A Time for Reflections

I've been blogging for a few months now and I wanted to a self-eval of my Blogger production thus far. When I first started this blog, my goal was to use it as an outlet to reflect on current topics in technical communication and more importantly, information architecture. Since this is not a corporate blog, I admit that I have strayed away from the content throughout, but there is always time to improve. I was not a frequent reader of weblogs and it took a while to find a writing style that a good fit for me and the image that I wanted to portray to my audience at large.



I try to keep entries short but detailed, although there some times when you need to elaborate on certain topics more than others. I have a working knowledge of HTML and I was able to change bits of the code to enhance the visual design of my page to something more appealing and to make it stand out against the other blogs on Blogger. I also hope to use this page in my portfolio as an example of skills that I have learned thus far and will learn in my graduate courses in Professional and Technical Communication.Stay tuned!

Online Collaboration-My story

I am currently a graduate student at NJIT where my program is delivered in a distance-learning format. I have 3 courses offered on the course management platform WebCt and 1 on Moodle. I was attracted to the program because it was online, but at the time I did not fully understand the extent of collaboration efforts that would be expected to complete course assignments.

For my Cultural and Technological Change course, I was required to work with three other students to complete weekly assignments that consisted of reading specific chapters and collaborating with group members to produce one summary and one question to pose to the other groups in the course. We also had to produce a combined answer to each question posed by the other groups and this endured for an entire semester. We each produced our own work and then came together to bring out main ideas to be included in the final summary. We setup weekly chats and deadlines to submit individual work, but the entire process was very frustrating because of Webct constraints. WebCt does not support any audiovisual components and the design of the chat was very outdated which made it hard to keep track of information that we discussed. The majority of the entire course was collaboration and it was a lot to deal with as a first time graduate student. It was discouraging to later find that other groups were appointing one person to do the weekly assignment and then the others would read it and give feedback.
For my Elements of Visual Design course, we were responsible for collaborating and creating two wikis, which were fun. There was not the same amount of pressure in this type of collaboration and it was interesting to see the various edits that students were making as the project progressed. I could see myself working professionally with others in a similar format.

An online course is advantageous because it is convenient, accessible, and will strengthen communication skills and help to improve time-management as well. As an undergrad, I was not a fan of lectures that I could easily fall asleep in and I thought that it would be interesting to try online courses for graduate school. Having a face-to-face course fosters collaboration because you can be assured that people are "there" and it is easier to talk to someone rather than type a message and hope that they respond.

I think that having audio and video capabilities available for students to communicate with other students will improve the discussions in online courses, although people are in different time zones and will not be able to all be online at the same time. This option will particularly be beneficial for teamwork within courses that require extensive collaborative efforts.
Having this option available will also strengthen communication between students and their professors. There are often times when professors will not join in on discussions and this proves to be discouraging when students are struggling to find answers and could benefit from their teacher's insights.

This first semester was a big challenge, but I can see a difference between my learning experience in Webct compared to those in Moodle. The design and usability of the platform that an online course is delivered through are very important and professors should try out different options and choose the best one for the success of their students.

Readability and Usability

Readability is the ease in which a document or work can be read. Things considered readable mean that is interesting and fit to be read. Interest and prior knowledge of a subject often help readers comprehend and retain information.

Readability tests were designed to meaure the suitability of books to assist educators and librarians in selecting appropriate materials for different age groups. Some testing methodology consist of the Flesch Reading Ease scale, widely used formula measuring the readability of documents on scale from 0(difficult to read)-100(easy to read). The Flesh scale is also used in Microsoft Word when providing statistics about a current document and it also tells you what reading level the writing of the document is on. I was first introduced to this in high school when my English teacher made remarks about writing at an appropriate level since we were on our way to college. The Fry test method is also a measure of readability which is now incorporated in computer programs.

Usability testing methods investigate the ease in which users can utilize a product or website. Readability tests can measure the readability of the text on websites or the text in manuals and directions for products. It is important that users can easily understand the information that is presented to them. In visual design, readability tests can determine the effectiveness of typography or copy.

Is deli.cio.us socially satisfying?

