Studying the intersection of journalism, interactive communications and public discourse
The Good: http://www.imdb.com What qualities make up a good website? Pages that load fast. A reliable site search engine that returns relevant results. Page layouts that are easy to navigate. Unobtrusive advertising. A good website should know its audience and cater to that particular audience. And it should fulfill users’ expectations with the least amount …
This morning, my 63-year-old father was complaining about his new cell phone. He can’t figure out why after a few days, the text messages in his inbox disappear. Frustrated, my dad says he is ready to pitch the whole thing in the trash. He’s not patient when it comes to new technology. He can’t understand …
“The more collaborative the employees of a company are, the more successful the company becomes over time,” observed Shiv Singh in his August 2006 essay “A Web 2.0 Tour for the Enterprise.” I’m very drawn to this idea of collaboration in the workplace. Companies can foster meaningful participation among employees from every level and department …
“I see skies of blue…clouds of white Bright blessed days…dark sacred nights And I think to myself…what a wonderful world.”– Louis Armstrong, 1967 Colors evoke an emotional language all their own. Colors can grab attention, supply contrast, accentuate and understate. A room can seem tense and small, or serene and airy just by painting the …
Much like the library websites described by Brenda Battleson in her 2000 case study, “Usability testing of an academic library web site,” major newspaper websites are evolving into information gateways. Large news websites feature deep collections of stories, archived material, photos, searchable databases and more. But like libraries, the exceedingly large amount of data can …
The first time I traveled to Philippines to visit my maternal grandparents, I was astounded to learn that they didn’t have a telephone in their home. It was 1989, and there was only one telephone in their entire town of Burauen, Leyte. To communicate with my grandparents, my mother in Connecticut had to either write them a letter, or, call …
Interesting story today on NPR’s Morning Edition about Wikipedia. “Wikipedia is the ever-evolving work of hundreds-of-thousands of volunteer writers and editors who range from high school students to academic scholars. This leaves the online encyclopedia open to criticism and ridicule. That doesn’t seem to stop people from using the site as a source for knowledge.” …
Let’s face it, on the surface, human beings are drawn to pretty things – the sparkle of a diamond as opposed to a black lump of coal. The diamond has amazing form – it is visually captivating, artistic, beautiful. The coal is not attractive and isn’t meant to be. The coal is functional, serving a …