Friday, September 6, 2019
Website Evaluation Essay Example for Free
Website Evaluation Essay The creator of the website http://www. nationalmssociety. org/index. aspx is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). NMSS was started in order to provide research and resources to those living with multiple sclerosis. Their philosophy is to create a movement inclusive of people with multiple sclerosis in an effort to move toward a world free of multiple sclerosis (NMSS, 2008). NMSS is a credible organization that has been in existence for many years. Since its creation, NMSS has been diligently working towards developing new research to find a cure for multiple sclerosis as well as enabling people with this disease to find quality of life. Proof of NMSS credibility is shown in the constant updating of the website. News releases are posted regularly to update visitors about new progress being made. Additionally, the website includes up to date information about where those living with multiple sclerosis can find services to help them. Finally, NMSS can be considered credible because they include the sources of their information in their news releases. In their multimedia library section of the website they offer additional resources and information about these is provided (NMSS, 2008). The main stated goal of NMSS is to enable those with multiple sclerosis to find quality of life and to continue to work towards a cure. In order to accomplish these two goals, NMSS is committed to excellent service, leadership and teamwork. These noble goals are listed on the website under the core values section and provide visitors with important information about their mission. Unstated goals include details about the importance of research as it is assumed that most people would agree this is important. There doesnââ¬â¢t appear to be any biases or hidden agendas since NMSS isnââ¬â¢t in existence to make money. Instead, they are dedicated to finding a cure for multiple sclerosis and helping people live with the disease. The information presented on the website is useful to students living with multiple sclerosis. The resources provided can give students important tools to enable them to be successful in school despite the presence of a debilitating disease. The content of the website is current as news related to multiple sclerosis is updated often. This information is based on scholarly research so it can be considered accurate. In addition, the resources presented to viewers are based on studies done by experts in the field so it can also be considered accurate. Additionally, the resources available to viewers are appropriate as it includes people of all ages, races, genders and ethnicities. Multiple sclerosis doesnââ¬â¢t discriminate and neither does this website. These resources are presented in an easy to understand way. There is a link on the website to the multimedia library where viewers can research books, journal articles and pod casts. There is also a link to news where viewers can read the latest news about multiple sclerosis as well as search previous news stories. These important issues are presented through additional resources and news stories in a realistic manner that allows all types of viewers easy access to help materials (NMSS, 2008). The website is presented in English but can be translated into Spanish as well. While this doesnââ¬â¢t enable other languages to read the website it does include a large number of additional Spanish speaking viewers access to important information about how to live with multiple sclerosis. To this end, the readability of the website is appropriate for all viewers regardless of language. The links are easy to find and the website is easy to navigate in order to find what one is looking for. The content included is organized among these links in order to make it simple to find necessary information. If a viewer is looking for the latest news they can visit the news link or if they are interested in finding local services they can visit the find a chapter link (NMSS, 2008). The home page is welcoming because it is organized and a viewer can quickly find necessary links. It includes a slideshow of the latest news with encouraging pictures of people living with multiple sclerosis. These scrolling news stories are meant to motivate viewers to find out more about NMSS, either for themselves or for others. It also includes easy to find links for joining the NMSS movement as well as resources for those newly diagnosed, those currently living with the disease as well as information for friends and family of those living with multiple sclerosis. These links motivate all people touched by multiple sclerosis to learn more about finding a cure and creating high quality of life for those living with this disease. To this end, the links are well organized and easy to find and navigate. There are enough links that desired information is easy to find. Finally, NMSS includes a search link to increase the ability of viewers to find what they are looking for (NMSS, 2008). The graphics on the home page are included with the latest news stories so they can be considered accurate. The website doesnââ¬â¢t rely on many graphic but the ones they include are relevant to the different topics being discussed on the different pages. There are many links designed to motivate people to get involved and learn more about NMSS, including stories of those suffering from the disease, ââ¬Å"Walk for MS,â⬠ââ¬Å"Bike for MSâ⬠and an MS fact of the day. These activities are designed to provide additional