Deli.cio.us is a social bookmarking site where users can organize their favorite websites and share them with other users online- all in one site. A site of this type can also be classified as a folksonomy because it is a way to collect, categorize, and tag content in a collaborative fashion. The neat aspect about delicious (visualize the dots) is that you can share sites with others without having to send an e-mail with a long link or and Instant Message. You can share and receive interesting information without being obtrusive and annoying to your friends or colleagues.

I believe it can be considered a "democratic taxonomy" because it gives users the opportunity to browse through websites that other people have bookmarked to get a glimpse of the wide variety of websites that exists. You can search by specific tags if you are looking for websites in a particular category. An interesting feature is the hotlist where you can see the top sites that people find interesting on the del.icio.us homepage. I believe that del.icio.us can be a beneficial site for students because they can share web information in an semi-organized fashion as long as people use helpful categories and tags that are sensible. It is another Web 2.0 application that can assist with sharing information over the web among social networkers and professionals alike. It feels like you are sharing your Favorites folder from your Internet browser with the world and tends to add more value.

Here is the URL to my page where I have a collection of sites related to professional and technical communication (my current field of study) and online radio sites because I music!

I also included other sites related to sub-categories of communication such as web design, information architecture, graphic design etc.

I visit the delicious once every couple of days, but personally I do not visit it as much as theFacebook, the only other social networking community I am a part of. Maybe this will change in the future as I continue to add people to my network and get exposed to more and more websites that I would probably never see if it was not for the del.icio.us site.

Writing for the Web

It is essential for writers to possess a toolbox with various sections comprised of techniques to use in different circumstances. Writing on the web should be understandable at first glance. It is important to take advantage of the interactive medium( the Internet) and provide an experience to readers different to what they can receive in print form. Writing for the web transforms the relationship between writers and their audiences. The audience is more involved in the conversation and it is wise to produce information that will cater to a varied audience.
In place of numerous brochures and handouts, companies have reverted to creating Intranet sites for their employees to retrieve information in a more effective manner that also saves money.

Placing print items on the web should be revised to capitalize on the features of the Internet.

Product Manuals
Print manuals consist of texts and visual aids to help consumers setup and use their products correctly. While some companies, simply provide a link to a pdf or Word version of the manual that was provided with the product, others incorporate video tutorials that show users how to complete certain setup tasks. Apple's website includes video tutorials and step-by-step instructions with screenshots to assist users. The use of animations can also be helpful when preparing online manuals because users do visist the web to read text-heavy documents, they look to the web for quick answers. Online manuals should also include high quality product shots that shows the details of buttons and other small features that may be hidden in the print diagrams provided to users.

Press Releases
Press Relases are traditionally written on plain white paper with a lot of text devoted to impressing the media with a newsworthy story. Press releases should be altered for the web and can include graphics, sound and even video to bring the product or news item to life. We all know that is frowned upon to use CAPS and millions of exclamation points throughout documents to show emphasis, but with the use of sound, readers can hear enthusiasm and may give them incentive to learn more about what is being publicized. An example is a press release for an event in Pittsburgh called Soul Day, sponsored by the developers behind the Soul Pitt Website. The web press release included a logo for the event, a sound clip from the founder of the website, quotes from users of the site, links to a del.icio.us website created for the event and other relative information. There were also links that allowed users to download traditional press releases in Word or Pdf format, giving the reader multiple options to receive the information.

News Articles
Print news items contain a lot of text and black and white images that are usually not that detailed. Online news websites have become increasingly popular because they are brief and often include multiple graphics and sometimes footage of the events that they are reading about. The headline and the lead are the attention-grabbers and are what attract readers to read the rest of the story.

It is important that writing for the web includes chunky paragraphs and only information that users want to read. Designers should eliminate the need for scrolling and give users an interactive experience.

Flash: The Good, The Bad...

The introduction of Flash technology has enhanced the aesthetic appeal for some sites , but in other cases, may hinder the usability of the site and affect its overall ability to effectively convey the message of the site. In 2000, Jakob Nielsen wrote an online article titled "Flash:99% Bad" discussing how the use of Flash has had a negative impact on the usability of websites and its effects on users. My pet peeve is the lack of navigation on Flash-intensive websites. Sometimes you are forced to look at animations for an extended period of time until they provide you with a button that says "Continue" or "Click here for more". This takes away the users ability to freely navigate throughout a site and may often be a turn off for users.

