Three Mediums of Publication

For my three mediums of publication, I chose to look at Twitter "tweets," text messages, and blog posts. You will notice that my three selections are all within the digital medium. I wanted to compare these three mediums without having to take into account the differences between the print and digital (which could be its own post).

Twitter is the shortest, most open, and one of the most popular forms of communication. It's all about the conversation with other tweeple.

TXTs R soo popular (specally with tweens! lulz). TXTers have thur own language. less conventinal then blogs. ppl change da way they say things. ttyl my bffs.

Blog posts are the most conventional and arguably closest relative to print media. Blogs are often written in a more formal manner than "tweets" or texts. Because blogs are targeted to a more specific audience than "tweets," authors can often take more liberties in what they write. There are no limits on the length of blogs, but the often are around 250-500 words as people's attention spans are far less than the readers of print media.

These examples are only several types of mediums for publication. As you can see by the way each is written, each medium has a unique way of presenting and communicating information. These mediums will continue to change as the authors and readers of information continue to transition from print to digital.

BBC Sport Football

I examined the design elements on the BBC Sport Football page. The page incorporates all the elements of non-linear design.

First, the page uses the given-new model. The BBC logo is on the left hand side (given) and everything else is the right of it (new). The page's content bin also uses the model, with the most important stories to the left (given) and other information such as ads, league table, and links to the right (new).

Next, the page uses the ideal-real model. The BBC logo and page name are at the top of the page (ideal) and the rest of the information is below it (real). It is interesting that the page has an ad above the logo. Is this ad supposed to represent the ideal and therefore move the BBC logo and page name to the real?

The page also incorporates the star model. The center of the page centers on a picture (usually of the latest story. From there stories branch out to cover specific aspects of the main story. This is the star model as all the side stories go back to the picture and the main news event.

The page uses the tree model on the left hand side of the page. The tree breaks down the various leagues. When you click on one of the leagues, it expands to show specific areas of news coverage. The tree model is also used towards the bottom of the page, where it lists a league and then the most relevant story below it.

The table model is incorporate if you click on a specific league (i.e. Premier League). On the right hand side of the page, the table is used to show the teams, goal differential, and points in the race to win the league title. In fact, football supporters refer to this table as “The Table” as they address where their team lies within it.

Finally, the BBC Sport Football site uses the network model. On the right hand side of the page, the site links to stories as covered by other news organizations. Therefore, the site is a node in the news network of coverage of a specific football related story.

The site uses all the non-linear models to organize itself and this list is just a brief synopsis of all the different ways the models are incorporated within the BBC Sport Football website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

ESPN Table

Since it's football season, I found a table on ESPN that was comparing all of the football teams through their stats. This is a table because it is overall comparable, you can look at multiple teams and compare their stats to one another. The table also has a generality as well as the same types of levels for each component. Example: Each team has stats on their wins, loses, interceptions, yards thrown, yards ran, etc. Which allows an individual to scroll through each time, comparing the number of wins to loses. The table is visible as a table, because it has rows and columns that compare teams, which are seen as the cell of the table.

Website design

I have looked at the website, forever21.com
I think this site is built up as an ideal and real formation. At the top you have the most important facts like customer service, store locater and track order. Also now for Christmas there is a wish list button. Below that there are all the different headings for the sections or departments of forever21´s products. Further down on the site it is less important information where you can see for example clothes and news.

The site is also a “kind of” tree. The different sections/headings, for example accessories, then drop down into different kinds of accessories, for example belts or jewelry.

www.forever21.com

Design Elements on Hulu.com

To look at design elements of a web page, I visited hulu.com. 

One technique it uses is the star. The biggest, most central item on the home page is a slideshow of various TV episode advertisements. There is additional information located above and below the slideshow, including episodes and clips that relate to the advertised shows in the center. 

Another element it uses is the table. When you select the drop down box for channels, a 3x6 table with options such as music, comedy, drama, etc. is shown.

The bottom half of the page is a tree, as well. There are four headings listed: Popular Episodes, Popular Clips, Featured Content, and Hulu's Pick. Under each is a "kind of tree," because each clip is a kind of Featured Content, Popular Clip, etc. For example, The Simpsons: The Devil Wears Nada is part of the "kind of tree" for Popular Episodes because it is a kind of Popular Episode. 

Also, under each individual clip is a "part of tree", because parts of the clip like the channel they come from or their expiration date are listed. 

http://www.hulu.com/