Mid Term Assessment

I have started making a "iweb" page about tsunamis and information about them.

Mid-way through our IT term the teacher gave us a assessment about our iweb sites. To show you what the assessment is, I have written the assessment page:

Week Five: January 29, 2009

Major Assessment Grade - to be completed at the end of period -You will blog about your web design project - you have a client and you will write about the current status of your project.

You will discuss:

   1. Your design and layout of your web pages - does it fit your drawing/plan.

   2. Your topic and research. What have you done in class?

   3. Color, font and the use of multimedia

   4. Does it have five pages?

   5. The features of Apple iWeb. What is working. What is not working in the web application.

   6. Embedding, what is a widget

   7. Do you have an Emergency Plan? Do you have a reference page?

   8. You must take screenshots of your....iWeb, Delicious bookmarks and Google Docs

Client Meeting

Dear Client,

I have started making my website on Tsunamis, but i haven't  finished yet, as one of my working days for this was wasted as the "mac" I was using was switched on as a "Microsoft Windows" thus, disabling me from continuing work on my "iweb". Though I have already done a lot.

I have chosen the "Freestyle" design for my web site. I think the design I have chosen doesn't really match my initial drawing, but I think that it is a effective design.

For my information, I looked at the "wikipedia" tsunami site, as well as surfing google finding various sites with helpful and simple information.

For the colors and fonts of the site, i have used a greenish-gray background and a really rough font, which i believe is quite effective as  it shows a battered look, which something might look after a tsunami. As for media, I have uploaded many pictures and am also trying to embed videos, but I am facing problems with embedding which is also slowing me down.

My "iweb" doesn't have 5 pages yet, as each page contains lots of information.

I feel "iweb" is overrated, and is features aren't that "special". I am having trouble with many of it's media embedment processes.

Embedding is a process where you implant videos and media onto a site, while widgets are small gadgets or games you can put on your site or desktop.

No i haven't made a emergency plan and reference page yet, due to some delay in writing previous information.

I have also put screen shots:

                                                 

Fast Cars UK Review

The site http://www.fast-cars-uk.com/ is a useless site, it may phish you when you "buy" a car part from the site. It is simple to read, but it can't help anyone, its just a fake car part site. You can tell it is fake because it probably has not been updated from the time it was mad, I think this because the car models they show are very old. It even states in the site that it has stopped trading, which makes it an even more useless site.


The site was made quickly, I can tell this because the design is very simple and obviously the creators did not put much effort into the looks of the site. The links in the site look okay, but they could have made it more interesting.

I conclude that Fast Cars UK is a bad site.

HRODC Review

The site http://www.hrodc.com/ is a very complicated and over organized web page. It has too much information in one page and is very hard to understand what the creators of the site are trying to tell the onlooker.

The site may be useful if you are a student looking for a economics degree, but other than that it isn't very useful. The links may cause a virus threat or buying something online from this site may lead to phishing*.

*Stealing money from credit cards online.

RedBloodClub Review

The site http://www.redbloodclub.net/ is not a useful site. It may even be a threat to the computer you are using. The links provided in the site are no use to anyone as they lead to false sites or information. They may even lead to your computer getting a virus, the site may cause you computer to "hang". I conclude that it is not a good website.

Good and Bad Websites

Today, in class the teacher discussed with us about good and bad websites.

He gave us the following websites to review and give our opinions on.

Red Blood Club
HRODC
Fast Cars UK
Henke

What hardware and software is required to be able to communicate online?

Only few items of hard and software are needed for communication during an emergency. Software programs such as;
Skype,
Facebook,
MSN,
and other online communication and phoning systems.

Hardware includes;
a computer or laptop with internet and head phones,
a television,
a radio,
and a telephone.

What information can be created before the emergency?

Before a emergency for example a natural disaster, lots of information can be created before the actual disaster. Scientists can estimate the casualties, and damage, they can also help people evacuate the area.

What essential information needs to be communicated during a disaster or emergency?

During a disaster or emergency, the information passed through communication is critical as it could be the difference between life and death for the suffering people.

The information passed to authorities or people who can help must be simple so it is understandable and they must also pass on what the victims basic needs are, the casualties, amount of lost property, and also how the disaster happened.

What forms of communication have been used during recent disasters e.g Hurricane Katrina, the Asia Tsunami?

Various forms of communication were used in recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
People communicated with the affected people through the internet, online communication programs such as Skype and Facebook, telephones, and the media.

Through these forms of communication people were saved, though, lots of people died.

Why is communication so important during an emergency?

Why I think communication is so important during an emergency?


I think communication is very important during an emergency or a disaster because it lets people how care and those who could know about the suffering people's situation and how they could help them.

I also think communication is critical during an emergency, because communication is the only hope for people suffering from a disaster or an emergency to tell people who can help them, reach them and know how they can help.

Investigation

For our project surrounding "disasters, and how technology can help us communicate with people affected by them", we have to write paragraphs answering the following questions.

1. Why is communication so important during an emergency?
2. What forms of communication have been used during recent disasters e.g Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami?
3. What essential information needs to be communicated during a disaster or emergency?
4. What information can be created before the emergency?
5. What hardware and software is required to be able to communicate online?
   

Answering these questions will provide me and the other students a wealth of information and thus give us a basic idea on how to answer our guiding question;

"How can I make use of established and emerging WWW tools to support online publication? What are the best tools to use for effective communication online? How can the Internet be used to help a community prepare for and survive a disaster?"