7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From starting my preliminary website earlier in the year I have learnt to carry out things differently in my fully produced drugs website. Things such as the layout have to look professional with the same template used on all the pages stopping the website from looking messy or not inviting. Especially as the audience is based on people giving help. The colour scheme must come across as well thought out and everything on the website has to be in contrast and look proffessional. Even the position of images, page links and the description on each page must be planned out properly. I think the main thing I've learned is to follow the main conventions so it looks professional and people will recognise it as a website but also to be creative and try things even it challenges conventions because you need to create a product that reaches the right audience and communicates the right message to them.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Whilst creating this media product I learnt how to use PhotoShop as before I had never used this. I also learnt to use iWeb which is the 'WYSIWYG' software we used to create our websites. I learnt how to create a website from scratch as I had never made a website before. We weren't allowed to use iWeb templates so we had to design our own templates, page structure and design. We also had to use PhotoShop to create our logos and edit photos to make them suitable for the site.
Overall my skills and technological knowledge has developed greatly whilst creating my website and I think there has been a great increase from my preliminary website to my newly designed drugs based website. I have learned mostly that the software we use is very good for creative projects because you can be creative without having to know HTML code and without being very technical. PhotoShop is a bit more difficult to use but I have managed to learn how to use the basic tools. I've also learned how to use Blogger from this project and I now know that I can publish my own work and ideas on the Web for free if I want to.
Whilst creating this media product I learnt how to use PhotoShop as before I had never used this. I also learnt to use iWeb which is the 'WYSIWYG' software we used to create our websites. I learnt how to create a website from scratch as I had never made a website before. We weren't allowed to use iWeb templates so we had to design our own templates, page structure and design. We also had to use PhotoShop to create our logos and edit photos to make them suitable for the site.
Overall my skills and technological knowledge has developed greatly whilst creating my website and I think there has been a great increase from my preliminary website to my newly designed drugs based website. I have learned mostly that the software we use is very good for creative projects because you can be creative without having to know HTML code and without being very technical. PhotoShop is a bit more difficult to use but I have managed to learn how to use the basic tools. I've also learned how to use Blogger from this project and I now know that I can publish my own work and ideas on the Web for free if I want to.
5. Who would distribute your product and why?
Distribution
There are so many things that you need to consider after all of the designing of the campaign website. You have to think carefully about the distribution of your website, how it will reach the audience and therefore be a successful campaign. You need funding for it to go live on the World Wide Web and find an available web address to use.
Web Hosting
Web hosting is an Internet service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible through the World Wide Web. There are all different types of hosting options, from very expensive commercial Web hosts, to free Web hosts. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing connectivity to the Internet, typically in a data centre. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, this is called called cocolation.
Domain Name Registration
Domain registration is the process by which a company or individual can secure a website domain. Once you have completed domain registration the domain becomes yours for the period of the contract, usually one year. Before registration expires it must be renewed, or the domain reverts back to being available to the general public.
A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS). They are effectively names used as simple identification labels to indicate ownership or control of a resource. Individual Internet host computers use domain names as host identifiers, or host-names. Hostnames are the leaf labels in the domain name system usually without further subordinate domain name space.
An important purpose of domain names is to provide easily recognizable and memorable names to numerically addressed Internet resources. This abstraction allows any resource (e.g., website) to be moved to a different physical location in the address topology of the network, globally or locally in an intranet.
Once the website is going live a search team would need to work on getting it to come up high in the listing when key words are typed into Google and other search engines enabling the site to be popular and highly visited.
4. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by using a simple colour scheme of grey and red and using a font that would appeal to young people. My pictures are of drug misuse which would help the audience realise the consequences of taking them. My home page has lots of space which would appeal to a young audience and the photo of the eye is very effective in grabbing attention. The main body text is clear and the header for the text sets up a problem then offers a solution.
I addressed my audience by using positive and persuasive on all pages which would attract people more than negativity when they are already probably feeling bad about themselves. The site offers advice and a number to call for more help so visitors will find this helpful if they are there because they want to get in touch with someone.
I attracted my audience by using a simple colour scheme of grey and red and using a font that would appeal to young people. My pictures are of drug misuse which would help the audience realise the consequences of taking them. My home page has lots of space which would appeal to a young audience and the photo of the eye is very effective in grabbing attention. The main body text is clear and the header for the text sets up a problem then offers a solution.
I addressed my audience by using positive and persuasive on all pages which would attract people more than negativity when they are already probably feeling bad about themselves. The site offers advice and a number to call for more help so visitors will find this helpful if they are there because they want to get in touch with someone.
