For the most part yes I do agree with this list. There was only one thing on the list that I kind of disagreed upon. The list states that people would want to know the phone number for campus police. I’m not sure why you would need that number unless of course you are in serious trouble in which I would suggest just call 911. Other than this one instance, the rest of the list seems pretty accurate. There have been times when I have wanted the academic calendar or parking information and cannot find it on the WSU web site. It is extremely frustrating. The information they normally put on the web site such as promotions and press releases are all aimed at new students considering applying yet they seem to forget their current students trying to function on campus. Sometimes I feel like there should be two different sites, one for current students and one for prospective students. Most of the information on the “things people go to the site looking for” list is more for current students. It seems as though universities are more concerned with prospective students than the current ones. This of course makes sense as a university is a kind of business. They need to attract new students every year/semester in order to make a profit. While may not find what they are looking for on the main page, this page can help wrangle in new students who will pay money to attend.
I researched UCLA’s web page and found it to be much better than WSU’s. UCLA’s web page does not completely line up with the comic. In fact some of the things listed in “things people go to the site looking for” are right on the home page in plain sight. These things included the academic calendar, directory, map of campus and full name of school. They are still missing a few things such as parking information and the campus address. To me it feels like the audience for this web site is divided. It has information for prospective students as well as current students. It looks like the authors tried to find some equal ground between the different audiences. The site still contains the elements on the “things on the front page of a university website” but tries to incorporate the other side of the Venn diagram. The site uses multimodal aspects in order to appear more appealing to their audiences. In the visual mode category the color blue is the first thing I noticed. It’s a medium blue so as not to be too bright and distracting. This color was probably shown for a number of reasons a few being as blue is one of the school’s colors and blue is considered to be professional. The layout of the site has the picture slide show in the middle of the screen so your attention is automatically directed there. The letters “UCLA” are the largest on the entire site, making it clear what site you have stumbled upon. For aural mode, there is no sound. The silence works well for the site because a person travels to the web site looking for written information. If there was music and sound effects, the site would have an entirely different meaning. With sound it could distract the visitors from what they are looking for and perhaps paint an unprofessional vibe. The organization and spacing between objects is done in a way where it makes the site look full of information, yet keeping it from looking cluttered. Spatial mode can also create an air of professionalism as well. I did not find any gestural mode for the site itself. The pictures that are displayed do show gestural mode showing the interaction between students making it seem like a serious place of study. The site also uses linguistic mode by using careful work choice. Their whole goal seems to make things clear and concise, labeling links with one word or short phrases.
I actually had to use the wsu website to find the campus police number because I lost my credit card and someone told me that they might have it. I called them and gave them my name and phone number, the next day they found it. So there's my scenario with the campus police; however I completely agree that is the most unlikely thing on that list that someone would be looking for.
ReplyDeleteAnd the two websites idea I kind of agree with because I think it is more targeted to incoming students. But I think they are attempting that through zzusis, what I think will be easier and just as effective is if they got their act together with the search/index and make them actually helpful.
I completely agree with what you said about the larger focus on prospective students because the university is a business. While two different sites would be slightly more convenient, the costs of maintaining two sites would probably outweigh the benefits we'd be receiving. Although zzusis needs a bit of work, it is a good attempt for current students to find some of the basic information the right side of the comic mentions.
ReplyDeleteHowever it's certainly nice to hear about one university that is attempting to make both sides happy. By maintaining professional and spirited visual modes, viewers are instantly given a great first impression and will most likely continue to be content with the actual information provided. Hopefully WSU will tag along at some point.
Funny, I was going to lol this: "I’m not sure why you would need that number unless of course you are in serious trouble in which I would suggest just call 911" but then I saw Lauren's comment about actually needing the number once...so...ha.
ReplyDeleteYou did a nice job here with the UCLA site, particularly in contrast w/ the WSU one. Good job w/ this post.