What I Learned About Writing in Digital Environments

Going into “Writing in Digital Environments” at UCF, I had some preconceived notions about what the class might be like, since I’ve taken plenty of online classes and plenty of writing classes in my college career so far. I enjoy writing, but I’ve learned that to be good writer I must accrue knowledge and experience in many areas of education that most people don’t readily associate with writing. Through this class, my understanding of writing for the digital age has been significantly broadened, and my ideas about what it means to be a successful writer in the world of digital environments have been challenged. Here are two significant learning experiences from my time in ENC 4416.

1. Being a successful writer means understanding your digital environment.

Prior to this class, I had no experience with HTML or CSS, and if you would have asked me about web design, I would have told you that I don’t do that. The reality is that in order to be able to compete in this digital age of online writing and interaction, a fundamental understanding of the basic elements of websites is indispensable. As a student of writing, I am expected to know how to manipulate code, design and frame content for the web, and understand how digital environments operate on a fundamental level. Writing code isn’t just for hardcore programmers or people with exceptional computer skills. It’s for anyone who wants to take the developing world of online writing seriously and find their place in it. Working on an addition to the course website may not seem like much, but for me it was a moment in my education when I could honestly say to myself “this is what professionals do. This is what I will be doing professionally. I can do this.” That experience, and the lessons I learned by being open to new concepts, will prove invaluable as I progress further into my career.     

2. Culture, society, and social activities are all being shaped by our digital environments.

Nothing exists in a vacuum, but the ways in which our constantly connected world is shaped, shook up, and changed by the Internet has become vivid to me thanks to this class. Reading Rheingold, I came to a more developed understanding that the way we interact with the online world directly affects every other aspect of life. Social norms and group behavior online, technological literacy, and personal well being in a digital age are just some of the broad and vitally important concepts I explored in this class. Being able to use tools on the Internet effectively and knowing how to distinguish the good from the bad online are skills that everyone needs to master, but so few even think about. As I learn more about what the future of digital media might look like, I'm grateful that through this class I have been given the insights to be a conscious contributor to the field of digital writing. The reality of a constantly interconnected world can seem overwhelming to me at times, but knowing some of the disciplines I have read about and discussed because of this class, I'm looking forward to finding my place in the connected global village.

Rhetorical Website Audit for Sanfordfl.gov

For the full Word document, click here. 

Philip Kinkopf

Professor Dan Martin

ENC 4416

5 August 2016

Rhetorical Website Audit for Sanfordfl.gov                                                 

INTRODUCTION

       Sanfordfl.gov is a large, city run website that features a high volume of information and web services related to the City of Sanford. The site’s audience is mainly citizens of the city seeking to complete some type of official task, such as filling out a service request or signing up for waste services, or anyone seeking information about the City of Sanford. That being the case, the site needs to be targeted at users who will want to get in, complete a task, and get out. The site must be clear from clutter and clearly and easily point users to the specific page they are there to access. Since this is such a large site, the homepage should act as a central hub of information about the website, leading users down specific paths to specific pages. As someone who chose this website having no previous experience with it, and since I’m a citizen of the City of Sanford, I’m a good subject to test the usability, ease of access and findability, and overall effectiveness of this site.     

METHODOLOGY

A best practices assessment looks at content from an outsider’s point of view and measures content against best practices and user needs (Halvorson 53). This is the assessment approach used in this web audit.

Since this website seems massive, the first step in the methodology was to get an accurate count of how large it really is. Home to more than 7700 actual pages and about 200 listed page on the site map, it was difficult to grasp the scale of this site in any sort of tangible way. The results of this measurement reveal one very obvious fact: that the site is big. And it probably doesn’t need to be, and could benefit from being broken up into other smaller department sites, reducing the overall size of the menus and streamlining the site as a whole. The revelation of that many pages being housed on this site is an important step in the methodology of this audit. It reveals to me that this page has become a depository for almost every link and piece of information about the city and its operation. This is likely why there are so many pages and links on this one website, and why there has been a failure to effectively curate such a massive volume of content.