3. Who would be the audience for your media product?
I decided early on that my audience would be young people because although they are not the only generation affected by drug use, they are perhaps most affected by it because they can be silly about the choices they make and they can ruin their lives and cause a lot of pain for their family and friends. I also found it easier to aim my site at this group because I am of the same age group so it's easier to know what the issues are and to get access to young people for photographs. If I was to aim the site at older people who might have families and lost their jobs I would have to have a different understanding of the issue and use a very different design to what I wanted to do creatively. My typical audience would be aged 14-24 and they would be in a situation were they realised they have a problem or that their friend has a problem and they want to get advice without their family or their doctor knowing. The social class could be any really because it can affect anyone from any background. The group would be defined by their age not their class. They could also be at school, just left school and working or at university. I think my typical site visitor would be someone who has realised that the drugs they are taking is making them miserable and they want help.
I decided early on that my audience would be young people because although they are not the only generation affected by drug use, they are perhaps most affected by it because they can be silly about the choices they make and they can ruin their lives and cause a lot of pain for their family and friends. I also found it easier to aim my site at this group because I am of the same age group so it's easier to know what the issues are and to get access to young people for photographs. If I was to aim the site at older people who might have families and lost their jobs I would have to have a different understanding of the issue and use a very different design to what I wanted to do creatively. My typical audience would be aged 14-24 and they would be in a situation were they realised they have a problem or that their friend has a problem and they want to get advice without their family or their doctor knowing. The social class could be any really because it can affect anyone from any background. The group would be defined by their age not their class. They could also be at school, just left school and working or at university. I think my typical site visitor would be someone who has realised that the drugs they are taking is making them miserable and they want help.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I designed my website to help people stop taking drugs so they people I am representing are young people who take drugs. I am aiming to represent them as a group of people sharing the same problem and I am also representing the issue in a certain way. Like I wrote in the last answer, Talk to Frank makes it all look like a game but I wanted it to look serious and so I have chosen to represent drug taking as having consequences and through the use of the photos I have represented some of the consequences like the loneliness and the health issues.
All the pictures that have been added to my website are to do with drugs, I took them myself using things that look like real drugs but really they're fake. There are pictures of a woman that has used drugs and the photos aim to show that she has no idea where she is or what she is doing. Even though I know representing the group in this way is not conventional I wanted to do it in this way. I did also include more positive representations of this group with the photos showing how their lives have changed with the help of the campaign.
I designed my website to help people stop taking drugs so they people I am representing are young people who take drugs. I am aiming to represent them as a group of people sharing the same problem and I am also representing the issue in a certain way. Like I wrote in the last answer, Talk to Frank makes it all look like a game but I wanted it to look serious and so I have chosen to represent drug taking as having consequences and through the use of the photos I have represented some of the consequences like the loneliness and the health issues.
All the pictures that have been added to my website are to do with drugs, I took them myself using things that look like real drugs but really they're fake. There are pictures of a woman that has used drugs and the photos aim to show that she has no idea where she is or what she is doing. Even though I know representing the group in this way is not conventional I wanted to do it in this way. I did also include more positive representations of this group with the photos showing how their lives have changed with the help of the campaign.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My website is a drug based campaign that aims to help people stop taking them. It advises people to quit the drugs and informs them of the side effects. There are already anti-drug campaigns and drugs awareness campaigns out there so I looked at them as part fo my research and planning. The two sites posted below are those I think most similar to mine and I studied their structure and iconography to help me make decisions about my own site. Drugs online had a simple design using a 4 column structure with a black navigation bar at the top of the page. They also conventionally had a clear logo on there but it wasn't top left as it normally is, it was top right, under the navigation bar.
Talk to Frank is a site that had a lot of promotion when it launched a few years ago. This is a site that challenges many conventions in the way that visitors can navigate around the page. It is not trying to tell young people not to do drugs, it's more about giving them information so they can be safe. It has an interactive A-Z of drugs and it has the latest news on legal issues. While both sites are different in their purpose and design, they both mainly follow the conventions of website design so I realised that while there are differences, the main conventions stay the same so site visitors can easily find their way around. I used these main conventions in my own site for easy navigation.Monday, 7 December 2009
Industry research
Distribution
There are so many things that you need to consider after all of the designing of the campaign website. You have to think carefully about the distribution of your website, how it will reach the audience and therefore be a successful campaign. You need funding for it to go live on the World Wide Web and find an available web address to use.
Web Hosting
Web hosting is an Internet service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible through the World Wide Web. There are all different types of hosting options, from very expensive commercial Web hosts, to free Web hosts. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing connectivity to the Internet, typically in a data centre. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, this is called called cocolation.
