Month: January 2022

Living in a beautiful city like Historic Annapolis means that interacting with tourists is part of daily life. Whether they are coming in to town to for the Blue Angels Show, holiday events, or just to shop and dine, tourists are flowing in and out of town constantly. On any given day I can expect to give directions to confused travelers, offer recommendations for the best seafood restaurants, or simply shuffle out of the way so people can take the perfect picture of the colonial architecture and charming cobble stone streets. I often think to myself, “I bet those pictures are going straight to the Gram,” (Instagram that is.) For my print project proposal, I would like to survey the Instagram hashtag #HistoricAnnapolis, and analyze the ways that tourists, or anyone for that matter, have used the hashtag. In recent years, I have become interested in the tourism industry, specifically its relationship to historical interpretation, ethics, and representation. It would be interesting to see what aspects of Annapolis’s history people deem Instagram-worthy, and how those posts fit into Instagram user’s overall social media identity; are they a tourist or a local? Do they have some kind of project or business they are trying to promote? Are they visiting a museum of historic site, or just walking around the city?

I could execute this project by searching #HistoricAnnapolis, and looking at the first 15 posts under both the “top” tab, which show the most liked posts with the hashtag, and the “recent” tab, showing the most recently posted posts using the hashtag. Then, I could analyze each post, collecting data such as the content of the post and any information each user volunteers about themselves. I could also compare the post using #HistoricAnnapolis to the rest of their profile to gain a better understanding of their perspective on Historic Annapolis, and what they found interesting or Instagram-worthy about the city. After I collect as much data as possible, I could create a spreadsheet to organize the data with various graphs and charts to provide visual representations of the results.

Although this project focuses on one social media site and would only give us a small glimpse into how people interact with Annapolis and its history, it provides us with valuable information nonetheless. The results of a project like this can reveal demographical data about the people who engage with the city’s history, sites or narratives that are popular, and the ones that could use more interpretation and visitor engagement. As an Annapolitan myself who is familiar with the city’s history and interested in the public’s perception of it, determining what people find most interesting, relevant, and Gram-worthy would be a compelling project.

Hi all! I’ll be demonstrating WordPress for part of this week’s practicum. You guys are all somewhat familiar with the basics of WordPress since that is the site we’re using. I don’t see WordPress being a tool to produce a digital project alone. I see it as more of a way to share and present digital information. My goal with this post is to give a brief introduction to the platform and then use Dr. Owens’ WordPress website to provide an example of how it can be used.

WordPress is a platform that allows users to create their own website without needing advanced technical skills, like coding. It is designed for a wide variety of users from individuals to businesses. The platform has extensive features available to users at varying price points, including a free version.

Because building a website from scratch can be overwhelming, WordPress offers a variety of pre-made themes to fit different website content. There are options for blogs, business centered websites, personal professional websites, and more. The WordPress interface is extremely user friendly and offers extensive options to embed content from other platforms. As a digital historian, WordPress could be a great networking tool to disseminate research and star building a professional identity online.

The above image comes from Dr. Owens’ own WordPress website. He uses the website both as a blog and an interactive CV. He links everything he discusses to create a seamless experience for people wishing to find out more about his work. All of the links are also a great way to continue making online content more accessible and open access.

Another feature of WordPress is the ability to leave a comment on posts, which we are required to do for this class already. The social aspect is representative of the open communication digital history values. The authors are more personable than they would be if they published in a scholarly journal.

I am sure we will all become even more familiar with WordPress as the semester continues. If anyone has discovered any interesting tools, please leave a comment! I would also love to hear if anyone has already considered how to use their own WordPress site for this class!

When I first started this week’s reading, Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning by Daniel M. Brown, I asked myself, “With how quickly the internet and technology have changed over the past twenty years, what kind of relevant information can I gain from a book on website design that is over fifteen years old?” As it turns out, my skepticism was unwarranted. This book, a cross between a self-help and how-to manual, provides a wealth of professional and technical knowledge packaged into organized blocks and accompanied by numerous diagrams, examples, and illustrations.

In what ways is this manual still applicable to website design today? In what ways could it not be applicable?

In his preface, Brown states that this book is all about documentation. According to Brown, documentation is a critical part of the design process. Effective documentation provides a history of the site, gets new team members up to speed on the production of the site, shows every major decision made during the site’s development, and gives readers the big idea of the site. It is essential that team members create proper documentation to ensure the smoothness and success of the development process, so Brown wrote this book to help you, the readers, “improve your documentation, providing advice on how to plan your deliverables and use them effectively in meetings and on project.” I personally feel like a lot of the information he provided could be applied to the development of products other than websites.

How has this book influenced the way that you think about your own projects for this class? Are the assumptions Brown makes detrimental to his argument or helpful?

Brown specifies that while his book provides a guide for website design, every situation is different, so he outlines the assumptions he made for the sake of structure. Providing these assumptions is helpful for readers like myself, who have no website design experience, and it bolsters his credibility as an authority on this topic. However, after reading these assumptions, I was left wondering on what he based these assumptions. Of course, it is impossible to provide an answer for every situation, but did he base his assumptions on the most common situations in website development or on his own firsthand experiences? According to Amazon—the only place I was able to find information on his background, Brown has been a consultant on information architecture and user experience design since 1994. Because this book has no sources to define where Brown got his information, I assume that his suggestions are based on his own personal experience and expertise.

How reliable is this type of resource when it is based on only one person’s experience?

This book is extremely effective as a guide because of the rigid structure Brown employs throughout. Brown divided his book into three major sections or categories of documentation: user needs documentation, strategy documentation, and design documentation. Those categories contain three or four of the most prevalent types of documents (one for each chapter): personas, usability test plans, usability test reports, competitive analyses, concept models, content inventories, site maps, flowcharts, wireframes, and screen designs. Each chapter is further broken down into a main idea and definition, an overview of the chapter, instructions for how to create that chapter’s document, how to present the document, and how to place it in context. The sections on creating the document contain three layers: layer one, or the most vital information; layer two, the supporting details “to enhance the document”; and layer three, information putting the document into a larger context. In my reading, I also noted the significance he placed on communication and presentation in each chapter. His tips for presenting were helpful, if a bit reiterative, because he indicates that effective teamwork relies on efficient communication. Another reason for the repetition is that this book could be read as a reference, so readers could pick out the sections that apply most to them and only read those sections.

How useful is this book as a reference or tool for website designers? Which section did you find most useful and why?

One thing I found confusing was the terminology of a document vs. a deliverable. At times, I got the sense that they were the same, but at certain points it seemed like Brown used the two terms interchangeably. He often provided definitions for each of his major terms at the beginning of each chapter. However, while he did define deliverables clearly, the exact definition of “documents” was harder to find.

Overall, I gained some useful insight into thinking about how to structure my own project for this class. I think the section I gained the most useful information from the chapters on user needs. I liked thinking about the different audiences for the proposal I have been drafting, and it gave me some new ways to think about the researching the diversity of my audience.