Twinkle Twinkle, empty Star

Kansas City Star:

Pros:
Structure of the home page directs the user’s eye to the information he/she needs. The center text contains headings with links to stories in those categories. There is an obvious hierarchy of information. The left hand side of the page presents navigation tools. The right hand “gutter” contains pure advertisements. No horizontal scrolling is necessary, and all the most important sections are contained “above the fold” (to use newspaper-speak), or in the original screen, so the reader doesn’t have to scroll down.

The website maintains consistency throughout, with the name at the top, which links back to the home page. There is also a button to subscribe and the local weather at the top of each page. The navigation tools on the left hand remain consistent, as well.

I like the search function at the top of each page, as well. By clicking on a different circle, users can search recent news, archives or the web. I think this feature is useful and I like the way they put it to use.

Cons:
None of the content is available online!! What a tease. It seems as though you can access articles online, but you’re only prompted to subscribe. Actually, one section “Community faces” was available, but come on! And another link, which appeared to be the top story, actually opened up a new window with a blog in it. I thought it was going to be an article. [On closer inspection, it seems the content is free, if you signup for the service. Since I'm familiar with other newspapers asking for money to subscribe to acess online content, I just assumed it would cost money and gave up. I think most people would.]

Besides content, what this site lacks is contrast. From the heading at the top to the text at the center to the navigation tools on the left, everything appears as text on a white background. Although some of the text is black and some is white, I think different colored backgrounds may help separate these different sections. The lines between them don’t do enough to help us differentiate them.

It’s funny that the site uses red type to link to stories, since the color came up so often in the discussion threads for JOMC 221. In certain cultures, red symbolizes wealth and prosperity, while in others it signifies death. I would argue, however, that the Kansas City Star is most likely writing for an American audience.

I suppose this site is helpful for those who have online subscriptions to the newspaper, but for those of us who don’t, it’s extremely frustrating. And, if I was living in Kansas City, I don’t think I’d be tempted to subscribe to a site like this. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem very inviting or useful.

Not "Learning" much

Here are my results from the Learning Styles Inventory test:

Style Scores
Visual 6
Aural 17
Verbal 17
Physical 12
Logical 9
Social 18
Solitary 6

I wasn’t surprised by any of the findings. I knew already that I was an aural, verbal, physical and social learner. What’s interesting, however, is that the scores for these elements changed when I took the test on two different days. The test depends on your perceptions of yourself, and these change from day to day, depending on the mood you’re in. I thought this test would help someone who was not very self-aware, but I felt like it told me what I already knew and perhaps what I wanted to hear.

My web styleguide

This styleguide is a work-in-progress and therefore subject to change. I appreciate any feedback.

Basis:
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law will serve as the basis for my online styleguide. While I will make a few changes, I will adhere for the most part to the guidelines in the AP stylebook, because it is the one most journalists use. Since the stylebook was intended to serve print journalists, however, I think some modifications can be made for online journalism. The guidelines for writing about the internet have changed frequently as well, so I will be listing my own guidelines for certain terms. (For instance, internet will be lowercase, and website will be lowercase and one word.) A special section on internet terms will be included.

Target audience:

Since I will be critiquing the websites of newspapers, I want to write in a style that their employees will recognize. These journalists make up my key target audience. The AP stylebook is used by most newspapers, making it recognizable to both journalists and regular newspaper readers. I plan to submit my final paper to a conference, so I will also have to take into consideration an academic audience. I think that a majority of academics would be familiar with AP style, though, and this consideration will have little influence on the style I use for my blog.

"mindset" of the audience:

The mindset of the audience I would like to reach is utilitarian. They will not be searching for ways to amuse themselves or pass the time. If they work in a newsroom environment, most likely they have little time to sift through long passages or wait for pictures to load. They will want to get in, get the information they need and get out. I will need to organize the information in a way that will allow them to scan or search for specific topics. I would like my blog to serve as a model for the types of Web strategies I will be advocating.

Tone: A straight-forward, businesslike tone will probably work best. Humor should be used sparingly, if at all. Though many journalists have good senses of humor, I think sarcasm and humor could too easily be misunderstood, especially if read by an international audience.

Hyperlinks:
I would like to provide them with links to the Web sites of newspapers, as well, to see examples of the things I will be critiquing.

