TC 310 The Computer in Technical Communication Dr. Jennifer Turns Week 4, Day 2 (10/23)

Feedback on Asgn 3 – Photoshop and Storyboards Strengths –Hard to discriminate the original website from the addition/modification Opportunities –Stronger personal learning goals – Goals that are distinct from the requirements/expectations for the assignment

Loose Ends.. The following people need to make certain they talk with us before the end of class: –Anna –Terry –Cory –Ian –David –Leoule –Shirin –Jay

Day 8 By the end of class, students should be able to: –Create Site Map: Create the site map based on analysis completed during class. –Strengthen Portfolio: Use information generated during class to decide how to proceed in strengthening the portfolio prior to grading. What we’ll do… –Analyze organization’s website –Discuss the grading of the portfolio –Analyze student portfolios relative to the grading rubric.

Site-maps and Information Architecture Information architecture refers to the organization of information and navigation among that information within a product. –For a book. The organization of chapters, and subsections. –For a PowerPoint presentation. The organization of slides. –For a website: The organization of pages, and navigation between and among the pages.

See Handout 1 Site-maps and Information Architecture Standard information architectures –Linear - Consider the book, PowerPoint –Multipath – Computer-based instruction, Adaptive surveys –Hierarchical – Most websites –Web-like – Frustrating websites… –Matrix – … Most websites are organized hierarchically…

Site-maps and Information Architecture Hierarchical Variation 1: Adding secondary links –Primary links establish the basic information structure. –Secondary links are additional links that provide greater navigational freedom. –See example… Hierarchical Variation 2: Adding spotlight links –Spotlight (or shortcut) links are downward links that skip one or more levels. See Handout 2 See Handout 3

Site-maps and Information Architecture Information Arch is revealed through navigation –Horizontal navigation bars –Vertical navigation bars –Spotlight links See Handout 4

Site-maps and Information Architecture Given an understanding of the underlying information architecture, there are a variety of ways to present that information in a site map –Inverted tree format –Indented format –Radial format –… See Handout 5

Your task Working in your team: –Develop a simple node-link diagram representing the site’s information architecture. –To do this, use the navigation structure to identify The main structure - primary links Navigational freedom - secondary links, spotlight links –Ask questions…

Preparing for portfolio submission Go over handout… Your task –Publish your portfolio –Prepare for review Version 1: Formally review your own portfolio Version 2: Working with a partner, have them review your portfolio and you review theirs. –Conduct the review. Explore the portfolio and answer the following questions What is the state of the solutions relative to the rubric? Annotations? To what extent is identification and achievement of personal learning goals evident? Where are opportunities to strengthen the portfolio?

Looking Ahead Due Dates –Assignment 5 Tuesday (10/28) By class Includes solution and annotations specified by E-portfolio –Portfolio for grading Tuesday (10/28) By class Submit first four pages of the portfolio Publish the portfolio Next Class –Debrief assignment 4 (Visio and site maps) –Introduction to HTML