Assignment 2: How I went

To be honest I was completely bewildered when I first picked up the essay question, how on earth was I going to write about everything I had learnt and relate it to the concepts. So, what i did was take a completely different method to that which I usually take and created a mess!!! On a serious note though, I had all the concepts printed out and chose the ones I felt most passionate about, once I decided on them I linked them to the the skills I had learnt on the course and created a sort of physical hierarchy. Laying all the printouts on the floor, with the attached skills, I created an essay structure, (much to my flatmates amusement!). I then found relative quotes and references. Once my physical paper hierarchy had been created I was ready to begin my introduction. From there, it was smooth sailing. I hopefully have answered the question to the best of my knowledge and am quite satisfied with the result!

In conclusion to having written the essay, I managed to tie together in my mind the relevance of everything we have learnt, I say this because I was wondering why these concepts we were originally given. I now have a clear understanding that a knowledge of the concepts we were given are vital if we are to be successful Internet users. A knowlede of the background information creates a base from which we can develop, and keep developing our skills. Learning about the internet is an ongoing process, it is forever changing, and to keep up with it we have to keep learning!

Low Litracy Internet Users and My View

I was scanning down the Low Literacy Users, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, March 14, 2005, when I came across the "Characteristics". I was mortified, points they made about a low literacy internet users could have been made about me. Which made me start thinking about how I expect instant gratification when searching for something on the net, the points Neilsen made are not so much true because I am illiterate, but more so true because I am lazy. I often skip grand chunks of text because I do not think they will contain information that I need, I hardly ever reach the end of a web page, I often lose track of pages when there are constant pop ups. This instant gratification is not only true of me, but many, many internet users out there. Why would you sit for hours searching through the search engines when you can just pick the first link that came up and gain a decent amount of information on a subject? The world is becoming more like that every day, and the point I made a few blogs ago, about language on the net reitterates this, people are not illiterate or unintelligent, THEY ARE LAZY! Language is becoming lazy, we as people are becoming lazy (regarding sport and the amount of tv we watch etc.etc.), and of course, being able to use the internet for pretty much all information and now for bookings, learning, teaching and communicating is making us less hard working. Everything is available at the touch of a button, why sit and scroll when the first button will do?! This is vital information for anyone trying to create a web site that will reach people, all the above should be taken into account. Having the main point of the site in bold lettering at the top, with the main contents easily seen just bellow it, will ensure that people will read it, regardless of their literacy rate. Prioratising the text is essential. People are more likely to look at pictures and diagrams, so is there a way you can convey the same message with a diagram, will this keep people interested and more likely to delve deeper? I know from my personal experience that I am less likely to carry on viewing a site that I do not understand the moment I open it, than one that starts with the basics on the subject and then moves on to the more technical information. Under the heading Improving Usability for Lower-Literacy Users, Neilsen makes the following points:
Prioratise information
Avoid text that moves or changes
Streamline the page design
Simplify navigation
Optimize search
Should these points not be true for most internet sites? It speaks for itself with the results of the Case Study: What's at Stake? http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050314.html.