"Little Birdie" Summary (Due Tuesday)

Read the "Little Birdie"  article and write a concise, paragraph summary. Make sure to highlight the most important concepts. Post your summary to your blog by Tuesday before class (4/17).

Weekly Progress (Due every Thursday)

Each week, you will need to turn in a typed summary of the progress that you have made on your website and project. When writing your summary, consider the following:

• Changes you have made to your website
• Content
• Layout /  Appearance 
• The progress you expect to make within the next week (Goals)
• Specific challenges you are facing with your website 
• Questions you may have
• Identify specific parts of your contract that are completed
• Progress you have made on your group project
• Progress you have made on your video project

How to Make Accessible Web Content Using Dreamweaver

Here's a helpful link!

http://webaim.org/techniques/dreamweaver/

Flickr Assignment (Due Thursday after Spring Break)

• Create a Flickr account and post the link to your blog.
• Upload 10 photos onto your Flickr account.
• Use at least 5 photos from the department you are documenting.
• Using the Design Principles previously covered in class, take the remaining number of photos on your own. For example, if you use 7 departmental photos, take 3 photos on your own. You may choose to take a picture on the same subject multiple times at the same angle, but you must use a different ISO settings for each.

* These photos will be embedded in your website as a slide show later this semester.

Blog Post (Due Tuesday, March 6)

 College Marketing Materials

1)      Read through the resources included to grasp an understanding of good brochure design.

a.       http://cpa.utk.edu/pdffiles/cpa179.pdf

b.      http://www.myprofessionaladvertising.com/Effective%20Brochure%20Design.htm

2)      Make a list of at least three to five essential items (design and content), a brochure for Bumpers College should contain. This brochure is used to provide information to prospective students.

3)      Make a list of at least three to five essential items (design and content) a brochure for your project department. This brochure is used to provide information to prospective students.

4)      You are encouraged to invite input from you peers (not in this class) to enhance your perspective and responses.

This post is due before the start of class on Tuesday, March 6.

Camtasia Presentation Assignment (Due Tuesday)

AGED 4143

Electronic Communications in Agriculture

Camtasia Presentation Assignment

Look through your assigned department’s web site. Identify a topic that is currently on the site but not represented well (too much text) or not enough detail. This should be a topic that deserves attention and could be better presented through a visual/audio presentation.  Your final product will be a video which could be integrated into the department’s web site. Begin by selecting a topic. You may work with your partner(s) and graduate student to identify topics. Be sure that you and your group member are not covering the same topic. Once your topic is identified, create an outline for your presentation. The outline should include thumbnails for the entire presentation, and a script for speaking components.  Once you have your outline and script, build your basic presentation using PowerPoint. When possible use actual photos. If you do not have photos that directly fit your outline, locate a place holder photo and incorporate it until you can acquire a photo. 

By the beginning of next class, have your outline, script and basic presentation complete. Bring all of these items to class, so we can begin working in Camtasia. You may utilize Flickr, USDA, or the stock photos on the T: drive for your presentation until you obtain actual photos. Use the PowerPoint resources on the T drive as well to assist you.     

*Graduate students - Graduate students should also complete the assignment, but may choose to cover a topic specific to their student organization web site since they are responsible for more than one group.

T-Drive

Tuesday's Assignment (Due Friday)

o   Please select two of the following photo composition terms (rule of thirds, framing, leading lines, contrast, simplicity, symmetry, colors). These are not all of the composition concepts, but this is a good start.

o   For your two terms explain what the composition term means, and locate a photo which is representative of the each term.  Post your images to your blog and include an explanation of how each photo relates to your term. (Ex. The river serves as a leading line guiding our eye toward the snowcapped mountain.)

You post must be made by noon on Friday, February 24.

Copyright

 Here are a few links regarding copyright!

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2012/02/15/photography-copyright-law/

Blog and Class Assignment (2/7/12)

Please visit the new release for the Bumpers College website and review the content. Dean Vayda has requested specific feedback from you all regarding “the student perspective” of the college site. The site can be found at http://uark.edu/ua/pkulkar/BumpersCollege/. 

