Usability & U

INTRODUCTION

In February 2007, the Netcraft Web Server Survey found 108,810,358 distinct websites on the World Wide Web, according to the following article. Furthermore, the same site stated that there are more than 19 billion web pages in the world as indexed by Yahoo! in August of 2005. That's approximately one human to every three web pages!

In terms of gathering news and generating discussion about topics, companies and publications have taken steps to make their sites as user-friendly as possible. Newspaper, magazine and even blog websites are in the process of testing which methods and techniques will bring more traffic to their sites.

NEWSPAPER WEBSITES

Newspaper's websites, like Newsday's, have transformed over the last several years to make its appearance and its information more usable and accessible for readers. Newsday is a Long Island-based newspaper that works to cover international, national and regional news and its impact on the paper's primary readership.

Here are some of the methods:

- The website is relatively easy to navigate. On the left-hand side of the home page there is a noticeable column that breaks down the newspaper's coverage into more than 20 different sections. This compartmentalization enables the reader to find the information he is looking with little difficulty.

- Also, if the user is having a problem finding the article/topic of their desire, Newsday has added a search bar at the top of every web page attached to their website. This search bar uses key words to file through the paper's archives and provide the user with the information they're looking for. The location of the search bar at the top of the pages further adds to user's ability to navigate through the site.

- Another positive method employed by the website is that the day's major stories are front and center at the top of the home page. I do have somewhat of an issue with the fact that the "Wall of Shame" photos are always a part of the website's five main stories, but since these images increase the site's traffic i understand the rationale for leaving them where they are. I personally, wouldn't have these images located at such a prominent location on the web page because i dont feel that they newsworthy enough.

- In the middle of the website's main page there is a function that allows the reader to view the day's most viewed stories, most emailed stories and hottest topics as decided by the users. This component allows the readers to stay up-to-date on the information that their peers find interesting. Many people read news so they'll be able to follow and engage in conversations with others. This function directly plays upon a person's desire to stay current and to know what others know.

- Newsday's website also consists of its very own blog forum. This application allows the users to not only express their voices and opinions on the day's major topics, but it also allows them, in some instances, to partake in a direct conversation with the newspaper's reporters. This function gives the readers a sense of physically being in the newsroom and playing a role in the distribution of news and ideas.

BLOG WEBSITES

As stated earlier, blogs are typically used to generate a discussion, usually about a specific topic or event, among the general public. One of the numerous blogs that exist on the Internet is Poynter's Romenesko web page. This blog is used as a hub for people to view the recent activity and events in the journalism profession and how these occurrences could impact their own lives and/or news organization.

Here are some of the methods that the Romenesko site uses:

- First, at the top of the website's home page there's a section called "News and Tips" that breaks down the various types of media outlets and their corresponding blogs into distinct sections. Another positive aspect of the blog in terms of its organization and navigation capabilities is that there is a noticeable column on the left side of the home page that breaks down the blog's most "popular topics." Both of these techniques make it simple for users to locate the discussions that are most relevant to their lives.

- Personally, i feel that the content on the site's home page is a bit unorganized. The bulk of the stories are simply thrown onto the page based upon the day and time they were published, not based upon the blog's focus or content. This chronological organization makes it somewhat more challenging for users to navigate the site, even with the existence of the aforementioned categories.

- Another positive feature of the blog that is that it compiles information from a plethora of sources to give the readers a better scope of what's going on in the journalism world. There are stories from the New York Sun, Washington Post and Notre Dame Observer to name a few. This function, when coupled with the various journalism job offerings and seminars advertised on the website, makes the Romenesko blog a true gateway for journalists to learn and stay active within their profession.

MAGAZINE WEBSITES

Like newspapers, magazines are also engaged in a struggle to bring page views and traffic to their websites. Unlike newspapers and similar to blogs, many magazines, like Long Island Ultimate Athlete, focus on generating stories and attracting readers that are interested in a particular topic or area. The previously mentioned magazine covers Long Island high school sports and athletes.