     The second step in assessment was to compare this site to some of the more successful government websites and find out what is lacking on Sanfordfl.gov. Cityoforlando.net has a much cleaner interface, less clutter, and a superior search function. The Sacramento County, California website (sacounty.net) has menu tabs that are simple with titles that make it easy to find out where you need to go for certain information. Finally, with insights from Halverson’s table of qualitative audit factors, findability, actionability, and ease of access were all analyzed by attempting to perform certain tasks that would be common for a citizen using this website as a service tool or a source of information.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Design and Layout. Sanfordfl.gov is laid out in a fairly cluttered way. The homepage is dominated by a slideshow of photos of the city, which is visually appealing but not helpful to new users. There are four main drop down menus to the right of the “home” button, which isn’t a drop down menu but is the same exact style as the other four, which is confusing. There is a search bar, which offers no popular search suggestions, at the top of the home page. This top portion of the home page with the menus and the search bar is present wherever you go on the site, which is helpful. There is a large photo as the background of the site, which isn’t really necessary and adds to the overall cluttered feeling of the site. This site is not terribly appealing visually. The fonts on the homepage vary and don’t convey consistency, and the concept of Sanford as a brand is not really presented here. The “Our Vision” statement for the City of Sanford is placed at the bottom of the homepage, which seems like it would be more important than to be relegated to the bottom of the page. There is some disclaimer information on the bottom of the site, and when you visit certain pages of the site this text bleeds over to left. This looks like a design flaw in the coding of the website, and appears unprofessional.

      This site could much better represent the beauty of Sanford in a cleaner, more visual way than it currently tries to with a better design direction. “Web pages that have a consistent visual look convey a stronger sense of cohesive presence and credibility” (Barnes 195), so this site should be more visually consistent in order to display its credibility as a local government website.

Usability. The main use of this site is to serve citizens who have objectives for coming to the site (finding information, finding a phone number, filling out and submitting a form online, downloading public documents, etc.) and to provide news about the City of Sanford to the public. An important aspect of any successful website is navigation (Halvorson 120). Some of the answers visitors may be looking for can be easily found in the “How Do I?…” drop down menu on the homepage. This menu is static, so it stays with you wherever you go on the site. What’s helpful about this menu is that it seeks to assist in helping visitors tackle some of the most common tasks that they come to the site to do. This menu helps you find out what you need to know without having to use the search bar, as do the other menus, with varied success. Unless you are using the menus primarily, it’s not very easy to find what you need on the site. These drop down menus provide lots of options and submenus, which can be confusing and overwhelming if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.

The pages with lots of text provide a built in text magnifier, print button, and are easily shareable to social media as a link with the share function. The font is small on most of these pages, however, and the text is compressed into the center of the site foreground, and due to the large background photo there is wasted space in the margins of the site. There is a useful events calendar, with links to more information about a scheduled event on the calendar itself, which is convenient. The search bar doesn’t provide very helpful results when searching for specific concepts or tasks, but rather displays keywords from all the site pages instead of sorting the search results by relevance or popularity. This can be frustrating. There are links to social media, but they are relegated to the bottom right of the homepage and not clearly present as they are on so many legitimate websites today. The usability of this site is functional, but improvements could be made.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

The lack of visual consistency, the dense volume of menu categories, and the difficulty in finding certain basic documents and information are just a few of the problems I faced in my interactions with this website. The site looks dense and complex from the outset, and according to Garrett, this is bad news for the user. “Websites are complicated pieces of technology, and something funny happens when people have trouble using complicated pieces of technology: they blame themselves” (Garrett 27). This view of user experience from the perspective of the user is key to making an easily accessible website that doesn’t frustrate users.

Analyzing this website from a rhetorical perspective and for best practices, it’s clear that there are some improvements that could be made. The site is achieving its goals of providing services and information to the public, but it is not presenting this content in a clean, concise way that makes the experience of working with the website and its content as easy as possible. Users should not have to analyze and think too hard about how a website works, or how to navigate it. “...As far as humanly possible, when I look at a Web page it should be self-evident. Obvious. Self-explanatory. I should be able to “get it”- what it is and how to use it- without expending any effort thinking about it” (Krug 11). This isn’t a website where users expect to have fun or have a good experience buying a product, but it is a service oriented website, so the ease of use should be as straightforward as possible. It’s in the City of Sanford’s best interest to make this site as easy to use and unintimidating as possible for its citizens.

