Palmquist - site analysis

1.) http://www.studybass.com/ (well organized)

2.) http://www.cracked.com/ (could use work)


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1.) StudyBass.com is a tutorial site for beginner bass lessons. Since it serves an audience that is most likely unfamiliar with an/the instrument, and also may be (young and) inexperienced with the internet itself, a fairly simple and easy-to-navigate design format is used throughout the site. Each page looks largely the same, and follows an almost identical design. Main links and links to other lesson guides are present on each page, while the relevant information is located right in the middle of each page, with some peripheries to each side. The only thing to watch for is in a given lesson, a user can choose whether to look at the lesson itself, and exercise, a quiz, and exemplary songs by using respective tabs at the top of the lesson under the title. The tabs aren't very big or emphasized, so a casual user can overlook them.


2.) Cracked.com is a comedy website with a host of contributors and fans submitting and commenting on humorous articles, images, videos, and the like. While there is are article archives (in reverse chronological order, as well as a popular and greatest hits list), author archives, and an interactive "category" list of recent articles, the design layout of the homepage looks unplanned, and while there are plenty of good ideas to help the user, they are too scattered to different corners of the page to be ideally effective. That isn't to say that the site is unnavigable--it is--but the casual user may have to fumble their way through the site to find something they are looking for or are interested in, especially as compared to a site with a simpler and more effective design, such as StudyBass.com.

Palmquist

The overarching themes in Palmquist's chapter were design and organization of a webpage, and how the features of online design provides a different experience from print documents. Short descriptions of Links, Information Flags, Pop-up Pages, and Digital Illustrations follow, as well as the impact that they have on online information, as compared to printed information, and the ways that they better serve the audience. The comparisons are quite straightforward and the ways that they serve the audience are nothing surprising (having even just a basic general concept of each online aspect would allow some deduction about how it would work differently, and in some cases, better than, print).

The following section about page organization was also fairly simple, although the illustrations became less clear in what they were trying to communicate until the reader had read through the explaning section of text. Analogies to a printed page document were helpful, though, and the section ultimatley does a good job of showing exactly why site structure and organization is very important to serving an audience.

The last section gave guidelines to create a simple and effective (if basic) site format, and also shows an actual sample website to demonstrate effective use of headers, captions, fonts, links, illustrations, and the like. With a concrete, visible example right in front of the reader, the chapter is able to drive its point home and communicate quite clearly and effectively how website design and organization are important and influential in regard to effectiveness and audience.

Wikitravel Progress

I've noticed over the course of doing this project that there has been an editor or some other contributor besides Alicia and myself that has been adding and editing some of the information on the page. At first I was concerned that my work and contributions might not look as good in comparison, but I feel quite confident with what I've contributed to the Coventry page, and I'm pleased with the results of the several people working on the page.

Adding my final entries to the page was easy, and my feedback was quite positive, so I tried to keep to the way I had been contributing beforehand, and also tried to balance detail with the conciseness of the Wikitravel format. In retrospect, I'm happy with my work and the way the Coventry page has developed, especially considering that I created and started the page myself. I know the page is in no way "my baby" or anything like that, but there's a feeling of satisfaction in being able to go back to the page and know that I contributed to it, looking at it and thinking "I started this."

At first I didn't think I was going to enjoy this project very much since I'm not at all the traveling type (a very big part of the reason I did my hometown), but I did end up liking it, especially, like I said above, the feeling of satisfaction in being able to visibly contribute to a worldwide source of information. It was also nice to be able to share information about my own hometown with other people; many people that live in town are of the opinion that there is nothing to do, nothing around, but I've provided visible proof otherwise on this site that sees worldwide use. It's a nice feeling. I may contribute to other pages in the future since I have a user account now, most likely starting with pages I'm close to in proximity (like the Kent County, RI page), but even if I don't again, it was an interesting and rewarding new experience. It makes me wonder what the next projects will be.

WT progress

Well, I was kind of surprised by how easy it was to post to Wikitravel (WT). I hadn't posted to Wikipedia at all before this, so I really didn't know what to expect. It was probably easier starting a new page than adding to one that was already developed to whatever extent, since I didn't have to check out the organization of the page and make sure I fit my entries in correctly. But otherwise, it was quite easy to add to the page. I thought I would have to try to memorize the Markup and whatnot, since I didn't expect there to be little buttons for bold and italics and other effects. I hope it continues to go as well as it has so far.

Since Alicia and I are creating a new page, I'm glad we don't have to do into great detail and include every facet we know of for each category of the page, because that would take quite a lot of effort, especially considering that Coventry is highly rural. But even so, I hope to have a satisfactory page created and ready for when the project is due on Monday.

More on how things went later!

WT Draft Post Ideas

Buy

Walmart Supercenter, 650 Centre of New England Blvd, Phone: +1 401-823-7780.
The Walmart Supercenter is a larger version of the common Walmart, offering a greater selection of groceries, clothing, toys, electronics and household miscellanea, as well as a pharmacy and garden and automotive centers. Prices are typically about 25% cheaper than other stores like Stop & Shop or Target. The store is quite large, drawing customers from many of the surrounding towns, and is often crowded. Weekend trips can be lengthy and aren't advisable. Almost anything can be bought here, however, and savings are notable when compared to the cost of other stores.


Do

George B. Parker Woodland, 1670 Maple Valley Road, Phone: +1 401-295-8283
Parker Woodland is part of the Rhode Island Audobon Society, and offers free admission to 860 acres of hiking trails and nature scenery. The caretaker's house was built in the 1700s and is noted on the National Register of Historic Places. There is also a converted nature center. The trails are located at the Western side of the town where restaurants and stores are quite sparse, so make sure to bring your own food and drinks. Cell phone service is also questionable depending on your service provider.