Good Flash animations can increase the user's ability to understand a difficult concept, however, a bad animation can damage the message of the site and can deter a user from the site. Some sites offer the option for users to skip the introductions, which is useful, while others waste the users time with slow and bright animations to simply show the company's logo. The heavy use of Flash also requires users to quickly learn how to manipulate site features and other controls on the site that should be standard for users.

Flash technology can be used in a positive way to bring attention to an issue through the use of animations and sound to convey a message. An example is the SIRE website, which has a campaign devoted to bringing attention to the number of homeless teenagers in the Netherlands. The homepage of the website has a screen in the middle of the page showing people's eyes slowly opening and closing, which is corresponding to a counter of the number of people who have opened their eyes to the situation occurring in the Netherlands.


After you choose to enter the site, there is a flickering streetlight in the corner of the page, while the rest of the screen is dark. After a few seconds, an arrow and "Click here" appears motioning the user to click on the streetlight for the animation to continue. When the user clicks on the streetlight, there is an animation where the light gets brighter and acts as a spotlight on a teenager who is laying on the ground. Type then appears giving information about the teenager and how long they have been homeless. After clicking on a series of streetlights, the line of text that was once blurred out at the bottom of the page appears and a Continue button appears leading users to go to the next portion of the site.

The different segments of the site all include animations that are accompanied by a statistic about child abuse, sexual abuse, and prostitution rates in the Netherlands. The color palettes used in the segment devoted to homelessness involves dark hues to depict empty streets. The sounds in the background involve sirens and car noises to give the viewer a realistic feel of the scene in the Netherlands where homeless teenagers are sleeping (screenshot below).


In this instance, the animations and metaphors used throughout the site have the ability to evoke emotions in the user and may persuade them to get involved in the campaign. One negative aspect of the site is that the user does not have the ability to navigate through the site as they like. There is often a delay between parts of the animations, forcing the user to watch the animation in its entirety before moving on. The design of the animations are all similar, which can make the site dull after awhile.
The placement of the figures and the icons throughout the animations creates a well-balanced composition with a good integration of elements within the space.


Another website that uses Flash in a aesthetically pleasing manner and integrates good design techniques is the website for Patron spirits company. The website has a very clean look with a plain white background, and black and grey text. The animations on the site are simple, but add a unique flavor to the site. The various brands of liquors that the company produces appear to be sliding towards you, and you are able to click on individual bottles to learn more about the product. The navigation is very clear and easy to use on the site. There are no long animations that you are required to view before going to another portion of the site. The use of fading techniques for text or links that have been read or used also helps the user identify where they have been on the site. Along with the useful information on the site, it is also a nice site to play around with to see what functionality it has. The sound effects throughout the site are of people talking and utensils hitting plates similar to a scene at a club or a restaurant.

Some designers may overdo Flash animations and it could make the site appear loud and overwhelming. Users are interested in sites that are designed well and are easy to use; they are ready to sacrifice the usability of a site because it looks good.

Web 2.0 and Information Architecture

In my previous post, I discussed the term Web 2.0 and the effect of the applications that have came out of the phenomenon. Web 2.0 has also effected the practice of Information Architecture. This article by Dan Brown, titled Information Architecture 2.0 provides details about the effects of Web 2.0 and what information architects should be aware of in their positions.

Web 2.0-Making us lazier or smarter?

The term Web 2.0 can be defined as the revolution of the Internet and web applications. The term Web 2.0 was first coined by Tim O'Reilly . The web has evolved into a platform offering services related to almost every aspect of daily activities and any hobby/interest you can imagine.



Web 2.0 is the extension of applications and web services that were popular in the early years of the Internet. The success of the Web 2.0 revolution is contributed not only to the tools that are constantly being created, but the manner and frequency in which people use them.

Web 2.0 services aim to increase accessibility and save people time by enabling users to complete tasks and activities at their convenience. People often turn to the web to read news headlines, check the weather, read their e-mail or even catch up on an episode of their favorite television show that they missed the night before. The web has transitioned to allow collaboration, user-participation and increased social interaction. Web 2.0 not only refers to the delivering of services to the needs of the users, but also the development of design patterns and techniques that make these services easier to use. Although you can join social or professional networking sites such theFacebook or LinkedIn, the Internet does not provide the means for parents to tuck in their children at night or allow one to brush their teeth. Therefore, the rise of Web 2.0 has provided a convenience for many individuals, but it is not the answer to everything.