Ease of use and navigation are of primary focus in this analysis, and here are some of the main concerns regarding the way the site functions:

• It isn’t always easy to find important content on the website due to the densely populated menus and submenus.
• The site is not very appealing visually, due to the wasted space in the margins because of the large background photo, and this compressed center where the content is presented makes the font smaller than it has to be, reducing readability.    
• The home page has a slideshow of photos which is front and center and is the first thing that catches a first time visitor’s eye, but this does not serve to help with site navigation or convey a message but rather adds clutter to the homepage. A slideshow of images could easily be relegated to its own dedicated page on the site.
• The department submenus are too large, and finding the right page for specific information is daunting.
• The search function is limited, and not very intuitive. It provides only the results of keywords searched for, and does not suggest popular inquiries or provide advanced search parameters.  
• The “How Do I?...” menu is useful, but could be made more user friendly (like the Sacramento website).
• The drop down menu tabs on the homepage extend further than the length of the screen and require superfluous scrolling to fully view.
• When hovering over the drop down menu tabs on the homepage, they do not immediately disappear from the main view and impede the user's access to the rest of the site.  
• Important links such as contact and employment information are split between the top and bottom of the page, making it more difficult for the user to locate what they are searching for.
• The “in the spotlight” sidebar, located at the top right of the homepage includes links to events that are over two months outdated from June 14, 2016.

Compared to other city and government websites, Sanfordfl.gov is not the best it could be. Other sites with similar design goals offer a cleaner, more visually appealing and professional presentation of content, menus that are easier to navigate, and more intuitive search capabilities. Although all of the content necessary is present on this site, it’s organization and presentation is far from flawless. As a citizen of the city, and as someone who has not dealt with this website before, I represent the large majority of those who would be coming to this site looking to get information quickly and easily, and the lack of sophistication on this site is disappointing.   

Recommendations. Some of the following recommendations could be easily implemented into the infrastructure of the site without much difficulty. Using other, more successful  government websites as a guide to creating a great user serving, visually appealing website, the City of Sanford website could be much better. My main recommendations for the goals of this site are simple:

Focus on creating a clean, concise, and user friendly environment.

These goals could be achieved by updating some of the site’s core tools. Condensing the menus and topics could greatly increase the ease with which certain departments, subjects and pages are found. Arkansas.gov presents its menus on the homepage categorized by the three types of audiences it anticipates: parents, citizens, and business owners. A helpful content analysis question Barnes asks is “are goals articulated for the different sections and pages of the site?” (196). The Arkansas website understands its audience and clearly displays what type of user should go to which menu. This could be a great benefit to the Sanford website, which could ask a new visitor “are you a: Visitor, Citizen, Business owner?”. By beginning the website visit with a filtering tool, the user could be sent much more easily and quickly to where they need to go.

The search menu for Sanfordfl.gov is not very helpful, and is not intuitive. The Sacramento website has a search page that lets you edit your search inquiry, suggests related documents, and allows you to modify your search results by update time. The Sanford website has no customizable search settings, so finding a page requires some luck by guessing which keywords to use in the search. I would recommend redesigning the search function to provide more customizable search parameters, as well as organizing search results with the most relevant and popular results showing up first.           

The main slideshow is an example of a missed opportunity to create a visually appealing homepage. Some images, such as those of the local farmer's market, could be explained with a short sentence and link to a page with more information to Sanford’s local events and traditions. The background photo should be removed, that way the site could have more space in the margins and look natural, similar to Sacramento’s simple color scheme and geometric design. There should be a clear visual hierarchy on the first page (Barnes 196). This could be achieved by a more condensed menu and submenu list, like the Sacramento site, that uses the wideness of the page on the screen to present the information listed in a simple, non-confusing manner.      

