Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Preliminary Content Ideas
In Monday's class session the teams discussed their ideas for content they might cover. Ideas expressed are noted on the chart at http://www.csufresno.edu/tower/blog/images/Content_2-7-05.gif.
A challenge for presenting content is how to deal with the fact that we won't be updating the Website. The Web documentary is like a film/video documentary in this regard; its a story as presented in a moment in time. In our content idea discussion a student wonderd whether there would be a problem with the walking tour idea going out-of-date. Our discussion was that we are capturing the tour at the time of our documentary and telling stories relevant to our time. One idea was to have the tour be hosted by someone. So the tour would be through the eyes of the host and what they feel is interesting and significant. Further suggestions for the group considering the tour included researching the local Art Hop event which includes locations in the Tower District. This might be a good starting place for ideas of things to be profiled on the tour.
A challenge for presenting content is how to deal with the fact that we won't be updating the Website. The Web documentary is like a film/video documentary in this regard; its a story as presented in a moment in time. In our content idea discussion a student wonderd whether there would be a problem with the walking tour idea going out-of-date. Our discussion was that we are capturing the tour at the time of our documentary and telling stories relevant to our time. One idea was to have the tour be hosted by someone. So the tour would be through the eyes of the host and what they feel is interesting and significant. Further suggestions for the group considering the tour included researching the local Art Hop event which includes locations in the Tower District. This might be a good starting place for ideas of things to be profiled on the tour.
Teams
Students are divided into 5 project teams. One team is responsible for creating the layout, graphic look and templates for the Web site. Four teams are designated Content Teams and will produce a section of the site. In addition one member of each team is on a promotions team which is charged with developing and executing a plan for promoting the finished Web site and our efforts to produce it. Those students not in the promotions team are part of the usability team. They will conduct a card sort test with users to develop the organization and content categories for the site. They will, also, conduct testing of the interface design using paper prototypes.
Brainstorming Audiences and Goals
This week we went through a brainstorming process for the audience, goals and initial content ideas. We came up with quite a few audiences which we tried to categorize. Our title for our top group is Enthusiasts, people who like to visit and enjoy what's available in the Tower District.
Our goals are: to inform, to remind and to promote. The remind goal is based on the idea of reminding those who used to visit the Tower District that it is still a place of interest. And over the years it has continued to evolve into a vibrant community.
Our goals are: to inform, to remind and to promote. The remind goal is based on the idea of reminding those who used to visit the Tower District that it is still a place of interest. And over the years it has continued to evolve into a vibrant community.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Welcome to Web Documentaries
This is the first message in this project to capture the experiences of myself and my students in creating a Web Documentary about the Tower District in Fresno, California.
Part of our task in this project is to explore the idea of a Web Documentary. How is it similar and how is it different from a film/video documentary? I found an interesting research paper that looked at this comparison, "Influences of...Documentary Cinema...on the Internet", at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/hosseini/hosseini.html.
Part of our task in this project is to explore the idea of a Web Documentary. How is it similar and how is it different from a film/video documentary? I found an interesting research paper that looked at this comparison, "Influences of...Documentary Cinema...on the Internet", at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2004/papers/hosseini/hosseini.html.