Font size:

Headings should be written in 20 point font and bold. Only the first word of headings and subheads will be capitalized. Subheads will be italicized and in 16 point font. All text will be black and in Times New Roman, except for hyperlinks, which will be in blue and underlined.

Lists:
All lists will follow the regular format, but will be vertical and bulleted. If an item in a list serves as a hyperlink, it will follow the guidelines for hyperlinks. Items in a list will not be followed by a period unless written in sentence form. Example:

Athletes can do three things to avoid injury:
1. Stretch before and after exercising
2. Hydrate before, during, and after exercising
3. Warm up properly before exercising

If you have trouble getting up in the morning, you can
1. go to bed earlier,
2. avoid exercise before bedtime,
3. or set an alarm clock across the room.

Navigation elements:
I would like to place navigation elements near the top of the screen on my blog, so they are visible and easy to use. I would like to incorporate a search function, so that content can be found easily, without scrolling through pages of text.

Internet terms:

blog – a weblog. AP stylebook says to explain that it means Web log or Web journal. Blog is acceptable on first use for the purposes of this stylebook.

email – instead of e-mail, or electronic mail.

internet – lowercase

internet addresses – do not use the http:// or ftp:// protocol unless necessary. Websites should be hyperlinked to the sites.


PC – personal computer.

Mac – a personal computer produced by Apple Computers. Short for Macintosh.

webmaster – usually the person at a company or organization who designs and manages the website for that company or organization. Gender neutral.

website – lowercase and one word

I'm an amazon woman

I think amazon.com meets many of the criteria in the reading for this module. It has a recognizable template, with a navigation bar along the top, which remains consistent throughout. Once you click on a heading, such as “books”, the color of the bar changes and the tab is highlighted. It reminds me of the tabs on the sides of cookbooks, separating out the different sections. The colors used are subtle and not distracting. The yellow smile under the amazon logo is eye catching and helps assure the user that he/she is on the same Web site. Like on the logo on salon.com, the amazon.com logo brings the user back to the home page. The navigation tools on the left help to separate each section with heads and subheads and a search function can be found near the very top of the column. I don’t think this was emphasized (or even mentioned) in the reading for this module, but I highly prize a visible search function. It makes life so much easier if you don’t have to search for the search function. I also like how no horizontal scrolling is necessary and most of the important information is found “above the fold.”

On the right hand side of the page users will find promotional materials for best sellers, for instance, contained in boxes that they can click on or ignore. One drawback is the multitude of images, which might take a long time to load on a dialup modem or with an outdated computer, but I don’t find them to be distracting, because they are fairly organized. I like how you can click on the title or the cover of the book to get details on products and how you can even “look inside” books. (I’m using the books section as an example, because it’s the one I use most often, but I have found the site to be fairly consistent throughout its other sections.)

Another feature that I like, thought it’s kind of creepy, is the way the site is personalized when a user visits it on a home computer. Right on the home page I see suggestions of books and music, based on previous searches and purchases. There is also a tab labeled “robin’s store.” One thing I didn’t like is Robin’s gold box, which rattles and shakes up in the right hand corner. But now that I’m writing this, it’s nowhere to be seen. I think this site resembles the directory sites in the readings for this module, such as yahoo.com, in that the primary goal is to provide links to information. It gives the user what he or she is looking for.

Lists, lists, lists

Here is an article from runnersworld.com. I think it provides a good example of how lists can be used effectively, in its prevention section. For this exercise, I will convert the treatment section into a list as well. Below is the original article. Below that you will find the treatment section, after being doctored (so to speak).

Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Iliotibial band syndrome is relatively common, and it hurts. Help has arrived

by: Marlene Cimons

Laura Kennelly had been running for several years before the pain hit. Two days after finishing her first marathon, she went off with her regular running group for an easy 5-miler. But after 2 miles, the outside of her leg began to hurt -- big-time. "My leg just blew out. I stopped running and could barely walk," she recalls. "I hobbled home in pain."

Kennelly, a writer from Berea, Ohio, was suffering from iliotibial band syndrome, one of the most common overuse injuries among runners. Because the most notable symptom typically is swelling and pain on the outside of the knee, many runners mistakenly think they have a knee injury.