The volume of the content could be condensed significantly on this site, making the pages smaller and easier to access. My recommendation to accomplish this would be to create shorter and more concise drop down menus, eliminating links that could be put into subcategories. Instead of including each link individually, linking to categorically separated subpages including a list of links related to that category would make the site more concise. For example, when hovering over the “About Sanford” tab, there is a subpage link leading to things to see and do in Sanford. The main drop down menu also includes separate links to multiple things to see and do, such as the farmers market, that are already included on the subpage. By removing the additional direct link to the farmers market, and only leaving the links to the subpages, the drop down menus could be simplified and decreased in size by at least half. This is a reoccurring problem, with the same link appearing multiple times and adding to the clutter and volume of the site. Shortening the length of the menus would also eliminate the problem of the drop down menus not disappearing once you scroll off of them. By cutting down the size of the drop down menus, the user’s access to the rest of the site less restricted and the drop down menus would be easier to navigate away from. The links could be cleaned up in order to ensure that none are out of date especially those appearing on the homepage, such as those appearing in the “in the spotlight” section. The important links including contact information and employment opportunities could be removed from the header sidebar and included with the rest of the important links in the footer bar as to clean up the appearance of the site and create one cohesive location for important links.

Another recommendation to simplify the layout would be housing the main navigational tabs on the left-hand side of the site instead of keeping them all at the top, making a clear partition between the navigational aspect of the site and the main area where the content is centered. “Regardless of whether we’re talking about liquid or fixed-width layout design, the left-column navigation format is a time-honored standard... a layout featuring left-column navigation is a safe choice for most projects” (Beaird 28).

Finally, the social media and external resources should be quickly accessible for anyone visiting the site who wants to be redirected to where they actually need to be. A social media icon section, like the one used on the Orlando City website, would be preferable and much more noticeable.

The City of Sanford website has great potential, and as the examples I have show have proven, it is possible to create a large government site that is visually appealing and easily accessible to the average user. One of the key elements of a successful website is that it has the ability to fulfill its user’s needs (Halvorson 6). Since it is possible for a government website to do this while provide large volumes of useful content to citizens who need it, the city of Sanford could provide a much better user experience and more productive website by implementing some of the recommendations in this audit and by following more closely the principles of successful web design.    

Works Cited

Barnes, Susan B. An Introduction to Visual Communication: From Cave Art to Second Life. New York: Peter Lang, 2012. Print.

Beaird, Jason. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. Collingwood, Australia: SitePoint Pty., 2007. Web. 2 Aug. 2016.

Garrett, Jesse James. The Elements of User Experience: User-centered Design for the Web and beyond. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2011. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.

Halvorson, Kristina, and Melissa Rach. Content Strategy for the Web. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2012. Print.

Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders Pub., 2006. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.

The Official Website of the City Beautiful. Cityoforlando.net. Accessed 3 Aug. 2016.

The Official Website of the State of Arkansas. Arkansas.gov. Accessed 4 Aug. 2016.

Sacramento County, California. Saccounty.net. Accessed 4 Aug. 2016 

Rheingold, Distractions, and Learning From Google

This in an excerpt from a conversation about the first 2 chapters of Howard Rheingold's book Net Smart .

Chapter 1 Questions

1. "When online, how often do you control your own focus--and how frequently do you allow it to be captured by peripheral stimuli?" (42). And what is that stimuli?

This question is so broad and yet so important when discussing online activity. My attention is captivated almost perpetually by online stimuli that is unrelated to what I actually need to be focusing on. Facebook is a supreme example of this, as at any given point Facebook is notifying me of messages, updating my newsfeed, automatically playing videos, showing me ads, and countless other actions that the site seems to do on its own. On other sites the stimuli is diverse and constant, from messages to ads and other distractions brought up by other programs on my computer or phone. It’s almost impossible for me to keep my attention focused on one single task at any given point when online. I try to control my focus regularly, but it’s a constant battle.

2. How do distractions manifest themselves inside the writing technologies we use? Use a real life example to answer this question.