Stay

Hampton Inn, 850 Centre of New England Blvd, Phone: +1 401-823-4041 [http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=CVTRIHX|Hampton Inn - Centre of New England]
Exit 7 off Interstate 95
One of several hotels located in the Centre of New England, Hampton Inn was just recently developed in the past several years (date needed), and has already seen considerable use. Centrally located to provide fast access to any nearby town and TF Green Airport for eager travellers. AAA Hotel Rating of 3 Diamonds ("These establishments appeal to the traveler with comprehensive needs. Properties are multifaceted with a distinguished style, including marked upgrades in the quality of physical attributes, amenities, and level of comfort provided" http://ww1.aaa.com/Diamonds/prop_ratings.html?association=AAA&clb_id=014).
User Rating of 4/5 stars.

WT Manual of Style Tips

The Wikitravel (WT) Manual of Style was full of articles and tips on how best to shape a topic article, but here are 3 that stood out to me as especially pertinent and/or helpful:

1. Bodies of Water - this subject of this article isn't something that most people would think about until they actually need to start writing about a body of water, which makes sense. When someone does need to write about a body of water, this page makes it clear that said body is to be discussed under the page for the city or town that it's in. If the water is an attraction, it can be part of a See or Do itinerary, or can influence the path of an itinerary in a location near the body of water. The article isn't especially long, but it does give the basic ideas of where information about bodies of water goes and some direction about what to do with it.
2. Tone - this article was much longer, and had a lot of points that should be common sense for informed/informative and objective writing. Some of the more significant points were to avoid personal pronouns (I, we, our, my), although "you" and "your" are fine; being fair doesn't have to mean being long-winded and boring or formal; be concise; avoid cliches; and careful generalizations and humor are alright, but should be carefully considered and worded so that the intention isn't lost on, or misinterpreted by, the audience. This can be a lot to consider when writing, but allows for quality information and presentation in the article.
3. Words to Avoid - another fairly short article, but makes some good points and emphasizes the connotations of partiality in certain words and how they can be misinterpreted by the readers. Tips include avoiding empty, flowery language ("premiere, luxurious"); vagueness ("unique, severe penalties, recommended, affordable") and words that have different cultural meanings ("entree, tourist"). Again, this is a lot to remember for contributers, but it really aids the effectiveness of the language being used in the articles and contributes to the quality of writing.

Project 2: Wikitravel

My 3 potential Wikitravel pages are probably:
1. Coventry, RI
2. Greene, RI
3. Kent County, RI

Since there are no Wikitravel pages for either Coventry or Greene, RI, I could definitely make a page dedicated to either subject, as I am from Coventry and currently live there, and grew up in Greene (a village in Coventry). I know a lot about Coventry and Greene, so I feel that I could contribute a significant amount of information to a Wikitravel page about either, though Coventry would certainly have more to offer in the way of amount of content and contemporary content (information about Greene, RI is mostly from a historical standpoint).

There is a Wikitravel page for Kent County, RI, but it is not extensive and only has linked pages for 3 of the 5 towns listed on the page. As a Kent County native, I think I could provide a good deal of information to this page, should my plan to create a Coventry (or back-up, Greene) page fall through. In fact, almost every section of the Kent County page is left empty, so to contribute to the page, I would not even have to do all that much.

Though my interest in contributing to the Kent County Wikitravel page is piqued, I would prefer to create a page for Coventry, so I hope that I can follow through with that plan. If not, though, Kent County would be a nice and intresting back-up page. Either way, I'll have to do a bit of research on all of my potential topics.
Off to Wikipedia...

Wikitravel thoughts

I knew that Wikipedia had many different sub-Wikis in all manners of subjects, but I never thought that there might be a travel Wiki. Probably because I'm not the travelling type, but I digress. I'm actually quite surprised that Wikitravel hasn't been featured in one of those Travelocity commercials with the Roaming Gnome or William Shatner and Priceline.com.

Wikitravel seems like a very useful addition to the site [Wikipedia] for people who are interested in travelling (duh) or who want to learn in-depth about different countries, cities, states, and so on, especially from a common person or tourist's point of view. The concept of people being able to post additions to a specific Wiki article from any country (or state, city, so on) and be able to share information about that country with other people who are intrested seems a very handy one. All of the information gets very specific, as well, so for tourists who want to know how they would be able to get around a city, what major cities are in a country, where certain churches or airports are, what food is like, etc. Wikitravel is like a godsend for planning trips, creating itineraries, and the like.

The main drawbacks with the site are the expectations as listed in the Policies and Goals/Non-Goals sections. "All text should be fair" is certainly an expected characteristic of useful information, but being a publicly-edited source, there are definitely bound to be opinionated, derogatory and badmouthing posts. There will always be some naysayer or delinquent that takes delight in bashing someone or something or someplace, and hopefully the measures taken by the filtering and editing team will be more than enough to catch and delete any objectionable posts. Also, some of the non-goals listed are going to be difficult to enforce. There isn't even any guarantee that many Wikitravel users will read the goals and/or policies sections, nevermind abide by them. Surely many users will post content that will be in opposition with policies like "do note create a travel anthology" or "do not make an advertising brouchure" simply because users are likely to be casual contributors, and won't always write content in accordance with such rules. And if many people post contributions like that on any kind of regular basis, then filtering information is sure to be an unruly job for the team designated to do it.

That being said, Travelwiki seems like it would be an exceptional site to use in the Travel Writing class offered at URI, simply because of the fact that the purposes and objectives of the two are very likely to coincide. Should I take Travel Writing as a class toward my major in the future, I'll be sure to make use of Travelwiki. I just might add it to my list of Wikis to look at while passing the time, too.