1)      Please prepare a type written version of your evaluation be turned in at the beginning of class on Thursday. Use the evaluation tool provided earlier in the semester to assist you in identifying specific questions to address.  

a.       Undergraduate students should focus on academics, future student and current student pages. Graduate students should focus on graduate student and alumni pages. Both groups should evaluate the homepage.

b.      Your typed summary should include the following headings for evaluation: 1) design, 2) content, and 3) usability. You do not have to address accessibility in this assignment.

c.       Your summary should address the overall site and individual pages.

2)      Post a brief summarization of your “student perspective” on your blog.

a.       Your post should address the site as a whole and include a summary of 1) design, 2) content and 3) usability.

You blog post should be made before class begins on Thursday (2/9/12).

Below are the links for the sites we discussed in class!

Net Market Share

http://netmarketshare.com/

web-safe fonts

http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html

http://alexpoole.info/which-are-more-legible-serif-or-sans-serif-typefaces

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt6/html-email-fonts.htm

web color resource

http://webdevbasics.net/color/

http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/

Doodle Poll

www.doodle.com

Twitter and Style Guide

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I have two more helpful links to share with you.

The first is a post from Mashable, and it lists four ways to tweet as a business. Random updates about what you're eating may not be the best way to capture the public's attention. ^_~ Many people forget that a company's identity must be incorporated into social networking sites.

 > 4 Ways to Tweet as a Visual Brand

The second is a new article from Newswire regarding the U of A's website style guide. Not only does the article discuss the importance of a style guide, but it also provides a link to the new one being used by the U of A. Make sure to bookmark this page for quick reference! It will come in handy when you are designing your website.

> Web Style Guide Promotes Consistency and Usability Online

Web Design Resources

While randomly searching the internet, I came across some pretty helpful sites!

• HTML 5 Coding > This link leads to a great example of what good coding looks like. It also includes labels that help clarify the parts of code. Definitely worth printing out!

• For web design, Smashing Magazine is probably one of the best online resources! Their articles cover EVERYTHING related to web design, including tools of the trade and ways to become a better designer.

Enjoy!

Homework for 1/31/12

Research potential domain names for your site

• Find 2 potential names for your RSO
• ID cost and location of where you would purchase the domain

Create a hierarchical structure for your website. (diagram / flow chart)

Draw a thumbnail for your website. (student .org site)

Blog Post for Tuesday (due 1/26)

Choose one word and define it! Make sure to include a description and a link to a reliable source. PLEASE use your own words. Other students in the course will be defining the same word, so dig deep to find new information to share.

Vocabulary:
WYSIWYG
Web Hosting
Web Domain Name
Dreamweaver
FTP

Attention to Details

So today I wanted to post two examples. One is an example of how details can enhance the usability of a website. The other is an example of how too many details can distract or perhaps repulse viewers. Both links are great to keep in mind when designing your websites!

THE GOOD:
Map for Usability

THE BAD AND THE UGLY:
Evangel Cathedral

Homework 1/19/12

Select one of the website language / code terms and provide the following:

HTML
XHTML
HTML 5
CSS
Coldfusion
ASP
PHP
SIC
Java Server Pages (JSP)
XML

1. One paragraph explanation of what the code is / does.
2. Link to an introductory tutorial on using / writing the code.
3. Link to one example of a site, form or application built using the code.

Welcome back!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a restful break! I'm excited to begin meeting and working with all of you this semester. If anyone ever has a question, you can contact me at aanthony@uark.edu or visit me during my office hours on Wednesdays from 10AM to 12PM at AGRI 228.

I've typed up the notes from today's class just in case you didn't write them down. You are to identify 10 key terms and look up their definitions. You will also be locating or identifying one resource for each term to use as an example. Make sure to post your terms before Thursday!

Electronic Media

• correct info
• user friendly
• using current events
• social networking (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)
• blogging
• Skype
• adding visual interest to technical content
• educational tool / beyond marketing & advertising
• marketing instantly
• photography
• video
• logistics / info sharing at your fingertips
• webinars / expense effectiveness
• marketing / viral
• WordPress
• YouTube / podcast -ability to leave comments
• training tools
• social movement / change
• softwares (Premiere Pro, Camtasia)
• consistency with branding & color scheme / professional
• Google analytics
• allows people to choose / more info on RSS
• CSS / HTML / PHP / DSP