But it's not the knee, it's the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin. "When the band comes near the knee, it becomes narrow, and rubbing can occur between the band and the bone. This causes inflammation," says Freddie H. Fu, M.D., a Pittsburgh orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the board of the Pittsburgh Marathon.

ITB syndrome can result from any activity that causes the leg to turn inward repeatedly. This can include wearing worn-out shoes, running downhill or on banked surfaces, running too many track workouts in the same direction, or simply running too many miles. Unlike many overuse injuries, however, ITB pain afflicts seasoned runners almost as much as beginners.

"Forty percent of the runners we see for ITB syndrome have been running 5 or more years,"says John Pagliano, D.P.M., a sports-medicine podiatrist in Long Beach, Calif., and a onetime 2:26 marathoner. "That's quite a high number. About 50 percent of them are running between 20 and 40 miles a week.

"Also ITB syndrome is much more common in women,"Dr. Pagliano notes. "Why? It could be the way some women's hips tilt, which can cause their knees to turn in."

Some experts believe that the incidence of ITB syndrome has increased among all runners in recent years, although the reasons aren't clear. "It could be because so many runners have ramped up their mileage for marathons before they're ready to handle the distance,"says Stephen Pribut, D.P.M., a Washington, D.C., sports podiatrist.

Dr. Pagliano describes most runners with ITB pain as "Type A's." "They run high mileage," he says. "They're not willing to back off, and they are willing to run through pain."

How can you tell if you have ITB syndrome? "The best way is to bend your knee at a 45-degree angle. If you have an ITB problem, you'll feel pain on the outside of the knee," says Dr. Fu. "Sometimes an MRI can confirm it. An X-ray is usually negative, but an MRI can show a partial thickening of the band -- which results from inflammation."


Prevention
Here are some steps you can take to prevent ITB syndrome:


1. Most importantly, always decrease your mileage or take a few days off if you feel pain on the outside of your knee.

2. Walk a quarter- to half-mile before you start your runs.

3. Make sure your shoes aren't worn along the outside of the sole. If they are, replace them.

4. Run in the middle of the road where it's flat. (To do this safely, you'll need to find roads with little or no traffic and excellent visibility.)

5. Don't run on concrete surfaces.

6. When running on a track, change directions repeatedly.

7. Schedule an evaluation by a podiatrist to see if you need orthotics.

8. Avoid doing any type of squats.



Treatment
Once you notice ITB pain, the best way to get rid of it for good is to rest immediately. That means fewer miles, or no running at all.

"In the majority of runners -- 85 percent -- once they rest, the pain doesn't come back," Dr. Pagliano says. "But I'm not talking about the guy who finally decides to rest after feeling pain for 6 months during 90-mile weeks. You have to rest immediately."

While you're backing off on your mileage, you can cross-train. Swimming, pool running, cycling, and rowing are all fine. Stair-climbing is not, because it is too much like running.

Side stretches will also help, as will ice or heat, ultrasound, or electrical stimulation with topical cortisone. This last method is useful "particularly in the acute phase,"says Dr. Fu.

If you don't give yourself a break from running, ITB syndrome can become chronic. "Then you'll need to run fewer miles and give up marathons," says Dr. Fu.

If your ITB problem doesn't get better after several weeks, seek help from a sports-medicine professional. You may need a cortisone injection to break up scar tissue and help speed healing. But cortisone presents its own risks, as it can weaken ligaments and tendons. Consider cortisone injections as a "second-to-last resort," Dr. Pagliano says.

Your last resort is surgery. "Once you've tried everything else, and nothing helps, we can surgically release the IT band,"Dr. Fu says. Adds Dr. Pagliano: "But surgery makes your knee a little floppier, and patients are never happy with it."

As Laura Kennelly reports, "I've had other injuries since -- including fractured bones in my foot -- but none of them took as long to heal or still troubles me as much as that ITB strain. I know now that I have to respect that weakness in my leg, and back off when it acts up."




Treatment

1. Rest
Once you notice ITB pain, the best way to get rid of it for good is to rest immediately. That means fewer miles, or no running at all.

"In the majority of runners -- 85 percent -- once they rest, the pain doesn't come back," Dr. Pagliano says. "But I'm not talking about the guy who finally decides to rest after feeling pain for 6 months during 90-mile weeks. You have to rest immediately."