information that can contribute to quality of life as well as educate people about finding a cure (NMSS, 2008). This website is easy to use for anyone, including disabled people. NMSS doesnââ¬â¢t pity those suffering from multiple sclerosis. The entire mission of NMSS is to help people with the disease live a normal life. It is sensitive to the different needs of people with multiple sclerosis but it certainly doesnââ¬â¢t portray any type of pity. In fact, it works to promote independence and dignity for those living with the disease. It offers a wide variety of resources designed to show those with multiple sclerosis how to live normal lives. Different experiences from different people living with the disease are included in the Online Community. This is a place to post and read individual and personal stories of other people living with multiple sclerosis. These real life examples show others how similar these people really are. Individuals with multiple sclerosis can live relatively normal lives for many years before the disease progresses to the point of disabling a person. If a person with multiple sclerosis didnââ¬â¢t tell others that he or she had the disease it would remain a secret, often for a very long time. In this way, people with multiple sclerosis are very similar to everyone else. The education sections of the website provide further information to show students how similar people with multiple sclerosis are but also to educate them about the differences and what they mean (NMSS, 2008). One suggestion for the website would be to increase the personal stories included. There are only a few posted currently and offering more real life experiences would further the motivation of people living with multiple sclerosis. Additional learning activities geared specifically towards students would go a long way towards helping people understand multiple sclerosis and how it affects friends and family members. The current layout is very easy to navigate so change wouldnââ¬â¢t be necessary. In fact, adding more links would contribute to more confusion while navigating the site. There is so much information currently available on the website and it is condensed into a few links so that viewers donââ¬â¢t have to spend so much time trying to find what they are looking for. Additional links are included in each major link to further narrow the focus of a search. This type of layout makes information easily accessible. A final suggestion would be to include translation into more languages as NMSS promotes diversity and providing important information to more people would only further their mission towards finding a cure. NMSS. (2008). National Multiple Sclerosis Society. â⬠Retrieved on December 13, 2008 from http://www. nationalmssociety. org/index. aspx.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The Notion Of Sameness
The Notion Of Sameness Give an argument for the claim that mental states are distinct from physical states. Explain the notion of sameness and explain why the argument is valid. Then explain a rebuttal an identity theorist could use to object to the argument. Distinct Mental Physical States The idea of the human mind has always been an important and difficult notion to describe in terms of a definition or set of conditions. The thoughts, beliefs, or desires seem to have a clear distinction from the tangible elements of an actual human brain. So distinct, that perhaps they should be considered two fundamentally different things. Utilizing a Dualism approach, it should logical to assume that discern that there are difference elements s within the human body mind; The tangible elements of the brain can be labeled as physical things/states in this case, and the thoughts, beliefs, desires, pain, or other nonphysical things as soul or mental states. Utilizing the notion of sameness (also referred to as Leibnizs law), this argument that physical and mental states are in fact distinct can be made valid. On the other hand, this issue of distinct separation versus identical substances is debatable as identity theorists that object may provide a rebuttal to this argument. The concept of dualism begins with the idea that in the universe, there exist physical and nonphysical/mental substances or things. At first glance, it seems fairly obvious that physical properties do not share the same features as mental properties. For example, mental properties of the mind such as thoughts and beliefs dont contain physical properties like weight, color, or shape. In addition, experiments have demonstrated that when a part of the brain is touched is electrocuted; it can cause mental sensations to occur, such as recalling a memory. Therefore this furthers the dualist argument that physical state of the brain and mental state of the mind are loosely connected and not identical. The notion of sameness (also referred to as Leibnizs law) provides the means by which a object or person can be justifiably, recognized as that certain object or person. There is a distinction that in this case, the notion of sameness is not numerical in the sense of same size, brand, or made of the same material, and that it must be qualitative with no degrees of sameness and that one thing must or must not be the same as another thing. Another way to explain this notion is that if A equals B, then A must share all and exactly the same properties as B. In other words, if A is truly the same as B, then what is true of A must also be true of B. Using this notion of sameness, the idea of a physical brain state and a mental or