I primarily write using Google Docs because it is one of the simplest programs I have ever used when trying to focus on writing. This means, however, that I must go online to write and be connected to the internet at all times during the writing process. Writing using an online tool is fraught with distractions and potential issues. I’m always tempted to have Facebook or email open in another tab when I’m writing in Google Docs, so the distractions from those additional applications are numerous. Writing on my phone is also difficult because the distractions from always being connected to the network, incoming calls, messages, Facebook, and so many other apps always fighting for my attention. Sometimes it's better to turn my phone on to do not disturb mode, but I don't like to do this for too long. Unless I sit myself down in an empty room with a pen and paper, it's almost impossible to write without distractions.

Chapter 2 Questions

1. What is "triangulating" and why is it important? Use a real life example to answer this question.

Triangulating is the process journalists use to verify something by checking three credible sources. For example, if I wanted to find out if Donald Trump started out with a “small” loan of one million dollars to build his real estate empire or not, I would need to find three credible news sources in order to be more certain of the validity of that claim. One news source might by CNN confirming the claim, another might be a clip of Trump talking about his loan in an interview, and the third might be the testimony of another person or business that could confirm Trump had a million dollars, or even a public document showing evidence of that money being used.   

2. "What steps must be taken to turn searching and finding into learning and knowing?" (86). Use a real life example to answer this question.

Searching online using the right terms and words is an essential step to learning what you really need to learn about. Writing the answer you want to get in as fully formed a way as possible helps the search engine know which site to take you to. A real life example of this is trying to discover if the microprocessor is the widely held as the most important invention in human history. While I can type that into Google, learning about whether or not this idea has merit is not done for me automatically by Google. Rather, when looking for answers about a concept like this, Google points me in the right direction (websites listing the top 10 most important inventions ever, ect.) so that I can then learn for myself where I need to go, what other questions to ask, and where the answers might be, so that I can learn more about what I need to know.

Publix: Where Content is a Pleasure

2. Provide an example of a company or entity that uses many "channels" to deliver content, and provide examples of those channels and how they are working together.

An example of a company using many channels to deliver content is Publix. Publix has a large, well organized and comprehensive website that delivers vast amounts of content effectively to multiple target audiences (customers, Publix associates, those seeking a career at Publix) and also has a Facebook page and Twitter account that provides additional content as well. Publix is extremely consistent in representing their values and company views, and this is evident when looking at the Twitter account, which is active and pushes content that is in line with their website and Facebook, all three channels which represent the company as a cohesive entity. For example, both the Publix Twitter and Facebook page both announced the grand opening of a new store on the same day, with the same message and photos communicating the same message and in the same tone.

3. What are some advantages and disadvantages of using different channels to deliver content? Use a real life example to demonstrate these advantages and disadvantages or to refer to as you discuss your points.

One advantage of using different channels to deliver content is the obvious one: audience diversity. Those who use Twitter may not necessarily visit a company website, and those who follow a company on Facebook may not bother with looking at print material. An advantage to multiple channels is that a company (like Publix, for example) can reach customers who don’t regularly go online by sending them print material, and in doing so can deliver much of the same content to different groups of customers. A disadvantage of multiple channels would be a lack of consistency, and therefore confusion among customers, in the delivery of content. For example, if Publix promotes a coupon on their Facebook page but the store managers are not made aware of the coupon and are not prepared with enough product to sell to customers, this becomes a multidimensional issue for both Publix and their customers.  

4. What is the "magic layer," and how does it work? Use a real life example to demonstrate these advantages and disadvantages or to refer to as you discuss your points.

The magic layer is the place between a company’s research and the next promotion or deliverable, that sweet spot where the best creation happens. To be brave enough to come to a conclusion, to create content, or to say what the research shows and deliver it in a way that can benefit both audiences and the company can be difficult. Staying with my example of Publix, the magic layer for Publix is probably between market research based on customer needs and company values. From the company’s inception, Publix has been consistently striving to maintain a balance when it comes to serving the community and their customers and becoming the greatest food retailer in the world. “Our mission at Publix is to be the premier quality food retailer in the world. To that end, we commit to be: Passionately focused on customer value, intolerant of waste, dedicated to the dignity, value and employment security of our associates, devoted to the highest standards of stewardship for our stockholders, and involved as responsible citizens in our communities.” This statement was drafted in the magic layer, when Publix policy had to be solidified and focused on what really mattered to the company. The company's content strategy could not be as precise and effective as it is without such a well crafted and focused mission, finalized within the magic layer.

