Evaluation

Introduction

In this last blog entry, I am going to evaluate my website, looking at a number of aspects including forms and conventions, and new media technologies. In my previous post, I evaluated the effectiveness of my audience feedback, finding that the combination of all the results helped me distinguish what was successful in my website, additionally pinpointing improvements which would help my website get better. I also learned more about the interests in the teenage audience (what colours they liked, what they found entertaining, what genres are most popular amongest the teenage audience, mainy being sports and music etc..).

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

My website uses various forms and conventions to a certain degree. The layout and design of my website is constant, with the same font and font colour being used throughout the entirety of the site (veranda and white).

I have tried to keep common page elements, a basic convention of websites. This includes adding a navigation bar, which is located in the same place on every page, a unique logo and a copyright notice on the bottom of every page (similar to a real-media product).

I have challenged a design convention of a website when it suggests keeping the background colour the same on every page, so it helps the audience bookmark the website as a favorite (additionally the logo does this). I however felt that this would make the website a little boring, as each page looks very similar in appearance. I decided that I would have different colours for each page, so each section was colour-co-ordinated. (news - red, listings - yellow etc..)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are a large variety of social groups within today's society. My website was made in synergy with a new Teenage TV Channel which was being launched. There will be programmes which will be aired and shown on the website which will represent the teenage audience, such as Teen Dramas. The Channel will represent the audience categorised as 'the unemployed', so this can be done by a number of methods. The clothing of actors, mode of address/language etc..
Many of the young audience will live in low-income households, so the programmes and advertising on the channel and website will need to take this into account, as items such as clothing need to be made affordable.

I added Teen Dramas to my programme listings, as they focus on teenage characters, facing an array of realistic teenage issues. These teenage characters would be giving a realistic representation of how teenagers in today’s society are. Their age would be represented by their clothing, fashion/style and mode of address and language (eg, slang).

On many of the pages on my website, the content applies to my target audience, which are teenagers. The genre of my website is music, which is a popular interest with teenagers. There are many styles of music which focus on niche audiences, for example: R&B (Afro-Americans), Pop, Rock etc.. My music website is going to include a large range of different music styles, in order to maximise audience ratings. The News page emphasises on entertainment news, with celeb goss, as celebrities are role models to the large majority of the teenage audience.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In order to promote and distribute my website, I needed to advertise my website to my target audience. Teenagers spend lots of time on social networking sites and the Internet, so places like facebook would be a good place to advertise my website/channel. This would increase the likelihood that the teenager would notice my website, therefore going onto it. Other methods of advertising could include television and magazines. Adverts could be placed on the Television and in magazines, which would most likely be seen by the desired teenage audience (eg. Kerrang).

Another possible method could be to introduce subscriptions. However, I would like to keep my website free, so more people would go onto my website, therefore watching the TV Channel.

4. Who would be the audience for my media product?

My desired target audience is the teenage audience of both male and female genders. My website caters for this by having a large array of music appropriate for both genders. There are a range of colours, so there is no specific gender references in my website. Of course, as the website and the TV Channel would work in synergy, my audience of my website could include people who have watched the channel, then afterwards wanted to check out the website for any updates on news, see what time their favourite programme was on later etc..

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My audience would be attracted by promotional items, advertising the website (and channel). Two of the most popular mediums, magazines and newspapers, were two good places where I could possibly advertise the website, increasing the number of people who would see the new channel being launched. As part of my preliminary task, I therefore produced a newspaper advert and a double page spread to promote the website.

The text on my website uses a very informal language, with a mode of address suitable for my teenage audience. I also created a logo which acts as a USP (unique selling point) for the website, making it easier for my audience to remember the channel. The title Teen Music Hits (TMH) I feel will instantly attract teenagers, as the title immediately expresses its genre through the name. Its abbrivation also makes the title sound more attractive, rather than saying the whole title.

6. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used a variety of different technologies throughout this coursework. In the early construction stages of production, I used a Digital Camera to take photos for my website. I was fairly familar with using the camera, but the difficulty began when I had to learn to use a website making programme called Adobe Dreamweaver, which was very hard to understand the concept of its working. I was able to transfer the photos from my camera to my laptop, but then needed to learn how to import the photo onto my website. Once learned, it was fairly straightforward, but I needed to make sure I saved all my images in my images folder, which I made at the start (by managing sites at the start, so images goes to one folder and images to another). I also had to learn how to use a video camera, which was new to me. (2 uses of video - one in the schools talent show, the other on a trip to New York which was used for my compeitions)

In the research stage of the coursework, I mainly used the Internet to research websites on well known Music TV Channels, such as MTV. I then analysied and took printscreens of them, so I could brainstorm ideas for my website's production.

