Question of the Week 10/3

I think the three most important qualities of a Web site that make it "good" are: thorough and relevant information. When you go to a Web site, you want it to have what you are looking for; It should also be easy to find what you are looking for, so good organization is another important quality of a "good" Web site. The site should also hold your attention, so I think another important quality is the look of the site. It should have a color scheme that is pleasing, the fonts should be easy to read, and it should look like someone with experience designed it.

BrainStorming Activity

My major is: Communication Studies, with a minor in Writing Studies
I would describe myself as: competent, organized, quick to learn, independent, good humored
When I leave Niagara, I want to: get a job, go to graduate school to specialize
To work in my chosen field, I will need to: get more experience in my chosen field, decide what my chosen field is
Ways in which I’ve already demonstrated my professional skills include: Internship over the summer with TFN and ICP, Current internship with Family and Children's Services
Activities that I feel contribute to my professional life include:
I have/have not written a resume. I have written a resume
I do/do not know how to write a resume I know how to write a resume
If I wanted to show someone how well I write, I would show them: Samples of academic papers that I feel were well-written
If I wanted to show someone how well I take pictures or video, I would show them: Samples from my photography class
If I wanted to show someone how well I communicate, I would show them: Work I did organizing information for print advertisements for TFN
Professionally, I am most proud of: My writing skills and work ethic
Personally, I am most proud of:
Colors that I feel represent me include: Yellow, purple, blue
Types of images that I feel represent me include: books, food, music, relaxing easy-going images

Online Portfolio Analysis

http://www.freelancewriter.ws/
http://www.jjdonline.com/
http://www.powazek.com/forhire/welcome.html
http://www.ginapace.com/
http://www.urban-commuter.com/portfolio/noflash/pages/video.htm
http://www.fifty-nine.com/portfolio.php?p=12


Each online portfolio has examples of the work that the person or company does and what they have done in the past.

Most of the sites present some sort of opening statement on the first page. Some of them, such as the Gina Pace site provide easy to find links to the resume. The fiftynifty site, however, does not have any sort of opening statement that I could find in the portfolio section. However, upon further searching on the site, I found a statement made on the homepage.

The design of each portfolio is unique. Some of the portfolios have all of the information on one main page with links to their work. Some of the sites have an introductory paragraph on the first page, with additional pages exemplifying their work and their experience.
Each of the portfolios attempts to describe the work they do in a positive manner. The sites are unique in what information they are giving out.

The freelance writing site and Jacqueline Jones Designs and Fifty Nifty are meant for those who would use their services. Gina, Ron and Derek seem to have made their sites as personal resumes for potential employers.

The colors used on these portfolios are more neutral, mostly blue-gray in color. The sites are more easily navigated and the links are easy to read and concise - less cluttered. There is no over use of graphics and useless information. The fonts are uniform and easy to read. The information and features that are present are all useful to the audience.

Online portfolios are information based and have a purpose. They look professional because the people who made the site want to get hired and want to seem like they know what they are talking about. This helps to get people hired because potential employers may find it impressive that you are able to create a web document and that you are able to write for a variety of mediums. It may also be easier for employers to see exactly what information they want and to get to know you a little bit better.

I would consider including the system of links to my important information in my own online portfolio, samples of work I have done, the toned down color scheme, uniform fonts and an overall professional look.

Question of the Week 9/26

Current changes and trends in technologies are making it easier to write for the web. Because of the ease and convenience of web writing, we are seeing more amateur writing done on the web. Anyone can create a blog and write whatever they want in it, be it news or personal interest-based. Because of this more people are being reached and more views are getting put out there.

I think that in the near future, we will see these trends continuing. One genre that will be affected is news. People want to keep up with current events and hear about things happening as they are happening. As more and more people become acclimated to using the web as a source of information, this type of writing will need to change.

I also think that because it is so easy for anyone to write for the web unprofessionally due to changing technologies, we will see a creation of more specialized topics on the web. People who are interested in even the most obscure things will be able to find others around the world who are also interested in that and have created a website or a blog dedicated to that topic. Because of this more people will be able to learn about different things that they may not have had access to before.