One web service that is a result of the Web 2.0 revolution and has become increasingly popular is the introduction of online banking. It is a convenient online service offered by many financial institutions that have physical branches, but there are also banks that entirely exist online.
Online banking allows users to access their account information at any time. Previously, people only had the option of waiting in long lines to interact with tellers and perform financial transactions at their local branch. Accessibility was a major issue because bank hours are very restrictive and there are often long waiting hours on the telephone. Some banks, such as Bank of America, are now offering Mobile Banking in addition to online banking and physical branches, allowing users to keep track of account activity and perform tasks, on-the-go; no longer requiring the user to be in front of a computer. Either way is still better than waiting in a line on a Friday at a local bank.

With the increase of web technologies, the interfaces for online banking have improved, but some are much more interactive than others. I personally prefer Bank of America's site because it includes the use of graphics that are aesthetically pleasing and the content is organized which increases the usability of the site.
The addition of online bill paying has been a breakthrough for those who have many bills to pay each month and have trouble keeping track of their individual deadlines. This is also a way to ensure that companies are receiving your payments in a timely fashion, rather than the risk the chance of them getting lost in the mail. Through online banking, you can view statements, transfer funds to other accounts or people you want to give money to, and also keep track of pending transactions so your account does not get overdrawn.

There is always the question of security when doing anything online, especially financial transactions. Many banks have implemented the use of SiteKeys and security questions and answers to prevent identity theft and help users to protect themselves from fraudulent websites with similar web addresses. One of the other disadvantage of heavily relying on online banking is technical difficulties. This may present a slight inconvenience to those who have physical branches, but may very troublesome for those who belong to a financial institution that is solely online.

Online banking will not replace physical branches because there is no way the money you want to deposit will automatically appear in your account, if the cash is in your hand. There are many people, my mother for example, who do not feel comfortable putting personal information online and will never use the service of online banking. It is very convenient and significantly decreases the paper trail while you are managing your finances.

Aesthetics in Paintings

Aesthetic value is an important factor when evaluating the visual design of paintings and other compositions. Take for intance this still-life by Evaristo Baschenis.

The main object in the painting is the table with the open drawer, but my focus soon turned to the arrangement of the instruments on the table. The smaller instruments laying on the table are overpowered by the cello lying face-down covering portions of the other instruments bodies. The painting is asymetrically balanced with more weight on the left side of the painting where the bulk of the cello is and the open drawer with a music score cascading out of it.In terms of hierarchy, the most important element visually is the cello laying face down on the table. This is the only instrument whose body is fully shown in detail.

The brush strokes and color of the music sheets give the impression that they are worn and have proceeded to curl up at the edges.There is also a good use of lighting to create shadows underneath the table and near the fruit on top of what appears to be a guitar. There is tension between the various instruments because they are placed close together with some overlapping others. The colors mutually agree with one another and do not create unnecessary noise, but the colors of the ribbons are the only items that particularly do not get lost in the warm tones of the instruments, cases, and color of the floor.

This painting could appear in the halls of a performing arts school ( we had similar ones at CAPA), a doctor's office or even an ad in a retirement magazine. It could symbolize how one is leaving their instruments behind to pursue other extracurricular activities.

Visual Design in a Commercial: CIA approved

The digital age has transformed the field of design and the elements that are used to create compositions in print and for the web. In order to fully analyze the visual rhetoric and design of a piece, one must take into consideration the layout, color, shape, focal point, theme,balance and contrast to name a few.

I chose to take a look at a commercial created by the CIA as a recruitment advertisement for a younger audience. It aired on the Discovery Channel and was intended to persuade a younger audience to consider careers with the CIA. The surface area of the composition is a television screen and it uses many cartoon elements to appeal to the younger audience rather than adults who are looking to start their careers after college or switch jobs.



The focal point of the video is an interactive "bug"which moves throughout the different screens guiding the viewer in and out of the various places described by the narrator. These involve screens where mock CIA employees are shown solving problems and designing devices. There is also an employee shown drawing a fictitious gadget which is shown to exhibit the type of projects that are created by scientists and engineers. The bug acts as a tour guide around the different images in the ad.

