Final Blog Post

Overall, Comm. 315 has been a really important class for me, and not quite in the way I had originally thought it would be.  When I saw the title, “Writing for New Media” I thought we would be learning how to write internet content, and how new media was transforming the writing industry.

My vision of what would be taught in the class was a little off, but I still learned things very valuable to me and that I can use in my career after graduation.

The main thing I learned about that can help me further my career is this very assignment, our blog assignment.  I will be pursuing a career in sports journalism, and almost all of the prominent sports writers in the country all have blogs that people read.   That is why I feel, for me, our post about how our blogs should be written and what they should look like was the most important for me.  This post allowed me to work on how my blog should be written, and understanding these concepts will really help me in my career.

The second post I felt really taught me a lot was the post we did about participatory culture on the internet. Since the majority of the writing I will do in my career will be for the Internet, understanding how participatory culture works and how it can help you create web content that people can really connect with was a very important thing to learn.

The third post I thought was really important to me was understanding color schemes on the Internet.  The job I will be doing in California deals with construction and design of professional athlete’s personal websites, so my understanding of color schemes and how they elicit certain responses will certainly be a big help to me in my job.

Overall, think learning how to construct  basic websites was a really good part of the course, as well as the blogging assignments.  I would have like to have seen more writing for new media, maybe some assignments for the We-town site, but other than that I had a great experience in the class.

I expected to learn more about the actual writing of content for new media, and that didn’t really happen, but I have had that in other classes so I am still competent in that area.  I didn’t expect to learn as much about the constructing of websites and html code, but I think those are things that I can really use and will benefit me later on.

Affordance and Consistency on ESPN.com

Critiquing Espn.com is a very straight forward process.  In terms of feedback, there really is no system in terms of letting you know when you have made an error.  If you navigate to a part of the site that you are not allowed to view, or that is under construction, a page simply shows up that says the page cannot be displayed.  This is no different from any other time you type in a website URL that is invalid.  The only part of the site select people can access is the “Espn Insider” section which requires a user name and password.  If you are not a registered member the site informs you that you are not allowed to view these parts of the site.  Otherwise every other part of the site is accessable to everyone so no error messages occur.

The ESPN Insider service is really the only way the site limits your end goals.  By not having a user name and password (paying money to ESPN) you cannot access certain articles or features on the site that only “Insiders” can.  This is the only real restriction users have when going to the site.

The site doesn’t necessarily provide metaphors for how it should be used, it is very straight forward.  Everything is linked as a headline, so if you want to read more about the headline you click on it and you are directed to the full story.  It doesn’t really try to relate itself to the real world, rather provide news and analysis of the major sports.

In terms of consistency, all the links behave the same way, which makes the site very easy to navigate and very intuitive.

Overall the site is very consistent and very easy to navigate, and provides plenty of easy to understand feedback to its users.

Critiquing Second Life

Virtual worlds are quickly becoming one of the more popular escapes from reality in our society.  The amount of things you can do in a virtual world is increasing by the day.  You can communicate with other people, create your own unique character, even earn real money by doing things in the virtual world.  With all these things now being possible and at your finger tips, there is no program that embodies the virtual revolution more than Second Life.

Visual cues allow you to know what to do in the Second Life world.  They use a lot of windows filled with text, that provide instructions showing you how to fly, walk, drive, etc.  There is also instructions that show you how to talk to people in the visual world.

The text windows with instructions provide you with plenty of sources to interpret the information.  When you come upon something new a text window appears that gives you instructions on how to do certain tasks.  The color scheme used makes the windows with instructions or text impossible to miss, so you have more than enough at your fingertips to understand the world you are in.

Aesthetically, the world is very appealing because it is a very close interpretation of the real world.  People like things they can identify easily with, and this makes the virtual world of Second Life very appealing.  There is also incredible attention to detail, which is a big plus.

In terms of characters, the aesthetics of the characters you can choose from in Second Life are also very good.  You can change your character’s appearance to suit your personal preferences, something that anyone will love.

Overall the aesthetics appeal to a sense of the trust in the environment.  Having the freedom to change your appearance to your liking, and being in an environment that is easy to relate to give the virtual world of second life a welcoming aura.

This is a great version of a virtual world.  We are clearly not far off from a complete virtual reality experience, when a program this good is available completely for free.

A product analysis (or lack thereof) of ScreenRecord

After attempting to download several versions of ScreenRecord on my Macbook, I have found that ScreenRecord is quite possibly the spawn of Satan.  None of the four versions I downloaded worked on my computer; in fact, three out of the four versions would not even load properly.

In light of my trials and tribulations, I would strongly recommend not using this particular program for the We-town site.   Seeing as how I could not even download a free demo that actually worked on a Mac, it would certainly not be in the best interest to use this program when several computers in the labs on campus (and those in the Communications Lab) are in fact Macs.

I would recommend using something else, in fact anything else other than ScreenRecord.  If this blog was read by more people I’m sure a ScreenRecord rep. would contact me about my post, but I don’t think I’ll have to worry about being sued for slander on this one.

Task analysis of We-town.com

Doing a task analysis can be a very worthwhile process.  It can show you how to complete a certain task step by step, and can help you to see where problems may arise in that process.  Upon doing a task analysis of the text aspect of we-town.com, I found overall it was pretty easy to upload text to the site for publication.  My analysis, which can be seen here, shows the detailed process of how to upload text for a post on the site.