Here are some of the methods the site uses to attract readers:

- The website has its top stores, and corresponding photos, located front and center on it's home page. This organization improves the user's ability to find and access the magazine's primary stories.

- Another positive function that the magazine uses is that there are sections that make use of video called "UA Vision" and "UATV." Each of these sections brings the users closer to the action and gives them a better feel of the event. This shows that the magazine has recognized that in order to bring in traffic in the 21st century it is necessary to use components of both print and broadcast media.

- One of the issues that i have with the website is that every time a user visits the home page a song automatically begins playing. While some people might enjoy the added function, i personally feel that it makes the site appear somewhat tacky and is very irritating when trying to read the content on the page.

CONCLUSION

Since i'm already over my word limit for this assignment i'm going to close the post here by saying that from my research its apparent that most news/communication website, regardless of which of three categories it falls into, is currently undergoing a trial period to determine how they can maximize the amount of traffic on their websites.

40 days and counting...

A Newsday image of Sen. John McCain. Other images of the Presidential candidate can be found here.

With about 40 days to go until the presidential election, the Arizona Senator's decided to suspend his presidential campaign in light of the country's current economic woes, a decision which has generated debate and questions from Wall St, politicians and the average American.

McCain has said that right now it is more important for the country to focus on sovling the economic crirsis then on the political campaign. He called for Barack Obama to suspend his campaign as well and for a rescheduling of the first of the presidential debates, which is scheduled to take place in two days.

In response, Obama said that he feels that now is not the time for the campaigns to be put on hold becuase in about 40 days these problems are going to most liekly become either his or Sen. McCain's. Like Obama, i believe that it is necessary for the debate to go on as scheduled so the country can hear what its future leaders plan to do solve this economic turmoil.

If you're interested, i found the majority of the information for this post in Newsday's coverage of this announcement.

Between McCain's announcment, the $700 B bailout bill and the Mets push for the postseason, it is going to be a very interesting weekend.

HTML Flying Solo....

This weekend i went around to local stores and businesses in an attempt to convince people to donate money to my fraternity's charity softball tournament, the APD Fall Classic. This event is going to be taking place on October 4th, 2008 at the softball field on Stony Brook University campus.

The majority of the proceeds are going to be donated to the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. For more information on the charity click here.

Seeing as how we have already roped in several important sposnors, like PepsiCo, Collegiate Greek and Dunkin Donuts, we thought that a lot of the smaller business would be willing to help out. However, this wasnt the case. Many of them were unable to make a solid donation because they "need to check with their supervisors." This entertained me quite a bit because all of the people we spoke to were the manager(s) of their respective shops.

At the end of the day, all we had donated to us was $50.00 and a bottle of wine (which we drank). Even though we didnt make a lot of $ for the event, we were able to get the word out and i feel that people will respond to our efforts and come support us when we host the event in 12 days.

To Green or Not to Green...

so i was perusing the web for interesting articles about the upcoming election and i came across one by Thomas Friedman that focused on a) the republican ticket's stance on how to solve energy problems facing our country and b) getting young college students to become knowledgeable and vote in the election.

Here is a link to the article.

What i gathered from the article was this:

a) Sarah Palin has supported the drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is the opposite of trying to limit our dependence on oil to fulfill our energy needs. She is willing to begin drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge before she is willing to develop technology that employs other sources of energy. in addition, if this drilling were to occur, it would be taking more of the current oil industry away from America's shores. arent we currently involved in a war mainly because of our reliance on offshore oil companies? it is hard for me to see how any politician could support an offshore non-green energy program given the current state of our country. can anyone say hello $5.00 gallon of gasoline?

b) Palin doesnt believe that humans are playing any role in the current climate changes we've been experiencing. really Palin? how then do you explain the rising average global temperature or the melting of the polar ice caps, icebergs and snow-capped mountains? ill finish off this point by simply saying that she'd better make a conscious effort to avoid ever bumping into Al Gore or any of the residents who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Hurrican Ike, or any of the wildfires, tornadoes and tsunamis that have reeked havoc over the last several years.