nonphysical state can be compared. For example, if John believes that he is in Davis, California can be determined to be true or false in obvious ways. However, his brain state of this believe cannot be analyzed and shown to be true or false. With these two premises: The mental state having the property of being true or false and the brain state not having this property, it can be concluded that mental states are not equal to or the same as brain/physical state and thus, the argument for dualism becomes valid. However, identity theorists disagree with the above statements and may provide a rebuttal to such arguments written above on the basis of different concepts underlying physical states. An identity theorist may argue that physical states contain 2 concepts: A pseudo-neurological concept that contains the physical elements of the brain such as neurons firing, chemical hormones within the brain and a mental state concept that contains the perceived as non-physical things such as pain, sadness, and hunger. To simply, imagine that Lois Lane is trying to establish the fact that Clark Kent is not Superman. She would make a list of properties that coincide with a Superman concept and a Clark Kent concept. She would then pick out a property from each list and maybe stating that Superman can fly and Clark Kent cant fly. In reality, the viewer understands that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person but believes Lois Lane to also be rational when introducing him as 2 separate concepts. This should be compared to the opposite case where an irrational statement would be to say that Superman can cannot fly because although he Clark Kent and Superman are the same person, it does not make sense to mix different concepts together. Through this type of argument, the identity theorist makes the claim that the physical and mental states should be treated as separate but simply as different concepts under a unifying and single physical state. As described by monist Keith Maslim, the dualist belief is that physical occurrences do not just appear to be different from consciousness; they are utterly different, so utterly different in fact, that it is inconceivable how the physical could produce the mental and therefore a distinct separation between mental and physical states. At first, the notion of sameness seems to provide create a clear distinction of the mental and physical states, but this notion is quickly refuted with the identity theorist argument that multiple concepts coexist within the unitary physical state. Again, this mind-body discussion is left with more room for debate, rather than a clear-cut answer that may never be fully properly grounded and supported.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Storage Media: DVD-RW :: Technology Computer Essays
Storage Media: DVD-RW The evolution of faster computers and larger computer programs has made it necessary to develop newer and faster ways to store large masses of data. Constant advances from 5 à ¼ inch floppies, to 3 à ½ inch floppies, to high capacity floppies, to zip drives, to CD-RW drives make it seem like by the time you upgrade, the technology is already obsolete. So what is the near future of storage media. The newest storage media that is rapidly advancing on the CD-RW is the DVD-RW. DVD-RW drives are decreasing in price, almost as fast as theyââ¬â¢re increasing in speed. Over the last 18 months, their price has cut in half, and itââ¬â¢s easy to see that in the near future, DVD-RW drives will be the standard for storage media. According to J. B. Miles of Government Computer News, Rewritable DVD drives are on their way to becoming indispensable tools for PC users. It won't be long until they replace rewritable CD drives. DVD rewritables are hard to beat when it comes to capacity and versatility. They can read, write and rewrite up to 4.7G of information per disk side and will read both DVD-ROM disks and most CDs, so those music CDs you've collected won't be wasted. (Miles 2002) Currently there are two major formats competing to become the standard in DVD-R and RW. The formats are DVD+R and DVD-R. In the past itââ¬â¢s been hard to decide which to invest in when purchasing a new DVD-RW drive, however, recently released DVD-RW drives such as Sonyââ¬â¢s DRU-500A are able to write in both formats. Not only does this new Sony drive write DVD+RW and +R at 2.4X, it also writes the competing DVD-R and DVD-RW formats at 4X and 2X, twice as fast as current dedicated DVD-R and DVD-RW drives. On top of that it is also able to burn CD-Rs at 24X and CD-RWs at 10X. This could be very beneficial considering the low cost of CD-Rs compared to DVD-Rs. The technology doesnââ¬â¢t stop with the DVD Drives. The actual DVDs will be experiencing upgrades as well. Faster and faster write speeds will cut down on the time it takes to write you 4.7 Gigabytes. Maxell has recently announced they are releasing their newest DVD line in February 2002.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Immanuel Kants Theory Essay -- Papers Immanuel Kant Morality