2. Cross-train
While you're backing off on your mileage, you can cross-train. Swimming, pool running, cycling, and rowing are all fine. Stair-climbing is not, because it is too much like running.

3. Stretch, ice, heat
Side stretches will also help, as will ice or heat, ultrasound, or electrical stimulation with topical cortisone. This last method is useful "particularly in the acute phase,"says Dr. Fu.

If you don't give yourself a break from running, ITB syndrome can become chronic. "Then you'll need to run fewer miles and give up marathons," says Dr. Fu.

4. Professional help
If your ITB problem doesn't get better after several weeks, seek help from a sports-medicine professional. You may need a cortisone injection to break up scar tissue and help speed healing. But cortisone presents its own risks, as it can weaken ligaments and tendons. Consider cortisone injections as a "second-to-last resort," Dr. Pagliano says.

5. Surgery
Your last resort is surgery. "Once you've tried everything else, and nothing helps, we can surgically release the IT band,"Dr. Fu says. Adds Dr. Pagliano: "But surgery makes your knee a little floppier, and patients are never happy with it."

As Laura Kennelly reports, "I've had other injuries since -- including fractured bones in my foot -- but none of them took as long to heal or still troubles me as much as that ITB strain. I know now that I have to respect that weakness in my leg, and back off when it acts up."

Headline help

One thing I've always had trouble with is writing headlines. I'm not sure I've gotten much better, but this exercised helped me to analyze headlines online and recognize the trouble with them. Here are my suggestions.

A. Police seize huge amounts of cash on I-85
http://www.mainstreetnews.com/2005/Feb/J0209D.html

This makes it sound as though cops are picking up piles of bills on the side of the road. I would change it to:

“Police seize large sum in drug-related bust”

B. Missing All The Signs
www.journalnow.com

This headline on the Web site for the Winston-Salem Journal is not clear. The story is about the man who was erroneously declared dead after being hit by a car. The subhead reads “Reports detail events that led up to finding man was not dead” and provides much more information. My revision is too long, however.

“Reports uncover why live man was declared dead.”


C. The Fayettville Fast Track
www.runnersworld.com

While this headline follows all the rules about concision and relevance, it begins with the article “the,” which the guidelines in the study book suggest skipping. An easy change would contain the same number of letters, and perhaps gain more attention.

“Fast Track at Fayettville.”

Paper Proposal

Despite the fact that the Internet affects nearly everything we do these days, certain institutions have still not reconciled it with their traditional practices. For instance, many newspapers continue to use a typical front-page layout for their home page, many post stories directly to the Internet without altering the text at all and some offer original content on the Web. Some charge for archival content, while others offer all content free of charge. The newspaper industry does not seem to have determined a formula for how best to utilize the Internet.

With circulation numbers declining, many newspapers have looked at ways to gain readership among young people. Many young people use the Web as a primary source for information and entertainment. If newspapers could harness this power, instead of fearing it, they could avoid the death of newspapers. Some newspapers have embraced the Web as a tool, rather than viewing it as a threat, but it remains to be seen whether their efforts have paid off.

While I cannot tell whether newspapers’ strategies to use the Web will pay off in the long run (I am not a fortune teller), I can analyze the way different newspapers use the Web. Based on the readings for class, and future research, I will determine which tactics may work better than others.

I would like to look at newspapers of different sizes: a national paper, such as the New York Times or USA Today; a large metropolitan paper, such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution or the News and Observer; and a small local paper, such as The Roxboro Courier-Times or the Southern Pines Pilot. Since I worked at a small newspaper, I am personally interested to see how these smaller newspapers utilize the Web.

I am sure that, as I search for literature, I will find plenty of articles on how newspapers use the Web, but I am hoping that a comparison of large and small newspapers will offer something new to the body of literature.

My research questions are as follows:

How do newspapers use their Web sites?
Do large newspapers and small newspapers use their Web sites differently?
How?

I expect to find that smaller Web sites will have more free content available online, where larger newspapers (like the New York Times) will have more pay-as-you-go content. I also expect to find, however, that larger newspapers will be more Web-saavy and they will incorporate findings from usability studies to make their Web sites more accessible to potential readers. I would like to see if, based on Web site evaluations, larger newspapers have more user-friendly Web sites.