Website or Blog?
The
first important question before creating a library website is why? What is the purpose of this website? What do I and my program want to accomplish
by having people use it? Keeping the
media center goals as a focus is important when designing a website.
There are probably many people who could potentially
visit the website, so it’s important to address the demographic of who’s
visiting. If parents will be seeing it,
how can the website help them? How can the
website help parents become more involved in the library services? If students will be using the website, how
can its features help students with projects and research? Finally, if teachers will be visiting, make
sure the website contains valuable information to help teachers create lessons
and utilize the available library resources.
I think the media center website could be a landing point for many
people in the school community, and therefore it’s important to clearly section
the site into various needs. A parent
who’s visiting should be able to clearly find the resources applicable to
him/her. The same goes for a student or
teacher. It’s frustrating to try to
navigate through features that do not apply to your own needs.
I
think the biggest mistake with any website is putting too much information on
the home page. A site that is too full
and flashy can seem overwhelming and quickly lose the interest of the
viewer. Some sites have 3 columns of
various information; some pictures, links, questions, events, and
projects. It becomes too much to look at
and I think people end up skipping over a lot of valuable information. I also think websites with too many flashy
shapes, colors, or attempted attention-getters actually fail at their
goal. I tend to think that the more
simple, the better. Sometimes sites
offer links that require two or three more clicks until you get to your desired
destination. This can make browsing
frustrating and time consuming. Lists of
offerings should be clear, concise, and efficient. Websites that have consistent colors and
fonts feel more comfortable to the viewer.
A website is like any other form of communication. Concise and efficient are two adjectives that
can help make an effective site.
I think a blog
would be a valuable tool for a media center.
It’s not as stagnant as a website and it would give the media specialist
an opportunity to make on-going changes and announcements. As long as the blog had consistent pages that
offered “about” information, calendars, lists of resources, and schedules, the everyday
blog posts could be more focused on specific programs and projects relating to
students and teachers. There could be
posts about AR accomplishments, book lists, new resources, reading visitors,
book talks, or research projects. If the
blog offered on-going changes and features, I think it would be more
encouraging for people to visit it more often.
I think it becomes important to advertise the
website or blog. Maybe the media
specialist could announce features on the daily news show in the mornings. Making sure the blog is linked from other
teachers’ sites and blogs would be a valuable way to communicate with the
school community. Blogs also offer
gadgets and applications that could help bring visitors. In a day and age where we consumers are
bombarded with websites daily, I think it becomes even more important to create
an effective website or blog. Keeping a
site updated, fresh, and informative are important to its value and
success.
- Mary Elfers (student 1)
Great post. I agree with you that a blog seems more user-friendly than a website. Websites can sometimes be overhwelming with multiple clicks to get to a desired destination. Websites can be user-friendly if the design and layout is organized. I agree the homepage should have minimal distractions and clear tabs or links to locating items. Blogs also are more geared for creator and user interaction/communication while websites generally do not initiate discussion or feedback. I need to look up more information on how to create a website as that is something I have never done. I would not even really know where to begin. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete“How can this website help them?”- This is a great question to consider when you are deciding to build a website or a blog. Most users will be looking for some type of information and you want to make sure that you are going to be able to help that person when you are not really accessible to them. I love the idea of doing a media blog as opposed to a website, but I would be afraid that this would get pushed to the side and not be updated as it needs to be. If it were maintained well, a blog could be a very valuable tool for the media center.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your statement that too much information is put on the main webpage of a website. I get so overwhelmed when there is too much information in one place. If it is not organized well, then I am immediately turned off to a website. If information is hard to find, then I will seek another source for that information.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned making announcements to advertise the website and I think this is an excellent idea as well. You want students and other patrons to be intrigued by the idea of the website so that they go and check it out.
You also mentioned that the website should include information/resources to help teachers create lesson plans. I think this is a good idea. However, intially I think it is important to provide the information that helps patrons utilize your media center resources.
Thank you for the informative blog!
Marilyn Richardson
Your question reminds me of the conversation between Alice and Cheshire Cat. To summarize: If you don't know where you are going and only want to get SOMEWHERE, any road will take you there as long as you go far enough.
ReplyDeleteIt really is important to decide where you want your site to go before designing it. If you do not consider the purpose and the audience, you might meet all your goals, but it might take more work than necessary if you planned well enough from the start.
As far as choosing a website or a blog, I think you've hit the key point - it needs to not be stagnant. While I would not have considered the choice to be a website versus a blog, I can see the validity in considering them as separate entities. I would instead consider a merge of the two - a website with information that is more objective in nature (hours, policies, etc.) and a blog that is more subjective (book reviews, survey opportunities and results, etc.). By embedding the blog as a tab or link, you would avoid having a chaotic appearance yet offer both options to your users.
Mary, your post was kind of eye-opening for me. I've always been a "more is more" girl, who likes flashy, glittery images that are distracting to the eye. My webpage even has thre columns full of information. I guess I am overloading my users!!!I like the idea of incorporating a blog. I think maybe I do not get a lot of traffic on our site because it is something that feels stagnent. Maybe if my users knew the site was more dynamic, they would know to visit more often. With our Junior Library Guild subscription, we get several new books per month, and with a blog I could easily highlight the new books that come in each month.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing out some great ideas about web page/blogs. Being in an elementary school media center, I have always used a standard "webpage" for patrons and their parents. However, I can see where I want to make changes based on some of the ideas you shared in your blog. I am guilty of having "flashy and glitzy" webpages that I see now could be considered over powering. I am interested in changing the format and flow by using a blog instead of a website/page. By keeping the information current and interactive, patrons can get more benefit without feeling overwhelmed. I am interested to see how I will incorporate all the different information without the site appearing too "overwhelming". I am also looking forward to the interactive communication.
I love blogs!!! This semester, I have been working on a collaborative blog with the 10th grade team at my school. It is updated every day with the standards we are covering, the embedded activator videos we use from youtube, the Word Documents or PowerPoint Presentations we give the students, and any graphics or pictures we want to use. It has really changed the way I run my class. The media specialists can use their blogs daily to support whatever classes may be visiting the media center.
ReplyDeleteThe web pages should be used differently. Where the blogs change on a daily basis, the basic organization of the web page should change rarely. The tabs should stay in the same place, so teachers and students can find the resources they need when they need them. Blogs and web pages are both designed to share information, just in different ways, so media center specialists should be familiar with both in order to better serve their patrons.
I liked how you stated that we should consider who will use the website and then ask ourselves how that user can benefit from it. That will ensure we provide a valuable service for all users, which will encourage more people to visit our sites. I also agree that we should link the sites to the school websites and/or teacher sites. I am not sure that I think a blog is the best idea for a media center. If you have more than one location for information, someone might check the blog and not the website, or vice versa and miss something.
ReplyDelete