Debate over Wikipedia

When first reading the Fasoldt article, I agreed with him on the fact that since anyone at all can edit a page on Wikipedia, it wasn't really a reliable source. Afterall, the site issued a disclaimer itself that they make no guarantee of validity. However, the blog entry from TechDirt made some good points in stating that yes, anyone can post, but there is most likely a whole community of people out there who will be able to correct misinformation. And Wikipedia states that they are able to correct "cranks" almost immediately. I think that most people using Wikipedia are not malicious in their intent and will not purposely put false information out there. If something is posted that is a mistake or untrue, those who spend their time looking over the site will catch it and correct it. Wikipedia seems to have taken proper precautions in making their encyclopedia credible. For example, previous versions of articles are available to go back and review. This might be helpful in verifying some facts.
It is important to note that many of the articles are under construction, or may quite possibly have wrong information. I would say that Wikipedia can be used as a source, but not the sole source. It is best to use this if you have some previous knowledge, or some way to back up information.

Question of the Week 9/19

Two of the websites I’ve been using for research are lostremote.com, and rebeccablood.net. The textual and media features on both of these sites are easy to use. The text is broken up into short paragraphs defined by white space. The writing is large enough to see, without being so large that I have to scroll all over to see it. Lost Remote’s main page has all the headlines to articles in bold and easy to identify, with links to the article easy to see in the summary. There is also the feature of being able to discuss the topic. One thing about Rebecca’s Pocket is that the information contained on the sidebar is hard to follow, and I think it would help if she used more punctuation. Information architecture is used to move from page to page within the site. On each page of rebecca’s pocket, there is a sidebar to move to another area of the site. On Lost Remote, the navigational links are at the top of the screen.

Question of the Week: September 12th

The topics being discussed in the blogosphere right now are the popular news, movies, books and blogs. Listed as most popular at the moment: in news is the story on ebay buying Skype from BBC news; books is the newest Harry Potter book; Movies is Brokeback Mountain; and Blogs is Boing Boing a directory of Wonderful Things.

I think the news articles are popular because they are what is most current. They will remain popular until something else newsworthy happens for people to want to find about about or that people find interesting. Whatever else happens in the news will take its place.
The movies and books that are being discussed are popular because they are what most people are reading and watching. They are relatively recent. The books will most likely be remain popular longer than the movies, since people tend to keep track of currently updated movies more often. Their place will be taken by new popular books and newly released movies.
The blogs that are discussed are most popular because they are the sites more people go to and generate the most interest. These will probably remain popular for a while, since some of the blogs I noticed have been around for a relatively long time. I think this is because once a new blog is created it takes time for it to establish interest among people and become popular, since blogs aren't advertised and aren't adknowledged as much as news, movies and books.

Sources for Research Paper

Weblogs and Journalism in the Age of Participatory Media

I think this article will be helpful in providing a context for the Weblog as a form of news. It also addresses several of the issues that I was hoping to look at, including the incorporation of opinion into journalism.

"Dropping the Anchorman"
an article from the Economist found on ebsco

This article discusses the connection between blogs and TV news and the trends in blogging in regards to journalism.

Research Paper Topic

For my research paper, I want to compare writing in blogs for news versus writing for TV news. In order to do this I will look at one or two news stations and one or two blogs to use as examples in this comparison. I plan on looking into where the stories come from, who writes them, how much opinion goes into blog news vs. TV news, and the variety among TV news stations compared to the variety among blogs.

Question of the Week 9/5

I haven't really had much experience with writing for the Web at all. I am mainly a consumer of Web writing, and I have had experience with a variety of forms. For example, I use the Web for doing research, reading the news, shopping, and entertainment. For the most part I find the writing easy to understand and navigate through, and I hope that I can use my knowledge of being a consumer of Web writing to help me with my own writing.

I think in the future I will mainly use Web writing professionally as it comes up in the workplace. I can see myself using Web writing to make professional connections or perhaps creating or even keeping a company's Web site updating.
Personally, I might try to keep up a blog just for fun, but my personal use of Web writing will probably mostly be as a consumer.