There is a scientific theme to the advertisement evoking emotions of creativity, imagination, and design.

The juxtaposition of colors in the piece promotes contrast and contribute to the changing layout of elements in the space. There is a shape in the video that has shades of light and dark purple together and another of a yellow square with black polka dots.

The fly is the main focal point in the beginning of the video, but while the fly is in motion, it is the foreground elements are scaled down. These elements are scaled down to place emphasis on the fly and then the space alternates where the scientists take center stage and fly fades into the background.

The bodies of the scientists and engineers in the video are dis-proportioned to resemble cartoon characters with large heads, smaller torsos, and really thin arms. There are various portions of the video that resemble the inner workings of a machine which are displayed with great texture. Some of the screens resemble paintings from the Bauhaus. There are a lot of elements displayed in the space giving the eye many options to look at. This video is very interesting in the use of colors and I think it was a great idea to appeal to kids about considering the CIA as a career option.

Typography

Typography is an aspect of visual communication design that can positively influence the message of document when done correctly. During undergrad, I learned about typography and how to create logos and nice headings for documents and projects. Typography is the balance of text and image on a page. The personality of a typeface can affect the mood of a document, thus it is important to choose fitting fonts for your documents and media presentations. If you are preparing a professional document it would be in your best interest to steer away from using decorative fonts with curves, balloons,fireworks etc.

To support my analysis of typography, I found a group of videos on YouTube created my students and designers alike that all convey different messages. Some of the videos are pretty interesting and exhibit a great amount of detail and use of typographical techniques. I particularly enjoyed this video entitled Typography:sky , where the user took an excerpt and set it to music. There was a modern typeface used, but it was an appropriate font for the content of the poem and the music that accompanied it. To place emphasis on certain words, the type changed in point sizes and often the opacity of color of the type changed as well, creating a grayscale effect. The most appealing portion of the video was the effect of the word "screamed" which resembled the image of an echo, if one could see sound traveling. When the music changed in form, the type followed suit, showing continuity in the design of the video.

Organic Letters is a very creative video where the designer made an animation of a tree that was growing; with lines of text appearing and fading as its branches.

One of the most interesting videos I watched was one set a scene from the movie Pulp Fiction. There were two typefaces used for each of the characters which were very different from one another. The character with the authoritative voice was given a large font and all of the narration appeared large on the screen and bold, while the other character's font was significantly smaller coinciding with the character's voice and role in the scene. The type was timed perfectly with the narration creating an interactive document that was very entertaining. The creator used the space well with words appearing horizontally, vertically and diagonally to keep the reader active in viewing the video. There are a number of typography videos set to scenes from a movie on YouTube.

At first, typography was a specialized occupation and would only be done by typesetters, but with all of the technology, people can easily create new fonts and use programs such Photoshop and Illustrator to manipulate type any way they can imagine.

Here are some logos I created. Unfortunately, I saved them with a transparent background and now they have black backgrounds, which were unintended. I'll post some updated versions of the logos once I figure this out.

