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 WebCt does not support any audiovisual components and the design of the chat was very outdated which made it hard to keep track of information that we discussed.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.