In the planning stage of the coursework, I again mainly used the Internet, which I used firstly for finding images for my website (using google search engine) for some of the content of the website (alongside my photos). I also used the Internet for tuturiol lessons on using Adobe Dreamweaver. I used youtube to help me learn how to use html coding, in order to add specific features to my website. I also used youtube to upload the videos from the video camera, so I could embed them in my website.

In the construction stage of the coursework, I used Adobe Dreamweaver for the production of the website, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks for the construction of the logo, and Microsoft Publisher to save the images from the Internet as JPEG files. I also used a free widget website to make a slideshow type widget on my homepage. I later used Adobe Photoshop again for the construction of the newspaper advert and double page spread.

In the evaluation stage of the coursework, I used Microsoft Word to produce my Website Evaluation Form (Questionnaire), as well as using facebook to distribute the questionnaire to my friends and peers, in order to get audience feedback for my website.

7. I have learnt a great deal about the capabilities and the limitations of the technologies from making my products:

The DTP software (Adobe Photoshop) enabled me to create a professional look for my newspaper advert and double page spread, by allowing me to use layering, lighting effects and shadows. There are lots of different options to choose from, manipulating photos to help them mix with the fonts and colours used. This may include cropping, where the tolerance of the crop can be lowered to erase backgrounds which are not desired (this was done on the artists like Alexandra Burke on the newspaper ad).

Adobe Dreamweaver has allowed me to create my own website, learning new skills such as hyperlinking html files, hotspots, html coding and lots of other skills (refer to evaluation of skills blog post).

The Technology used was very useful, and I wouldn’t have been able to produce my finished productions without it. However, the process of using I.T did have its disadvantages. Loading and saving these files were very time consuming, as the amount of content on some of the pages on my website took quite alot of memory. As well as that, it was very easy to lose the work accidentally. This unfortunately happened, due to the program freezing, leading me to restart from a previous state.

As most of the work was carried out in school, the Internet Surf Control also had a negative impact on the time taken to carry out research, planning and the adding of videos from youtube. This led me to try and get extra work done at home, so all the work would be completed on time.

8. Time and Resources

Looking back at my time allocations blog post, I have found that there have been issues which have resulted in the delay in the completion of my coursework on time.
As was mentioned in section seven, the negative impact of the use of technologies did have an effect on how quickly work could be completed. The process of learning how to use Adobe Dreamweaver was more complicated than first thought, so this started to take time out of my website research. Also the surf control on the school Internet stopped me from blogging effectively, as well as other things such as youtube etc..
Additionally, this school term as been a difficult one, as snow days have stopped me from working on my coursework. There have also been a number of teacher training days for my media teacher, so this also had a negative impact on my time allocations.
I however tried to do some extra work at home, by downloading a free trial of Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, as well as blogging at home on the Internet, so I would get all the work done on time for the final deadline.

9. Evaluating my final website - Each Page

Here are my final website pages, which have been printscreened from my final product.

(each page has different coloured backgrounds, challenging codes and conventions)

Home Page:

This is the Homepage for my website, the first page the audience will go to when entering the site. I had made this the first page that the audience will go to because I have learned from other websites that a Home page is necssisary to welcome a user to the site. On entry to the website, music automatically plays, entertaining the user as they navigate the site. I left the play/stop button visible, so the audience may turn it off if they so choose to. I think the music works well in my website, as it distinguishes the genre of the website straight away from the style of the music being played (strong 4-4 beat, club-like/remix). I have then beneath this added a blinking header, which says 'Teen Music Hits is the music channel to watch'. The effect of blinking makes it stand out, similar to the effect of flashing neon lights in the city. I feel this works well, because it instantly brings the audience's attention to the TV Channel. I do however think it may be slightly annoying after an extented period. Below this, I added a widget, which acts as a slideshow slider, so the audience may see whats on the site in a more interactive way. From my research, I found that many well-known websites such as MTV, 4 Music and E4 all add this feature on their websites. I feel this function works to a certain extent, as it does allow the user to look at pictures which are on the site. I could not find a free widget on the Internet however that allowed me to add text to my slider, neither could I find one that would hyperlink to another page. I have added text to the side of the widget, so it does appear to do the same effect.

As you scroll down the homepage, there are three columns, which are tables which I inserted. These columns were headed News, Music and Shows. The idea of having sections on each page on my homepage came from my research again, as they all to did this to promote what was on the site. I feel this works, as it is obvious from just looking at the homepage what the website has to offer. I have added hotspot images in each of these columns, so when clicked, the audience will be taken to that page. This works, as navigation becomes a lot easier.

On this page, I feel there should be more content, as the page appears to be slightly bare. I do however think my homepage is a success, as I feel it does what it is supposed to do, by acting like a front cover on a magazine for example, it shows what the website has to offer, with lots of images and different colours.