     

A Conversation About Spreadable Media

    

1. What is residual in digital writing environments, and how does it work? How is it a catalyst for spreadability? Provide some original examples to explain.

Residual artifacts are pieces of content that represent “areas of human experience, aspiration, and achievement which the dominate culture neglects, undervalues, opposes, represses, or even cannot recognize” (Raymond Williams). Residual content may include media that certain people are interested in that is from the past and has retained little to no popular media currency. One such residual genre I have found is hilariously bad training videos from the past. The 1989 Wendy’s training video featuring a man rapping burger grilling instructions to a Wendy’s employee has been viewed on YouTube more than 300,000 times, yet it arguably holds no cultural value today except for entertainment purposes. These residual media are spreadable because they offer unique views into the past, culturally common experiences (many people have experienced watching low production training videos), comparisons and contrasts to today’s popular media and culture, and nostalgic feelings.

1. How can audience labor "generate alternative forms of value?". Provide an example.    

Audience labor is the work done by an audience that helps distribute or legitimize a work, whether the audience means to or not. Pirating TV shows, the example book uses, is one such way that the audience provides more value for the creators of the show, by engaging with it, spreading the popularity of it around, recommending it, and even adding to the original creation. For instance, if I recommend Breaking Bad on Netflix, a show that was originally aired on AMC, am I taking away or adding value to what AMC is distributing? People who watch the show on Netflix will be recommended other AMC programs, and will probably spread the word about Breaking Bad, which provides AMC with more potential viewers (not everyone will want to wait for a show to come on Netflix, so they might watch it on AMC instead).

1. Explain what spectators and inactives are. Then consider how these individuals provide something valuable despite often being dismissed as invaluable.

Spectators and inactives are consumers of media who don’t create content, but rather consume it exclusively. This, according to the book, constitutes 52 percent of people online. These individuals can provide value, however, by recirculating or passively popularizing content (views on YouTube, for instance). In the book, there is a clear attempt given to be fair when using the terms “active” and “passive”, because “an individual who ‘productively’ responds to one media property, brand, or cause may be a ‘passive’ listen to many others; activity and passivity are not permanent descriptions of any individual.” The point made here is that many users considered passive can seem active, and vice versa, depending on your perspective. If I am on Facebook but I never post, I merely watch videos and read posts, am I passive? To my Facebook friends I may be, but Facebook wouldn’t think so, because I’m still a marketable person with an account who is interacting.  

A Reflection on Twitter

For me, using Twitter is a challenge, because it makes me write in a more terse fashion than I’m accustomed to. This is a useful exercise for me, however, because it forces me to polish and condense what I need to say into it’s most basic elements. It really is a matter of doing more with less, and this is by design, making Twitter a unique digital writing environment unlike any other social media site. Linking me with all of the students in my class who utilize the hashtag enc4416, Twitter is seamless at displaying content that is relevant to me and allowing me to search for my classmates using this hashtag. What’s interesting about Twitter is that with one linking hashtag an entire group of people- people with different majors at UCF, various career goals, and divergent lifestyles- can all become connected and included in an online community, and contribute to a global discussion about digital environments already happening on Twitter. In addition, Twitter creates a more personal experience than I would otherwise have in an online class by showing me the faces and thoughts of my classmates and professor. I can learn about them and their perspectives in regards to the class content, and learn more about who they are by their personal Twitter activity. Also, Twitter is a wellspring of resources related to our studies, examples of concepts we learned about, and interesting conversations regarding digital writing. As a continuous stream of resources and a portal to global conversations, Twitter as a digital writing environment is valuable because it organizes itself using hashtags (#enc4416 has all of the relevant tweets regarding this class and it’s concepts). #enc4416 becomes a connecting element, and the creation of a new social group is formed around a common area of interest. Future classes studying digital environments can look back on this group using our hashtag and benefit from the resources we have shared, and can continue to add to this ongoing conversation. In this way, Twitter has been a useful tool, resource sharing medium, and community facilitator for this class and for my own growth as a writer in digital environments.