Immanuel Kant's Theory Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) discussed many ethical systems and reasoningââ¬â¢s some were based on a belief that the reason is the final authority for morality. In Kantââ¬â¢s eyes, reason is directly correlated with morals and ideals. Actions of any sort, he believed, must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for appropriateness or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral. A moral act is an act done for the "right" reasons. Kant would argue that to make a promise for the wrong reason is not moral you might as well not make the promise. You must follow a certain code in order to find truth behind your actions. Kant believed that you should treat everyone with value, dignity, and respect. Our reasoning ability will always allow us to know what our duty is. Kant described two types of common commands given by reason: the hypothetical imperative, which dictates a given course of action to reach a specific end; and the categorical imperative, which dictates a course of action that must be followed because of its rightness and necessity. The categorical imperative is the basis of morality and was stated by Kant in these words: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will and general natural law." Therefore, before proceeding to act, we must decide what rule we need to follow if we were to act, whether we are willing for that rule to be followed by everyone all over. Kant believes that moral rules have no exceptions. It is wrong to kill in all situations, even those of self-defense. This belief comes from the Universal Law theory. Since we would never want murder to become a universal law, then it has to be not moral at all. Kant be... ...eighbor, be kind to others, do not steal, etc. yet, individual perception of the world by people prevents the possibility of an all-encompassing universal code of ethics. I believe along with Kant that we should develop a friendship and code to help our fellow man. We all have a duty to treat others the way we want to be treated.(Golden Rule) The one thing I disagree with is that we should not be punished for doing good deeds to those even though we might find ourselves backed into a corner when dealing with these individual problems. Overall dealing with Kantââ¬â¢s theory everyone should be truthful and abide by the universal code. We should follow his theory in treating everyone with value, dignity, and respect. Even though everyone should help others, I believe in some situations people have to be persuaded to help even though this goes against Kantââ¬â¢s beliefs.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Graduation Speech :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address
On behalf of the class of 2006, the second graduating class of Digital Arts at George Cogswell College, we would like to welcome you. It is an honor for us to have you here to celebrate this special day with us. This is the last day of our school year and the beginning of our professional life. It is also a day that we have worked very hard for and we know we could not have done it without your help. We have studied diligently in these past three years and experienced many changes in the digital technologies. Some of us had no idea what we were getting into. We had to deal with both the creative side and the technical side of the digital arts. The creative side was always fun! We had fun designing characters, and then animating them. We had fun analyzing filming and audio techniques, we had fun listening to each other's scripts. Acting class was most amusing! I will never forget our storytelling class. We came up with various weird and fascinating movements for our classmates to act out. But when we applied all of this creative fun stuff digitally, the technical side tormented us. There was always new software to learn, especially in animation programs. Our 3D animation classes were excruciating; we had to memorize more than a generous amount of technical terminology and a myriad of short-cut keys. We had to learn to think in 3D, to understand the relationship of our model from top view to side view and front view and pay attention to every detail; practically everything from modeling to material, texture, and animation. If we were not careful, our character's hands and feet would disappear into cyberspace! Besides that, there were computer problems to worry about. Some of us had experienced system crashes through power outages during the storm season. Others experienced file corruption a few weeks before the finals. There were many sleepless nights. In fact, one of us broke the school rules and stayed overnight just to get some work done, disregarding the alarm in the hall. After this incident, every night at closing time, the on-duty instructor walked around the computer rooms many times to make sure that no one was hiding under a table. I'll never forget those moments. (Now the school has installed alarms in all computer rooms at the new building; there just is no excuse to try to stay over night.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Backlash Films
Over twenty years after its release, Fatal Attraction continues to inspire discussion and controversy. While the movie comfortably takes its place as one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s and one of the most unforgettable thrillers in cinematic history, there are many that contend it contains a slew of anti-feminist overtones. The female lead and her traits as an otherwise archetypal career woman combine with her psycho-sexual obsession with the male lead to create a character that some may see as tragic and insane, while others see as a direct attack on the feminist movement itself.With its portrayal of the stalking career woman that victimizes a hapless man and his innocent wife, Fatal Attraction contains many elements that reflect a ââ¬Å"backlashâ⬠against the feminist movement, as well as dark male fears over the proliferation of career-minded women. Fatal Attraction, released in 1987, written by