Each of my pages had a different colour background. I am aware that this challenges codes and conventions, but I feel that a range of colours will make my website more attractive.

News Page :

This is my News Page. Each page on my website has a subheading, with somewhere there having 'TMH' in block yellow capitals. I feel that this page is the weakest of the pages, mainly due to content. I do though think this page offers the options typical of a real website such as MTV. It offers entertainment news, breaking news and the latest celebrity gossip. These ideas have been inspired by MTV specifically, as a teenager myself, I found what was on their news page particurly interesting, especially as you don't hear about most of it on the mainstream news (on BBC), as it is more music related. I therefore think the effectiveness of what content I do have on this page works well. I feel that there could have been some more interactive options on my news page, as it is generally reading. There were however lots of images on this page to illustrate the news bulletins, which help convay what it is about to the audience before reading it, helping to draw their attention to read it.

Reviews Page

This is my Reviews page, which contains links for music downloads and has game reviews at the bottom. To the right of this page, I added a spry known as a accordian. I added this, because I first show this feature on Radio 1's site, under Reggie Yates page. This feature adds an interesting interactive element to the website, so I decided that I would use it. I feel this works, as it allows three bits of content to be stored, whilst adding some animation to the page. On this page, I could have made the forums link a little more obvious, so people are aware that it is actually a link to another page on my website.

I think the layout of this page works well, even with a spry to the right, which takes up some room when it opens. The page is split into two, with the bottom half containing reviews on some games. Looking back at this, I now feel that this might not work so well, as I stated at the start of this coursework that I would target both males and females. Writing game reviews therefore in a way caters for the male gender over the female. I could have made this work though if I had added games of female interest (or unisex interests), such as viva pinata, or rock band games. The images of each game cover clearly illustrates what games are being examined, and the coloured headings clearly show what elements of the game the review is talking about. I could have added an overall star rating for each game (or %), so the audience gets an idea of what TMH thought of them on a scale. I have tried to counterbalance the gender issue on this page, by adding a pink background to this page. The main critisism for this page, or possible improvement could be to add more music related games, considering this is a music website.


Forums Page (There are two different forums on two pages)

On my TV music channel website, I wanted to give my audience a more interactive feel, as well as allowing them to give contributions to TMH itself. This is why I decided that I would produce a forums page. As forums would be reviews of such written by the audience, I felt it would work better if the forums page was included in the Reviews section. I feel that this works, as it gives the audience the impression that the website value their audiences opinion by comparing it to their main reviews. On these forum pages, I have embeded music related videos, that can be used to start a discussion about what people thought of them. I feel my second forums page is the most successful, as it compares two different videos. This can encourage people to express their own opinions. I therefore feel that adding a forums page was successful to my website.

Listings Page:

This is my listings page, which will show my audience whats showing on the TV Channel. I feel that this is the most successful page on my website, as it includes the most content, the layout looks professional and structured, and it includes lots of sections such as Picks of the Week, TMH weekend, TMH weekdays and whats coming up this month. At the top of this page, I added a collapsable panel, which would open up when a day of the week was clicked at the top. The panel would then expand to show what is on the channel on that day. I feel that this adds interactivity to my website. I like the colour scheme of this page very much, as it is a ratiant collection of oranges. The images used for the picks of the week also help illustrate a lot what programmes are being promoted.


Music Player Page:

This is my music player page, which will give the audience the chance to hear TMH's weekly playlist of popular music. I produced this page by embeding youtube music videos into my website, editing it so only the play/pause button is visible. I have arranged the music titles and play buttons around the page, so it creates an ipod looking image/feel. This page requires loading time, as each embeded youtube video would need to load before they are played, so this is one disadvantage of this page. However, the addition of music to my website would encourage the audience to go on my website, as this would be a form of entertainment for them. The music player helps enhance the success of the website, as the genre for both my website and TV Channel is music, so adding music would be a sensible thing to do.

Competitions Page:

This is my competitions page, which includes a large array of different types of competition, which are biased towards my teenage audience. They are biased by the type of competitions they are, such as quizzes on popular teenage films, bands, and other interests teenagers have. They are also geared towards the teenage audience by the prizes they are offering if they were to win, such as cinema tickets for a year, xbox games, mobile phones and lots more. Again, there are flash buttons which would link to the competition itself, but because of a time element, creating the specfic competitions pages would take too long. The Brief only requires 3 hyperlinked pages, so I linked my buttons to a temporaliy unavailable page. The flash buttons add animation to my page, as when the user hovers the mouse over the button, it reacts by making spiral movements within the button.

There is also a temporary unavailable page:

This page is used, so if my website was to challenge a real-media product in the website industry, the audience will know that the page they are trying to get to is under maintenance or improvement.