Roles of a Blogger- An Amateur's Perspective

There are many people involved in maintaining a website for a huge company, and each person's role is important to the specific area of the site they work on. Corporate blogs have involvement from many of their employees, but for personal bloggers, the individual is responsible for fulfilling the duties of all the positions rolled into one.
After viewing and analyzing a few personal and corporate blogs, I have identified some roles I believe that the blogger must hold.
Writer~ First and foremost a blogger must be a writer. Bloggers may use their space to write about their thoughts and ideas about life in general or in relation to a topic of their interest. There is a debate on whether bloggers are considered journalists and I believe they are journalists. Some people have used their blogs to bring attention to their writing in an effort to get published. For those writers who have been denied by publishers or editors, blogs give them the opportunity to reach a wider audience, stress-free and at no-cost to them.
Reader~ A blogger must be a reader, whether they read articles and websites to get substance for their posts or visit other blogs in the same interest area.
Researcher~ A smart blogger will conduct research on topics and trends to stay current with what is happening on the web. There are tools and programs that can be used to enhance one's blog and a blogger must do research to retrieve this information. There are sites or other blogs that offer tips for maintaining a blog.
Designer~Blogs are web pages and should exhibit proper design elements. A blogger's page should have a design that is reflective of their personality or related to the content that is on the page. Images, video and other media elements should be added to make the page look unique. It is easy for a blog to be setup and sites offer templates. However, not all blogs should look alike and with everyone using the templates given by their providers, this will most likely happen. As a side note, I am currently using a template, but I am working on learning CSS so that I can differentiate my site from others and use colors and images I like.
Information Architect~ A blogger holds the role of the information architect because they are responsible for the organization of the content of their page(s). Thought should be put into the structure of the site and where page elements are placed. Bloggers must design with their target audience in mind and make important information apparent to the reader. An information architect must re-organize content depending on user responses and actions, if any.
Editor~ A blogger must be a writer, editor and proofreader. It is the sole responsibility of the author of the blog to make sure their writing is clear and error-free. Taking advantage of spell-check is the key. Otherwise, people will probably stray away from your blog or post bad comments for all to see.
Usability Specialist~It is important that a blog is easy to use. A blogger's site should be easy to navigate through and the process of reading posts and writing comments should be simple.
Web Master~ Overall,a blogger wears the hat of a webmaster. In personal blogs, they are solely responsible for the maintenance of the blog and they oversee the direction of the site and make sure that the goals of the site are accomplished.

Not all bloggers populate their site with original content, although it would be more useful if they did. There are bloggers who have created "unofficial" blogs for their favorite companies where they will post information regarding new projects or events that are occurring. While researching corporate blogs, I stumbled upon many blogs which resembled fan sites. There is nothing wrong with this especially if an official company blog does not exist. Bloggers and readers who share a common interest can interact over the web and discuss different topics related to the company. The most interesting "unofficial" blog that I discovered was for Disney. The blogger's site is highly populated with content about various Disney happenings with links and ads for Disney as well. Until reading the About section, I thought that this was the official blog for Disney. This particular blog is a great example of usage of various page elements including Blogads, Sponsors, Links, RSS Feeds etc.

Bloggers wear any hats, but not everyone does it well. I will be sure to live up to the goals that I outlined for the roles above.

Inside the Google blog

The Google blogs are geared to the users of their products. Google has created a separate blog for almost all of their applications and services that are available for download. It is often hard to keep up with all of their latest products and the blog entries serve as useful items for people who use a particular application regularly to stay informed on updates or new features. For example, the Gmail blog includes tips for using the application more effectively and provides information to make a user’s Google gadget of choice that much more convenient.
The goals of the blogs are to provide more information on the purpose of their products and give instructions on how to use the products. The site allows and encourages readers to give feedback on posts, but only through email and discussion boards. I did not see an area beneath posts to leave comments which would make a smoother line of communication.
The average entries are 4-5 paragraphs long incorporating graphs, videos, and other images to supplement the text. The screenshots that appears in some of the posts are especially helpful to people who are first time users to certain products. The blogs all have the same layout which gives continuity to the site design and the color choices are aesthetically pleasing. The blogs present an image of dedication to improving the online search experience. They also show that the employees are not only developers of the product but users as well.
Although there was not enough time to read every single blog that Google maintains, it is great they offer focused blogs for the many applications they have developed. Aside from the blogs related to products, there are also blogs on technology, policy, and ones for the developers, webmasters, and other technical professionals at Google. Just from browsing the different entries on the site, I downloaded a new Google gadget for my computer, the Google Notebook. Although I am not sure how to use it properly just yet, I am sure that I will be able to learn through their tutorials and posts. With a useful blog in hand, there’s one more thing that the search guru can put under its belt as successful. G0-Go-Google gadgets!

Chatting it up with Ebay

The intended audience of the Ebay Chatter blog is people who are buyers/sellers on ebay or people who are interested in finding out the latest hot items on Ebay and new features of the site. Unlike Walmart, the employees of Ebay are focusing more on the products and posting news items that cater to specific groups. For example, one ebay employee posted about items related to Barry Bonds for avid baseball fans. Another post was related to Fantasy Football, a topic very popular at this time of the year. The goal of the blog is to provide the latest news on ebay products and community events and they are doing it well.

