Five Successful/Not Successful Websites

ESPN

ESPN uses graphics as a user friendly way for its audience to engage with the website. The use of graphics and easily clickable pictures and stories provides the audience with an easy to comprehend format. The page is smooth and fluid while also separating the topics by sport, topic, agenda, and date. Even the images and text boxes are bubbly, modern and not an average square block. This also gives the audience visual appeal.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a successful website in terms of networking and self-promotion. The format of the website follows a color scheme and is visually appealing. It could be a little more user friendly, however it does label every step very clearly. The graphics are well designed and simple. However, the website as a whole can come off as a little overly clustered with information.

BlackBoard

Blackboard is used by students all over the country. With that being said, one would think the standard website would be modern, user friendly and understandable. That isn't quite the case. Blackboard is out-dated and not as user friendly as it should be with the amount of younger generation students accessing it multiple times daily. The website makes doing things slightly confusing and overall could be updated.

Netflix

Netflix is used by people of all ages multiple times a week. The website has done a great job of continuing to update and work with their audience to make sure the website is as user friendly as can be. With the age demographic ranging anywhere from 4 years old to 84 years old, the website needs to be as user friendly as possible. For the most part, it does that. The only problem with the website would be the hover feature. This is done when one is scrolling down the website and your mouse sits over a possible show or film. The film tends to pop up or enlarge when that might not be what the audience selected. This could be revised.

Twitter

Twitter is a very user friendly website. It continues to update and progress according to what the audience feels it needs. It has become easier to personalize over the years and continues to get even better. The website constantly gives the user up-to-date tweets while also showing ideas like hashtags and potential pages to follow on the sides of its page. Overall, the website adapts to user needs, which is important for any social media website to continue its growth and popularity.

iMovie Blog

iMovie Blog

Shooting this particular iMovie was a difficult experience in terms of iMovie being something completely new to most of the class. Not many students had worked with iMovie or had used their cellphones for much other than social media. Shooting footage for a four-minute iMovie was generally a new experience for most the class.

            One of the more difficult aspects for shooting the footage was simply coming up with ideas and criteria that fit the groups topic. In this case, it was abstract and even more specific, green. One of the hardest parts was simply being creative and letting one’s mind wonder in the right direction as to what these ideas could even be. At first, it was difficult to find green in everyday life in terms of something tangible to shoot for footage. What ended up happening was shooting significantly more footage than needed. This was helpful because it gave the project extra material and creating the iMovie could be a little easier. It certainly helped the time aspect in terms of it getting to an even one minute.

            So, being creative with the group topic was something every group more than likely struggled with. With the topic of abstract, expanding one’s mind was harder than expected. Understanding the idea of abstract and what that could mean for video footage was a little confusing. Ultimately, the group each has our own ideas and understanding of how to incorporate each member’s color with the idea of abstract and wrap everything together for a cumulative effort and idea. Separately, the group struggled with ideas and footage for the personal videos, but when we, as a group, filmed the transition footage, title and credits, it came together rather nicely.

            Filming the actual footage was also a task itself. When the project initially started, my phone had probably about 10 minutes of footage before realizing that it has all been filmed vertically, not in a landscape setting. Therefore, all of that footage was useless and new footage had to be filmed. So, getting my footage time back up to par was a somewhat difficult task in terms of understanding what to film. During this entire process, my iPhone broke and I had to get a new one because the video and phone features of the phone weren’t working. After getting a new phone, I was finally able to film what the group needed for the project and what the personal video required. Shooting other ideas from a 1^st person perspective was easy. Although shooting myself was a little bit more difficult of a process. My family ended up having to come to the local high school turf with me as I shot the lacrosse ball into the net and they were able to film me from behind it. This worked out pretty well because it was also a close up and far away view with myself being far away and shooting on the perspective of the goal. Combining all of the footage was straight forward as the class began to all work on the actual iMovie.

            Using iMovie was a new experience for most the entire class and it took a while for the class to get used to it. Lucky for myself, iMovie is on my computer so working and practicing on the application from home was something that could be done. Having never used iMovie before, it took the class some time to get used to the application and understand how to work it. Collectively, the class struggled with simple features like splitting clips, adding sound and adding their own footage period. After a few classes to practice and get used to the program, the class eventually had it down for the most part. Yet, using a new application such as iMovie and even getting the whole class access to it was a task in itself. Though, I believe the class ultimately benefited from using iMovie for the first time and now have some genuine skill using a product that I am sure we will all see again in our future professional careers.

            Editing the iMovie was generally enjoyable. It was interesting to sit back and get to work on the projects and learning how to use the iMovie application. Being able to throw on some headphones and learn and practice the application was a positive experience. I know personally, I will most likely see iMovie again in my professional field in Public Relations so I believe being able to start to understand this application and start practicing on it was extremely beneficial. Being able to add whatever music we wanted added on to the overall audience experience of the iMovie and made the videos more interesting to watch. Also, being able to add filters, titles and credits gave each student the ability to personalize the video in any way, shape or form. Highlighting the lights and darkening the dark shades made the videos look much more crisp and vivid. Simply learning how to add edits and apply them to each personal movie was a beneficial experience.

Overall, the iMovie project was extremely fun and helpful for each student and each student was exposed to a new aspect of social media that they might not have previously been. I know personally, this was a new experience for myself and I found using and practicing the application helpful for my growth as a communication student. Working in groups was very helpful because each student could ask the other for help if they needed it, as well as ask for ideas and compare videos to get an overall sense of what the project should collectively be about. I know my group struggled at times to collect all the footage and combine it into a way that showed out topic of abstract, but at the end, the group effectively produced a product that could be seen, as a whole, as portraying the idea of abstract as well as each color we all were assigned.