Domain Name Registration
Domain registration is the process by which a company or individual can secure a website domain. Once you have completed domain registration the domain becomes yours for the period of the contract, usually one year. Before registration expires it must be renewed, or the domain reverts back to being available to the general public.
A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS). They are effectively names used as simple identification labels to indicate ownership or control of a resource. Individual Internet host computers use domain names as host identifiers, or host-names. Hostnames are the leaf labels in the domain name system usually without further subordinate domain name space.
An important purpose of domain names is to provide easily recognizable and memorable names to numerically addressed Internet resources. This abstraction allows any resource (e.g., website) to be moved to a different physical location in the address topology of the network, globally or locally in an intranet.
Once the website is going live a search team would need to work on getting it to come up high in the listing when key words are typed into Google and other search engines enabling the site to be popular and highly visited.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
My photography for the site
Photographs
Brick wall for background - I chose to use a brick wall because visually the connection between drugs and being in an end of the road place. The brickwork is harsh and fits in with an addict’s life.
I also wanted to use the brick pattern, as bricks are normally associated with being outside in derelict areas and some addict’s hide away in places similar to these.
I photo shopped the brick pattern to make it stand out more. I also made my hyperlinks fit in some of the bricks.
Drugs
Visuals of the different types of drugs and methods of taking them. I have tried to reproduce a variety of drugs.
This image represents the state you can get yourself into by taking drugs. The positioning of the girl leant over to suggest she has passed out with all her stuff messed around her. This could show the after-effects of a night out and represent what can happen when people go to clubs. This shows that they are ashamed and know what they're doing is wrong, the image portrays the darker side to drugs. I feel it works well because it can show that however much a drug can put you on a high and make you feel on top of the world, it has its negative effects that hit you afterwards bringing reality to you.
The images below are just some examples of what can be taken on a night out. it is known that people sneak drugs into toilets and take them without anyone knowing, this can be dangerous as if no one knows the person has taken them the effects can be fatal.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Analysis of other campaign websites similar to mine.
Out of these three websites I found that Talk To Frank was the most helpful because it went into the most detail and was the most informing. I chose to base most of my website around TTF as I loved the style of this site.
The other two websites were also good but didn't give as much information as this one, TTF has more colours to look at and is just generally more interesting.
Drugs Line and The Home Office websites do not contain nearly as much information as TTF and I felt that if you were looking for help you want want as much information as you could get, therefore I felt that this was the best website to get ideas from.
All the websites used mainly the same kind of persuasive techniques in their help pages, but one thing TTF did differently was to have a page for every single drug you could think of, and information about where to go and what to do if you happen to be addicted to the selected drug. From seeing this I decided I would also do seprate drugs pages for a few drugs.
Out of these three websites I found that Talk To Frank was the most helpful because it went into the most detail and was the most informing. I chose to base most of my website around TTF as I loved the style of this site.
The other two websites were also good but didn't give as much information as this one, TTF has more colours to look at and is just generally more interesting.
Drugs Line and The Home Office websites do not contain nearly as much information as TTF and I felt that if you were looking for help you want want as much information as you could get, therefore I felt that this was the best website to get ideas from.
All the websites used mainly the same kind of persuasive techniques in their help pages, but one thing TTF did differently was to have a page for every single drug you could think of, and information about where to go and what to do if you happen to be addicted to the selected drug. From seeing this I decided I would also do seprate drugs pages for a few drugs.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
My audience survey results
What is the Internet used for?
I chose to ask people what they use the Internet for so I could see if
the demand for information was high or not, as info
rmation had the highest statistic along with shopping I chose to go ahead with my information website. The internet is used mainly used by people that are shopping on online websites for anything from clothes to food. I also found that a high number of people use the internet for research.
Age Groups
In my survey I included asking about how different age groups look at things differently so that I could see if the same age group had the same results as each other or not.
Job Types
I then asked people what types of jobs they do, i.e if they are skilled, unskilled or maybe even manager. I fount that most of the people I had given my survey to were professionals as you can see in my chart.
Gender
I then asked people to tell me their gender as I needed to know whether men and women had different views on my questions. I found I had given the survey to more women.
Drug Use
Once I had found out the basic information I researched drugs in more detail to find out exactly what people wanted to know. As I didn't really know that much about drugs when I started my website I needed to know what the problems of these drugs were.
I wanted to know about how addictive certain types of drug are, so in my survey I relied on people knowing quite a bit of information for me.