c) Senator McCain has evidently avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand America's wind and solar industries. mccain's platform of using drilling to solve our energy crisis seems to be going in the opposite direction of where we need to go. while a few additional offshore drilling programs might serve as a nice bridge between our current oil-dependent energy system and our possible clean power and energy efficient
future, to think that drilling is the solution to our problems is irresponsible and ignorant.

alternative energy is one of the ways america can a) help its faltering economy b) regain some of the power it has lost over the last few decades in terms of scientific discovery and technological advances and c) separate itself from relying so heavily on the actions and events of the Middle East.

HTML Experiment

In today's Mets game we managed to score two runs in the first inning off of two solo homeruns by the life forces, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado. The Nationals cut into our lead in the bottom of the second inning, making the score 2-1 . We got out of the inning, but the offense needs to step up and continue to produce runs.

David Murphy just struck for the Mets, driving a deep triple to center field. Jose reyes, who had walked and then stolen second base, score don the hit, pushing the lead back up to 3-1 . Continuing his charge for MVP, Carlos Delgado drove in his second run of the game, giving the Mets a 4-1 lead. And the second of the Carlos' comes to life with a two-run bomb to right field!

Jose Reyes just singled in Brian Schneider who had doubled two batters earlier.

LETS GO METS!

The Class is ending and i'm going to go watch the game on tv. the mets are up 7-2 at the current time. going to keep my fingers crossed...

Blog Photo Trial...

Barack Obama image from Newsday website, that borrowed it from the Chicago Tribune, that received it from the Associated Press, and so on...



For more political coverage visit...

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html

Presidential Campaign#1

im going to start this entree by saying that ive never been very interested in politics. it has been something that has never held my attention for more than a few minutes. the false promises and fake smiles didnt appeal to me. with that being said, i have actually been somewhat staying on top of this year's presidential race. 

so far i have been intrigued by several aspects of the race, one of which was the vp choices made by obama and mccain. obama is young and charismatic and stands for "change." however, after a historic primary race against hilary, those who oppose him realized that the way to attack obama is by criticizing his lack of experience.  these attacks were particularly focused on his lack of experience in terms of dealing with foreign policy.  to combat these naysayers, obama selected a man by the name of joe biden who has been involved in the senate for over three decades and has a particular expertise in foreign affairs. 

mccain , on the other hand, is a war veteran and a long-time member of the US government. he had a clear advantage in the experience factor over obama and his four years in the senate. then he announced that sarah palin was his running mate. he chose a woman who had even LESS experience in politics than obama does. in my opinion, this move destroyed the major advantage that mccain had in this race. this is not to say that choosing palin was a poor decision, it was merely a questionable one. if she can rally all of the would-have-been-clinton voters to the republican side of the spectrum come november, than the alaskan governor will have proven her worth to the mccain campiagn.

til next time....

9/8/08

my day...i woke up, did some interviews for a high school sports magazine that i write for, the interviews were on this team from suffolk that won the jcc macabbi games on august 21st. pretty cool story...a buzzer beater shot at the end of regulation of the gold medal game. then went to the gym. went to class. had lunch with a few friends. then class again. printed some articles to read for my plane ride to chicago tomorrow morning. and here i am.

yesterday went to the met game. probably the last game i will ever see at shea stadium. very sad. i go there between 10 and 20 times a season. big fan. got the tickets for free from stony brook.  had a great time. delgado hit two BOMBS off of the philly's ace, cole hamels. johan pitches seven and 1/3 quality innings and the bullpen only let a run..awesome. my seat was in the highest row of the upper deck. i had a great view of the city (empire state building was yellow), the titon tron screen from arthur ashe stadium, and the mets/philly's game. quality win. this is why we signed johan. for stellar pitching performances in september. and he delievered. division is looking good, although thats what i said last season...