Youtube Link to personal iMovie!:
https://youtu.be/bGx3bkoOWjc

Vimeo link to personal iMovie!:
https://vimeo.com/266116417

Wiki Writing Experience

Managing a WikiHow article is a very detail oriented task that requires copious amounts of time and the ability to tweak small characteristics here and there. Trying to convey the intended message is hard and an author can use different strategies to do so. One could do such through pictures, step-by-step procedures, bullet points and tips among other things. Formatting the page and correcting the article to make sure it fits the correct standard was a difficult process in terms of adding or subtracting little points that may change the layout of the page entirely. Being able to view other similar accounts was also a beneficial step in making sure an article is formatted in a way that is reader friendly.

           

One of the top three most influential ways in correctly communicating your point is through using a step-by-step format. By using this in a wikihow article, the author can give the reader or viewer extensive detail and a specific process on how to do the idea the wiki is trying to produce. For example, say somebody wants to learn or try to cook baked spaghetti. By searching how to make baked spaghetti and going through a wikihow, a reader would most likely find a step-by-step process on how to make baked spaghetti. Using a process such as this will simplify things for the reader and make sure they are taking the necessary steps and requirements to complete the dish. The step-by-step format is the easiest way to convey exactly what to do and how to do it to ensure the reader does everything the right way.

Here is an Example of 4 Different Ways to Make Spaghetti!

Using photos is another effective way to demonstrate communication through a wikihow post. By using photos, the author can give the reader and audience a physical look into the steps and requirements in terms of what the will be needing for the project, dish, assembly, etc. For example, when making a dish, it is important to show the step-by-step process. Yet, equally as important would be providing imagery to each step to give a visual representation of what each step includes and the ingredients needed. Using photography is an extremely effective way for the audience to understand the step-by-step process and compare what they are doing, to the directions on the wiki page.

          

Another helpful way to communicate your wiki is by simply comparing it to similar topics. See what another topic close to your wiki page looks like. It is important to reference other wiki pages, especially when writing the html code. The coding process is very precise and something as small a space can alter the way a page looks, so if needed take a glance and compare another’s coding to assure that your own wiki page is correct and will be displayed properly. One can get ideas on how to lay out a wiki page and format it in a step-by-step display.

          

Debatably the most effective way of communicating a wiki properly is from one’s own personal experience. Having experience and knowledge of one’s own is extremely beneficial to being able to communicate a topic. For example, it is hard to write a wiki about how to raise a dog if one has never owned a dog or currently does not own a dog. Personal experience can provide the author with understanding of what they are actually writing a wiki about. If raising a dog, the writer of the wiki would have extensive knowledge and detail about raising a dog that would be very beneficial to someone who is trying it for the first time. With experience, one can give little pointers and tips about personal struggles and insight into how smaller details.

Here is an Example of my own Wiki: How-To Raise a Puggle

            

Video can also be a great way to demonstrate a performance, step-by-step process, or simply examples and demonstrations that would be beneficial for the reader. Although it may provide a little more difficult of a process when coding, it can be very effective for idea like cooking to use in a step-by-step process instead of pictures if the process is a little more hands on. For example, videos can be a great way to demonstrate the steps of a dance performance or the steps on how to build a tree house. Video can dive a little deeper in the process of how to do something that sometimes pictures cannot provide.

           

It is also important to hear feedback from other wiki users in order to manage a better overall wiki. Feedback can be beneficial to anybody trying to make a wiki for the very first time. A wiki alone is a difficult task so feel free to absolutely reach out to others for advice and let them see the page you have been working on. Any feedback is good feedback and can help the wiki page. It is always good to receive constructive criticism so that a wiki page can be as effective as possible and collaborating with others is a great way of communicating and understanding the best techniques to make a wiki page as promising as possible. Anytime an author has the ability to receive some advice from somebody who had made a wiki before, it is extremely beneficial.

            

Writing a wiki has been a very difficult task and any of these techniques can and should be used in order to have the most effective wiki. The overall experience of writing a wiki has been helpful to say the least. Learning to write some html code, and communicating with other about how to construct a wiki and what to use on a wiki has been helpful in terms of ever creating one again. Once a wiki writer understands how to format everything and what the most effective ways of communicating are, it becomes very easy to write a wiki and be sure it will be published. The experience has been beneficial in terms of trying something new and familiarizing with a media that not many people know how to operate. It gives a person a chance to be creative as well as work on something one finds interesting or enjoyable.

WikiHow To: A Few of Your Favorite Things

WikiHow is filled with ideas made for all ages and interests. It includes answers ranging from how to make your favorite recipes all the way to how to kick a field goal. WikiHow is a great way to quickly get an answer for something you might not have the time to completely research. Here are a few ideas of my own that were chosen out of my interests and hobbies.

“How to make Basil Pesto Pasta over Zucchini Noodles.” This is a great recipe and one of my personal favorites. I chose this topic because it’s a family recipe passed to me from one of my best friends and has been used by my entire family as well. It’s a quick and easy process with limited ingredients and well worth the wait and money.

The next topic I chose is “How to raise a Puggle Puppy.” Recently I adopted a Puggle puppy from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and was very excited for my first dog. I certainly was not in for the amount of work and time raising not only a puppy, but also a Puggle puppy included. Based on my experiences raising a Puggle, I thought I would have a great insight and perspective for anybody thinking about adopted a Puggle.

Finally the last topic is “How to be a Jacksonville Jaguars fan.” This topic is a little more casual and relaxed. This topic certainly contains a comical aspect to it. I have been a Jaguars fan since I was a toddler and think I could provide a comical post about how to root for the Buffalo Bills of the south.

These topics were all chosen out of ideas that involve my life that are extremely comfortable to myself. This will provide me with a better understanding of “how to” get the most out of my post and provide the best feedback and knowledge that I can.