James Dearden and directed by Adrian Lyne, was conceived as a film abo ut the consequences of infidelity. The filmââ¬â¢s main character, Dan Gallagher, played by Michael Douglas, is a New York lawyer with a seemingly happy family that includes a beautiful wife Beth, played by Anne Archer, and daughter.When Danââ¬â¢s wife and daughter go away for the weekend, Dan meets the independent and sultry Alex Forrest, played by Glenn Close, at his law firm. The two soon engage in what Dan believes to be a casual and temporary affair. When Dan attempts to end the affair, Alexââ¬â¢s refusal to accept it turns dramatically negative. Alex begins to stalk Dan, showing up where he does, calling him until he refuses to take her calls. Eventually, realizing that Dan truly wants nothing to do with her, she tells him that she is pregnant with his baby.The growing obsessive madness of Alex peaks after she spies on Dan and his family from the bushes in his yard, and later breaks into the house when the family is out and boils the pet rabbit of Danââ¬â¢s daughter . Because he can no longer hide his transgressions, Dan tells Beth about the affair, and she eventually forgives him. Alex crosses the final line with Dan and his family when she kidnaps his daughter only to return her unharmed later. It becomes apparent to all involved that something must be done, and for Alex, that means killing Danââ¬â¢s wife so she can take her place.In a final climatic scene, Alex, Beth, and Dan physically fight as Alex attempts to kill Beth with a butcher knife. Dan is forced to drown Alex in the bathtub, but she only appears dead and attacks him again, when Beth, using a gun Dan purchased for protection, promptly guns her down. While many of the plot points in the movie can be seen as simple movie suspense, the deeper one digs the easier it is to find subtle allusions to the place of women in society. The role of the female characters in Fatal Attraction show diverging archetypes for the ideal woman, as viewed by traditionalists and progressive feminists.O n the one hand is Alex, the calculating career woman; on the other hand is Beth, the faithful wife and mother. The main female characters show the dichotomy between the traditional social roles of women and the ultramodern. According to Gerrig, ââ¬Å"A social role is a socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person when functioning in a given setting or groupâ⬠(Gerrig and Zimbardo 574). The portrayal of each can be seen as a representation of a provincial masculine view of femininity, in essence a backlash against feminism. Feminism has long been a misunderstood concept, by women and men alike.Beginning in the late nineteenth century with the rise of ââ¬Å"the New Woman,â⬠the First International Womenââ¬â¢s Conference in Paris in 1892 coined the word after the French term feministe, to represent a belief in and advocacy of equal rights for women based on the idea of the equality of the sexes (Haslanger and Tuana). At the time, it was a call for su ffrage and equal justice for women and represented the beginning of the ââ¬Å"First Waveâ⬠of feminism, which in America culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote.By the time Fatal Attraction was released, feminism was in the midst of a strong new wave of feminism, which began in the late 1960s. In the ââ¬Å"Second Waveâ⬠of feminism, feminists pushed far beyond the first wave by asking for more than just equal political rights but also greater universal equality in the workplace, education, at home, and with their own bodies (Haslanger and Tuana). The proliferation of birth control added to this wave and the growing independence of women reached a zenith in the 1980s, with women achieving equality in almost every sense of the word, with prominent women politicians, artists, and world figures.The character of Alex Forrest seemed to suggest a dark side to this rise of feminism, that the irrational female psyche will eventua lly overrule the mindset of even the most successful women, granted that they failed to have the things traditionally considered the most feminine: a family. The stability of the idealized traditional wife and mother, Beth, provides a stark contrast to the nightmarish descent into madness of the progressive single woman, Alex. While this could be nothing more than a dramatic coincidence, some see it as a deliberate expression of masculine fear of female empowerment.Fatal Attraction seems to suggest an almost misogynistic fear of the independent career woman that she seeks to destroy families and will stop at nothing to do so: ââ¬Å"In its representation of a crazy career woman out to destroy the nuclear family, the film is a perfect example of the eraââ¬â¢s conservative backlash against independent womenâ⬠(Benshoff and Griffin 281). Alex participates in stalking, which is traditionally associated with men, and she possesses many of the same dominant tendencies of men.In he r book, High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood, Sharon Willis critiques Fatal Attraction, taking the position that films like it suggest that ââ¬Å"feminine force seems to arise at the direct expense of masculine power and bodily integrityâ⬠and that femininity becomes inextricably linked to masculinity, a position widely shared by feminist film critics. Willis claims that films like Fatal Attraction focus ââ¬Å"on an urgent effort to reinscribe the border of sexual difference at exactly the divide between domestic interior and public spaceâ⬠(Regester 52).Alex engages in behavior that, even in the 1980s, was