The site allows, encourages, and receives comments very well. There is a separate discussion board where people can comments on posts or start new topics. Rather than replying on the board, the employees will often comment on the chatter website. Ebay also has a space for people to create their own blog, many which are about their experiences on the site or items they are looking to sell.

The average entries are approximately four paragraphs long, depending on the topic of the post. Entries on the site usually consist of text and photo of the blogger. Many of the posts also include videos (imbedded from YouTube) and other images to support the content of the post. The posts are reader-friendly providing brief detailed information about their current events.

The blog presents an image of community and it shows that the employees are interested in providing assistance to their users to ensure they have positive experiences on Ebay. The team responsible for posting to the blog is part of Community Development at Ebay and they are friendly and dedicated to interacting with members of the community. The postings about member spotlights are sincere and show they care about the people who buy and sell items on their site. Before reading this blog, I thought that Ebay was devoted to the booming business of e-commerce, barely doing dealings with the world offline. Overall, Ebay does a good job of presenting themselves online and putting a face to their name.

Associates that LOVE their Walmart...

With their blog back on the market, associates from far and wide are blogging praises about how much they love their Walmart. The blog is titled Life At Walmart. Although the content of the postings are interesting to read, though this may vary among readers, the Walmart blog is truly one-sided. The primary audience of the blog appears to be other prospective employees and current employees of the corporation. The goals of the blog are to provide a space where associates can share their stories about their relationships with their managers and fellow employees and show the world how great it is to work for Walmart.

This blog is strictly for associates and does not allow or encourage comments from readers. There is probably an internal space for associates to log in to post stories to the blog. The average entries on the blog are 3-4 paragraphs in length, consisting of text only. After browsing through the archives, there was only one blog that included a photo, which I found very surprising . With the details in their posts, I assumed that more of them would have photos of their family members or even co-workers that were mentioned in the post. No use of colors or anything to spruce it up and make aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The overall image presented by the associates is that Walmart has many employees who are satisfied with their careers and have solid relationships with their co-workers. Many associates posts’ consists of praising Walmart for their efforts as a company and attempting to contradict the views of the corporation presented by the media. The bloggers range from associates who have been employees of Walmart for months to over 20 years. It shows longevity and the caring qualities of management. The stories are heartfelt, but I believe that if it wants to truly connect with the community as it states, Walmart should include a section where customers can respond to posts or even share their own stories. There has to be other people out there who would like to spread love to the nation's largest employer that always has low prices, right?

Side-bar-I came across a blog called Walmart Watch, which has a massive amount of content related to concerns that communities have about Walmart's business practices. At first, I thought it was the official blog for the company until I took a closer look.

Examining Corporate Blogs

Since I am a new member of the blog phenomenon, I decided to look at a few blogs over the weekend to get a better sense of what's floating out there in cyberspace. While an undergrad, the admissions office selected a few individuals to create blogs about their life at RPI to give prospective students an inside look on what students really go through on campus and those were pretty interesting and well done, if I may say so myself.

I also researched a few of my favorites stores/companies to see if they had blogs as well. I was not surprised to find a lot of "unofficial" blogs for major corporations especially Disney. There are three in particular that I chose to examine to figure out the goals of the blogs and see if their posts were helping or hurting their images. If a company opts to have a blog, I believe it's important that the people who post to the blog are able to connect with the community since it is a non-traditional outlet to build a relationship with consumers and prospective customers as well. My top-picks vary in content and style and are Walmart, Google and Ebay.

"Hello, World!"

It seems appropriate to borrow that phrase from the first program usually written by computer science students since this is my first weblog and my intro post. I've kept many journals, but I am interested in maintaining this blog to take my writing to a new level and get feedback from others as well, not just professors. I recently graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and now I am graduate student at NJIT studying technical communication. The field of technical communication is misunderstood by many and I often receive puzzled looks from people who I talk to about my work and what I would like to do in the future. For those who are not in the loop, the IA in my heading stands for "Information Architect". I have a passion for writing, I am addicted to books and my ultimate pet peeve is spelling errors, especially on common words. It would be ideal to be able to be a consultant, helping companies and organizations produce websites and other materials that communicate their message effectively. This blog will have comments related to professional and technical communication and other items as I take this journey to find myself, so feel free to check back often. That's all :)