner? Is there enough change going on to keep users interested in coming back to visit for new information?
  

Links to web design information:
www.useit.com/alertbox/ia.html (2006)

www.webreference.com/authoring/design/usability/ (older)

www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html (2005)

To complete the assignment by week 12, you will:
Select two web sites with a similar purpose, sponsored by organizational types that you would like to work for someday. After visiting these two sites for several days, choose one as a primary site. Continue to check both sites weekly. Post the URLs to the sites on your blog, along with a three-paragraph report to describe briefly how these two sites originally appeared to you and record your original impressions. Comment briefly on the principles of organization, presentation and navigation.

Keep a blog journal that records your visits to the site and the changes taking place.
Write a formal final report on your blog that's 12-15 paragraphs (about 3 pages, double-spaced). It should focus primarily on your main site, while comments about the other site should be used for contrast or comparison. Comment more thoroughly on the principles of organization, presentation, navigation, and change.

• What do you consider to be good about your main site?
• How could the site be improved by adding features available from the competing sites?
• How did your assessment of the site change from the beginning of this ethnographic process to the end? Why?
• How did the sites change over the two-week period? Was information up-to-date?

At the end of this report, in a separate blog entry, address the following questions in brief about your main site only:

• Is contact information available on the home page? Is a webmaster's name or company contact's e-mail addresses listed? Is the geographic location of the web site's organization easily determined? Are phone numbers or customer service contact information provided?
• Is there a text-only option on the home page? If so, is it easily found? Describe font usage and its readability/legibility, in terms of all potential users. Describe links and whether they are easily discernible from other type and image use.
• If audio and/or video files are available, discuss quality and appropriateness.
  Does it seem as though the site's developers are aware of accessibility for users of all abilities? Why or why not?
• Classify this web site as either Web 1.0 or Web 2.0? Why?
• Does the site require plug-ins? If so, is there an alternative way to access information on the site? Does it seem as though the site's developers are aware of accessibility for users who may own older hardware and software? Why or why not? Suggest improvements. Would a newcomer to the web find this site easy or difficult to use? Why or why not? Suggest improvements.

Other useful sites for designing and accessibility on the web:
Testing the Three-Click Rule
http://www.uie.com/Articles/three_click_rule.htm
The Myth of "Seven, Plus or Minus 2"
http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=4058/nam1012431804/
And the governmental contribution:
Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines
http://usability.gov/guidelines/index.html
Working with color, for print and web
poynter.org/special/colorproject/index.html
Designing for print newspaper/magazine pages and web
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47

Blogging for module 2: InDesign

Find a paper version of any newsletter (at least four pages) and bring it to class with you next week. Many programs on campus issue paper newsletters, or you might receive some through the mail, at your place of worship, or from some other organization. Why does this publication have credibility, or not? By this I mean, why do you think this newsletter does or does not contain good information? Does your assessment have something to do with the way that the newsletter is designed?

Of course, you can see where I'm going here. The form/content dichotomy or binary is really a false one. Substance and style need a nice formal wedding in Las Vegas.

Begin to apply the principles of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity to this newsletter, in order to better articulate why this is a good/bad piece of design, and therefore, a good/bad piece of communication or journalism. What are these principles and what do they mean? Well, if you're asking that question, you must still need to crack the textbook open. Two quizzes are coming during week 6, and our discussion during week 5 will get you ready for that.

Also locate an online newsletter, so that we may begin to discuss principles of design for online and interactive newsletters. Just bring the URL with you for class discussion and post this URL on your blog, along with your critique.

Blogging for module 1: Photoshop

You'll use the links below to begin your investigation of two issues during weeks 2 and 3:

• photography and copyright
• photojournalism ethics and manipulation

At the National Press Photographers Association site, www.nppa.org, you'll find a story on the home page about the Jon-Benet Ramsey photographs that have been reproduced everywhere. This story, along with a similar story from the Poynter Institute (see second link below, or click on the Al Tompkins link at the end of the NPPA story), discusses the copyright infringement enacted by major media in the use of these photographs.

For your week 2 entry, write a simple definition of copyright (see first link below for more resources). Next, find two web-based mainstream news media stories about the Ramsey case that use photographs of her images (include links in your blog entry). What sort of attribution is used with these images--in other words, who owns the copyright of the photos used? Is a photographer, news organization, or copyright holder identified? Are the photos you found being used legally, following copyright law as you understand it in this case?

For your week 3 entry, you'll be exploring the issues of photo manipulation. Again, visit the NPPA.org web site to view its code of ethics and other discussion on this issue. Also, click on the third and fourth links below, to read discussion of how manipulation should be avoided by news producers like the Washington Post, and to read how an award-winning photographer was stripped of his awards for minor manipulations. Within the story about the photojournalist, be sure to click on a link showing the photographs, before manipulation and when published. Visit other links at Poynter that guide you to the policies at major newspapers.

For your entry, summarize briefly the major points in codes of ethics about photojournalism. Why are these guidelines important for news outlets to follow? In what way may these ethical guidelines help journalism students in other areas, namely PR and advertising? If these guidelines aren't relevant, why not?


http://nppa.org/professional_development
/business_practices/copyright.html

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=106490

http://poynteronline.org/content/content_view.asp?id=46964

http://poynteronline.org/content/content_view.asp?id=47867