deemed uniquely masculine. Women have long suffered the double standard of adhering to strict sexual mores, and her promiscuity exemplifies the lack of maternal qualities that most men look for in a mate. However, men like Dan use biological precedent to rationalize their constant desire to spread their seed. Dan is equally responsible for what occ urred, but it is almost as if he is forgiven for his genderââ¬â¢s predilection for sexual promiscuity, however erroneous.The most obvious feminist critique of Fatal Attraction is how it portrays Alex, the professional, single woman in her thirties as domineering, man-obsessed, and driven to insanity by her quest to achieve a long lasting relationship with Dan. The movie vilifies her and on the opposite end of the spectrum, sanctifies Beth, the devoted wife and mother. As with all the strong popular icons before her, Alex ââ¬Å"becomes the screen upon which an audience of thousands projects their fears and fantasiesâ⬠(Nguyen ââ¬Å"The Legend of Billie Jeanâ⬠).Through all of this, Dan is portrayed as almost more of a hapless victim that succumbs to the wiles of a siren than what he really is: a cheating spouse. The author of the story, James Dearden contends that he meant no deliberate anti-feminist overtones in his work, which began as a 1979 short film, ââ¬Å"Divers ion. â⬠According to Dearden, he merely borrowed from life to create a minimalist story about the perils of adultery: ââ¬Å"My wife was out of town for the weekend, and I thought what would happen if a man who has just dropped his wife at the railroad station rings this girl who heââ¬â¢s met at a party and says, ââ¬ËWould you like to have dinner?ââ¬â¢ But, then it all gets uglyâ⬠(Forsberg). According to the man who created the story, it was nothing more than a simple suspense story, and the criticisms that label it as anti-feminist and woman fearing are unfounded: ââ¬Å"I donââ¬â¢t see that Alex symbolizes the New Woman and is therefore made to appear ghastly to sabotage the New Womanââ¬â¢s cause. She has a career because she lives in New York, where itââ¬â¢s difficult to survive without one. For me, it was a fable about the irrational creeping into the everydayâ⬠(Forsberg).He also examines the possibility of his own fears towards women and the p revalence of men that fear women in his script: ââ¬Å"I donââ¬â¢t think I fear women, but thereââ¬â¢s a certain archetype ââ¬â the temptress who undoes heroes of Homeric legend who is as predatory sexually as the man ââ¬â which men find hard to deal with because theyââ¬â¢re used to being in the dominant role. Women certainly have an equal right to be dominant, but I don't like very dominant males or females periodâ⬠(Forsberg).While it can be said that Fatal Attraction sought to express the male anxieties about the emerging female, as well as a rejection of feminism as a social force, to the movie aficionado it remains merely a suspense movie filled with gimmicks and plotlines as old as cinema itself. The immense success of Fatal Attraction may have entered it into the feminism conversation, but it realistically remains nothing more than a dramatic examination of adultery and obsession.The idea of the femme fatale is nothing new, and the movie simply showed th at, man or woman, there is no such thing as sex without consequences. Looking at Alex Forrest as a backlash against feminism is a fair criticism, however it is unfair to believe that a fictional suspense movie like Fatal Attraction could influence anybody that saw it free of any preexisting agendas. The movie may be simply a reflection of the ambitions that drive everyone mad, whether male or female, career or sexual, decent or indecent.Works Cited: Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. London: Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Forsberg, Myra. ââ¬Å"James Dearden: Life After ââ¬ËFatal Attractionââ¬â¢. â⬠The New York Times. 24 Jul 1988. 16 Dec 2008. . Gerrig, Richard J. and Zimbardo, Philip G. ââ¬Å"Social Norms. â⬠Psychology and Life. 17th ed. 2005.Haslanger, Sally & Tuana, Nancy. ââ¬Å"Topics in Feminism. â⬠Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15 Mar 2004. 16 Dec 2008. . Nguyen, Mimi . ââ¬Å"The Legend of Billie Jean. â⬠WorseThanQueer. com. 1 Aug 2005. 16 Dec 2008. . Regester, Charlene. ââ¬Å"Review: High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood Film by Sharon Willis. â⬠Film Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2. Winter 1998; pp. 51-52.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Principles and Practice of Web Design – Home Page Evaluation
08. 04. 2013 INT1022 Principles and Practice of Web Design [THE EVALUATION OF WWW. EXPERILAND. COM/] URL: http://www. experiland. com/ Introduction: The website experiland. com is published by and part of the JB Concepts design & media group and was founded in 2010. The urge to create the site developed because the JB Concepts design & media group felt that there was a need for a science website for students, teachers and interested young people which helps them understand science and encourages them to experience science through own, by the website guided, projects and experiments.Furthermore the website gives the opportunity to increase the knowledge provided online through the availability of e-books. The creators see themselves responsible for educating and improving the learning experience for students while providing the necessary information concerning safety and emphasizing the sense of responsibility by the young scientists. The science projects are divided into different ta