Regarding the XKCD comic:
I would have to agree with the list it provides of things people actually go to a University's site for, mainly the actual map and the forms and phone numbers. I know from personal experience that I pretty much only go to the WSU site when I need to take a look at the map to find something, and before then it was really only to get phone numbers so I could call and get more information a bit easier. I can't remember any time when I actually went to the site to read through the information that it shows largest on that page.
Analyzing a University Site:
So I went to the University of Michigan's homepage, and I have to say, the comic fits pretty much perfectly when applied to this site. Now, I'm going on the idea that by "homepage," we're referring to the VERY first thing you see when you enter the site. Near the top there's a little menu bar that you can switch to other tabs on the site that show some actual relevant information, but without switching to that tab all you get is some information about news relating to the University, and lots of links that lead to other more important things. Considering all the talk in the chapter about audience and catering your content to fitting the audience you're trying to reach, I'm kind of curious as to what kind of audience the staff that runs the University of Michigan site is trying to reach. I mean, the information that potential students and parents of students would be interested in is not reflected on the homepage at all, and the news information doesn't really seem to appeal to students AT the university either. What's more, this is a trend that I feel is prevalent in most university websites, that the front page shows relatively no useful information that a prospective or enrolled student would want. It really makes me wonder what the point of these front pages are, and why they're so widespread among university sites if they seem to be doing nothing for the people they should be trying to reach. A curious situation indeed.
You pose an interesting question. What are these pages for and what audience are they trying to reach? The front page of the University of Michigan website is similar to other school websites. My guess is the homepage is a place for them to jam all the links that lead to specific areas that specific people would be interested in. Why they emphasize the news + events area is what was confusing to me. I only scanned the articles, but they seem to have nothing to do with the school or its students or teachers. I found that incredibly odd. Three of four of them were scientific in nature, so is it possible the authors were trying to make the school appear to be scientific? I did like the tabs up top which lead the user to the stuff they were probably looking for. I thought those were helpful and easy enough to find. I think the color really made those links pop.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about our WSU homepage compared to the one you looked at and I had the same question "Who is this for?" It seems easy, that it should be for students and staff. Then after reading our chapter two I realized that it was all about a person interested in going to WSU. Why else would you put interesting news stories, which a student could care less about when they are using the site, but a person who is looking for a good university might be impressed. I also think that they one-upped us with the tabs though. I am just hopeful that one day our site would be a bit more useful haha.
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