After analyzing what I have done, I think the process overall is solid.  There are things I would change on the aesthetic level, such as moving the “login” option to the top of the page instead of the bottom so that people do not have to scroll down.  But overall, the process is as streamlined as it can possibly be, there isn’t anything that can be taken away and have the process still work, making it a sound and concise process.

Understanding Cognition

Cognition is a process that is extremely important to the way we live our lives.  It can best be described as what goes on in our heads when we perform every day tasks.  Reading, writing, talking, and decision making are just some of the processes that fall under the umbrella of cognition.  Experiential cognition can be described as a state of mind in which we perceive and react to events freely and effortlessly.  Reflective cognition involves deeper processes such as thinking, comparing and decision making.

It is important to understand the processes that make up cognition when dealing with new media. Cognition can help us determine how people learn, and what the best ways are to ensure they learn how to use a website efficiently and effectively.

Reactions to International Perspectives on New Media

After reading the materials highlighting how other countries are constraining new media, my thoughts on the current issues in the world have been shaped dramatically.  Prior to reading these materials, I had no idea that first of all blogging and youtube was popular in other parts of the world, and second of all that these extremely popular sites were so closely regulated.

The story that hit home the most to me is the story about the Saudi Arabian blogger who is being detained for comments he made on his blog.  The story highlights the comments the blogger made, largely questioning the religious and political motives and direction of the current regime.  He is now being detained by the government and not charged with any crimes, which hardly seems like it would be legal.

This story brings to light the question: Should new media be monitored?  Should there be restrictions on the types of content that are placed online?

The essence of new media in my opinion is the ability to voice your opinions, and facilitate dialogue with others about those opinions over communications mediums.  If there are restrictions over what you can and can not say or view, then the essence of new media is not there.  Take America for instance.  If we were not able to voice our opinions on the state of the nation, and the politics that run our nation, one of the most important rights we have would be destroyed.  Freedom of speech is something that not every nation has, but I feel it should be allowed in the forms of new media.  If you are not allowed to speak freely in blogs, and post freely the videos and media you wish, then the essence of new media is forgotten.

Reaction to Participatory Videos

After listening to the two excerpts, I feel the Internet can certainly be a great research tool.  I also feel, however, that students should be instructed on how to use the Internet properly, and how to use it in a scholarly manner when dealing with it for school purposes.

I feel we should instruct students at a young age on how to use the Internet properly.  As the speaker in the clips states, I agree with the thought that you should check the authors of what you are reading, and also check the sources they use to make their claims or present their information.  A popular site is wikipedia, one that many students even in at the college level use as a source for scholastic information.  But the articles are often written by people with no scholarly background – some people are even know to post information on wikipedia while heavily intoxicated.  With this in mind, the Internet can be a very valuable tool for getting information and furthering our education.  But it is just as valuable to know how to evaluate the quality of the knowledge you are looking at, where to get the best information, and how to use it effectively to further our education.

Participatory Culture on the Internet

Participatory culture is becoming the rage in the Internet medium.  Website owners, editors and writers want the “user” or the person reading their content and viewing their site to be able to comment on it, and have their voice heard.  Some sites such as Digg.com have allowed the users to have full control of the site, basically determining what stories are on the front page and what stories are the most read.

This is a great way to get people coming back to your site, because it makes them feel involved, like their voice really matters.  It can however backfire on you if you are a website owner.

A prime example of this is the website I wrote for, Lebcosports.com .  The site has forums for every sport, where you could register as a user  and comment on which teams you think are the best in Lebanon County.  This idea backfired in a big way.  We did not have restrictions on language that could be used, so there were instances where profanity was used, and racial slurs were used as well.  This is not something high school kids and their parents want to see.  Also, there were no  restrictions on who could be a user, so spammers were creating accounts to advertise their pornography websites.  All in all, not a very successful jump into participatory culture.

A website that does it the right way is sportingnews.com.  You can create an account and comment on the stories that are written, but there is no profanity, and they clearly have restrictions on who can be a user and who can’t because there are never any spam messages.  This I would consider a great attempt at creating an atmosphere conducive to participatory culture.

Website Color Schemes

The first website I took a look at was one of my personal favorites, Espn.com.  The color scheme of the home page is very good in my opinion.  The logo of ESPN has always been red letters, which is the color of the banner.  The type on the banner is all white, which makes it very easy to read.  On the rest of the homepage, the type is black, and when put against the light tan backgrounds, makes it also very easy to read.  In terms of color, I think this is what website designers should strive for.  The colors work well together, and everything is very visually appealing.

The second website I looked at was the site dedicated to my favorite team, mets.com.   The site really incorporates the team’s colors very well.  Again, the type on the banner is white, to help make it easier to read against the colors.  The headings of the stories are orange, as well as the links, which makes them easy to read against the white backgrounds.

The third website I looked at was fannation.com .  I really like the color scheme of this website.  The shade of blue with the white and black font is really appealing, at least to me.  The duller shade of blue really makes the white stand out, looking as if it is popping off the page.  The black font against the white background also works well, creating the same effect.

These three website are very well constructed.  It’s clear color scheme was an essential part of the design, and they all succeeded in making visually appealing websites.