rget groups ranging from the first to the eighth grade. Description & Evaluation: The home-page of the website is divided into four main parts. It also introduces the texture of the website and reflects the general design for every sub-page.The texture is divided into two parts which are differentiated through different colors. The head part is metallic neon green and gives an association to the topic science as it is usually considered nature based while green reflects this nature aspect. The other texture is a rough to smooth going dark grey metallic look which reflects the human involvement in the topic science. It makes sense that green is the head as it is the ground for the researches and the metallic artificial looking part is the content part of the website because it reflects what human found out so far.Thus it is a great choice of general design for the website. Furthermore the subtitles in the content part have a special pattern which gives the user the impression to see through a microscope on the subtitles. It thus keeps the topic science consistently over the complete page and uses patterns effectively to suggest the theme. Furthermore the head of the website provides a character and the logo design of the website which includes the other colors that will be used on the website. The colors are identification colors for the five different main themes of science the website provides.These topics are chemistry in blue, which resembles liquid, earth science and astronomy in violet, which is commonly associated with science of the universe, electricity and magnetism in yellow, which resembles the light of a light bulb, life science as biology in green, as green is commonly associated with the nature and finally physics in red, which differs strongly from the other colors It thus slowly introduces the user into the color way of the website and helps the user to rediscover the already known colors later in the content parts.The great and harmonious mix of colors also entices the user to spend more time on the website and thus provides the positive effect that a wisely chosen color way should have (Shenkman & Jonsson, 2000; Nielsen, 2002; Tractinsky et al, 2004; Tractinsky et al, 2006; Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994). The website uses the typeface -Trebuchet MS,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif- consistently on every page and just differs in the color for titles and subtitles, content and links. The Titles and subtitles are in bold, white and in the size of 1. 8em to be easily identifiable as titles. The content is regular, black and in the size of 1. em while the links have the same structure they are in light green. The website uses the em size of font because it is easily scalable and mobile-device friendly. The font choice of the website is efficient and logical. The titles and subtitles have a slightly bigger size without being too place containing, while the content is held simple and easily readable. Titles in the running text are emphas ized by using bold font and 1. 6em as the size. However the choice of the color for links is not suitable even though they are easy to differ from the rest of the text, they are sometimes hard to see because of the green color way and theme design.It seems more fitting to the design than the commonly used blue but however is harder to distinguish from the text. The texting of the website is held easily understandable for students of any age. Moreover the website provides an online glossary that can be used to understand specific scientific terms. It thus delivers exactly what is needed to the target group of young students. The pictures used on the website are generally held simple but are however efficient and easily recognizable and understandable. The simple use of the pictures lets the website work fast and without long loading periods.It is thus easy to browse through and find a topic of interest. The first part is the head of the website which provides the user with links to t he five main parts of the websites which are the Home-page, the Books-page where the user can purchase e-books, an about us-page on which the company provides further information for the drive to create the website, the most important page Projects and the possibility to get in contact with the creators for questions and inquiries. Additionally the website provides the possibility to search for topics on the website by implementing a Google-Search-Tool in the head.More over frequent users of the website can sign in with their account and a shopping cart tool is implemented. The Head of the page thus serves exactly what is needed from a head. It gives the user the opportunity to easily navigate in between the main pages of the website and search for specific topics more easily. It effectively uses the space to promote the logo and introduces the user to the website. The only negative thing about the head is the choice of colors for the not chosen main pages, as they are depicted in a slightly lighter green than the background which can make them hard to read.Other than that all information are clearly readable and identifiable. The second part is the sidebar. The sidebar provides a lot of information and options for the user. Once understood it can be used to easily navigate through the website. The sidebar stays right to the content part through project and website based contents and only disappears in the books part of the website. It consists of different parts which differ from each other by the use of color and small