The first chart I created to find this out was to find out weather cannabis is more addictive than nicotine:
Once this was done I needed to know what the government think about drugs so I asked if people thought they were truthful or not.
Finally I wanted to know exactly which drug was most common out of Cannabis, Heroin, Ecstacy, Alcohol, Cocaine and Crystal Meth. The most commonly used one out of these was Alcohol.
I chose to ask people what they use the Internet for so I could see if
the demand for information was high or not, as info
rmation had the highest statistic along with shopping I chose to go ahead with my information website. The internet is used mainly used by people that are shopping on online websites for anything from clothes to food. I also found that a high number of people use the internet for research.
Age Groups
In my survey I included asking about how different age groups look at things differently so that I could see if the same age group had the same results as each other or not.
Job Types
I then asked people what types of jobs they do, i.e if they are skilled, unskilled or maybe even manager. I fount that most of the people I had given my survey to were professionals as you can see in my chart.
Gender
I then asked people to tell me their gender as I needed to know whether men and women had different views on my questions. I found I had given the survey to more women.
Drug Use
Once I had found out the basic information I researched drugs in more detail to find out exactly what people wanted to know. As I didn't really know that much about drugs when I started my website I needed to know what the problems of these drugs were.
I wanted to know about how addictive certain types of drug are, so in my survey I relied on people knowing quite a bit of information for me.
The first chart I created to find this out was to find out weather cannabis is more addictive than nicotine:
Once this was done I needed to know what the government think about drugs so I asked if people thought they were truthful or not.
Finally I wanted to know exactly which drug was most common out of Cannabis, Heroin, Ecstacy, Alcohol, Cocaine and Crystal Meth. The most commonly used one out of these was Alcohol.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Monday, 30 November 2009
My Survey Sample
Interviewee’s name | |||||||
Age | 15 - 20 | 20 - 30 | 30 - 40 | 40 - 50 | 50 - 60 | 60 - 70 | 70 - 80 |
Gender | M | F | |||||
Ethnicity | |||||||
Salary | 15 - 20 | 20 - 30 | 30 - 40 | 40 - 50 | 50 - 60 | 60 - 70 | 70 - 80 |
Job | Professional | Manager | Skilled | Semi-skilled | Unskilled | Unwaged | Student or pensioner |
Religion | |||||||
First letters of postcode | |||||||
1. Rate these drugs in order of how common they are:
Drug | Rating | ||||
Cannabis | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Heroine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Ecstasy | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Alcohol | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Cocaine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Crystal methane | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
2. Cannabis is more addictive than nicotine?
Disagree strongly | Disagree | Don’t know | Agree | Agree strongly |
3. Which of these newspapers do you read?
The Sun | The Guardian | The Times | The Mirror | The Daily Mail | The Telegraph | |
Often | ||||||
Occasionally | ||||||
Never |
4. Politicians are honest and truthful (please circle your choice):
When it comes to people | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
When it comes to money | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
When it comes to Afghanistan | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
When it comes to talking about drug use | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
When talking about underage drinking | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
When they’re live on TV | Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
5. Which of these things would you like to be doing in five years time?
Windsurfing in the Caribbean | Raising a family | Going to university | Playing top level sport | Living in Australia | Nothing at all |
6.What do you use the Internet for?
Entertainment | News | Social networking | Information | Shopping | Games | Learning | Planning | Watching the world | Selling |
7.The Internet is an unlimited information source.
Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
8.People are too dependent on computers.
Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
9.The world uses computer technology to spy on people.
Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
10.We know more now than we have ever known because of the Internet.
Agree strongly | Agree somewhat | Don’t know | Disagree somewhat | Disagree strongly |
11. Rate these activities from 1 - 5. You can use the same number more than once.
Football | Swimming | Golf | Computer games | Rugby | Skiing | Cricket | Films | Driving | |
1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 |
12. Rank these objects according to how you would enjoy owning them:
An iPhone | A Ferrari | A country house | A dog | A Michelin restaurant | An aircraft | More money than you need | Being a celebrity | A farm | A swimming pool |
1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 |
13.Rank these websites (1-5: use each number once only please - i.e. once you have chosen 5 for a site, don’t use that number again. There are ten sites - once the numbers 1 to 5 have been used, the unranked sites remain unranked).
BBC | Guardian Online | The Sun | Spotify | Twitter | Apple | Face book | Amazon | EBay | Skype |
14. Rate how important these things are.
Food and warmth | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
A secure home | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Loving people, and being loved | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Satisfaction with one’s life | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
A sense of purpose beyond everyday things | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Thank you for doing our survey.
Finally, please would you write a final comment: what do you think the human race will achieve in the next hundred years?
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