graphics. Additionally the first part differs itself further by not being in the same design.This makes sense because this part is about the charitable function of the website, which donates 5% of their profit to charity and wants the user to vote for which charity it should be. The next part depicts the shopping cart of the users since it is possible to purchase e-books on the website. It thus helps to keep an overview if books are being purc hased. The next five parts are designed to help the user understand the website and to browse through the website and find suitable information.It thus provides browsing by school grade, by occupation and purpose, and the nature of interest of the user. These bars are thus implemented to introduce first time users and help them navigate through the system. Itââ¬â¢s very effective because the first time users donââ¬â¢t have to look for the detailed content immediately but can be guided by the navigation the website provides. Additionally the small graphics help the users, and especially young users, to identify the use of the bar quickly and recognize them later again.Experienced users can make use of the sidebar as well, as it allows them to find their current project or their topic of interest effectively because it implemented the same color scheme and graphics design for the main topics of science as used on the content pages of those topics. That means that the colors are recurring and coherently used through the website and paint a complete picture. The sidebar allows the user a horizontal navigation through the different topics. Only specific projects must be found by navigating to the field of interest and finding the project from there. The third part is the content part of the website.It is separated in different colons which provide further information about before mentioned topics and themes. In the main page the content part basically gives more information to the points that are mentioned and depicted in the other parts. It allows the user to click on the topics and receive an even more detailed description of the topics. The content part always changes and contains the source of information and the reason for the users to use the website. It helps the user to find topics of interest and gives to every detailed subtopic a quantity of available projects in that topic.After deciding for a topic the user will be led to a different content page which is designed in the topics lead color and contains the different available projects. The different projects are then differentiated in different categories depending on the advised grade of the student, the difficulty, the time consumption and whether or not adult supervision is advised. The side then provides further information about the topic and explains how the project works. It is very effectively design because it shows briefly what materials are needed and then shows graphics and explanations on how to perform the project.It makes it easily understandable for students. It also draws a conclusion why the project works and gives the possibility to receive further information about the topic by purchasing an e-book. It is an effective way to present and explain the project, however the website is pressuring the user into buying the e-books because they only provide further information with these e-books. The last part of the website is the bottom part. It summarizes the ma in parts of the website in general main topics and provides a legitimacy check by showing awards the website won. Moreover it provides a free sample of one of the e-books.It is held in the same rough metallic grey design that is used as the texture of the site. Moreover this part also never changes and is provided on every content page. Bibliography Nielsen, J. , Tahir,M. Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis, IN, 2002. Olsson, T. (2007, 1 10). The Definitive Guide to Web Character Encoding. Retrieved 1 14, 2013, from SitePoint: http://www. sitepoint. com/guide-web-character-encoding/ Schenkman, B. N. , Jonsson,F. U.. Aesthetics and preferences of web pages, Behavior and Information Technology 19 (2000) 367ââ¬â377. Stemler, L. K. (1997).Educational Characteristics of Multimedia: A Literature Review. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia , 6 (3), pp. 339-359. Tractinsky, N. , Cokhavi,A. , Kirschenbaum,M.. Evaluating the cons istency of immediate aesthetic perception of web pages, International Journal of Humanââ¬â Computer Studies 64 (2006) 1071ââ¬â1083. Tractinsky, N. , Cokhavi,A. , Kirschenbaum,M.. Using ratings and response latencies to evaluate the consistency of immediate aesthetic perceptions of web pages, in: Proceedings of the Third Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, Whashington, DC, 2004, pp. 1ââ¬â5. Valdez, P. , Mehrabian, A. , Effects of color on emotion,Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 123 (1994) 394ââ¬â409. WhatIs. com. (2005). What is font? Retrieved 1 12, 2012, from Definition from WhatIs. com: http://whatis. techtarget. com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212137,00. html WhatIs. com. (2005). What is text? Retrieved 1 12, 2012, from Definition from WhatIs. com: http://whatis. techtarget. com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213125,00. html Wikipedia. (2012). Typography. Retrieved 1 12, 2012, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Typography Wikipe dia. (2012). Unicode. Retrieved 1 13, 2012, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Unicode
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