Practical 6A

In this week's practical, our task is to first complete the class test 1 which is supposed to be a close book test that constitutes to 6% of UIR coursework. After which we are supposed to form our groups for assignment 2 and decide on a topic for our assignment. For individual activity, I am tasked to search for two resources using any search facility and thereby evaluate one of them using criteria discussed in lecture 7.

Group Activity

Group Chosen Topic : "Discuss the latest trends in the music industry for teenagers"

Keywords: “Latest Trends”, “Music”, “Teenagers”



Individual Activity

Evaluation Of Resource

Title of Internet Resource: Chinese Music Forum

URL: http://forums.digitaltrends.com/showthread.php?t=10623

Purpose

The purpose of the site is to allow users to engage in a discussion on a sub-topic by a member. Viewers can post their comments back to the forum to allow others to view and continue the discussion. The intended audiences are basically teenagers which have who would like to share their views on the latest trends in music industry.


Coverage

The coverage of the site is simply focusing on the topic being posted, in this case “Latest trends in the music industry for teenagers”. There is no limited time period for responding to the posted topic as usually a discussion usually goes on for 1 or two weeks. However if another subject is being posted, the previous post would be ignored which marks the end of the discussion for the particular issue. The site includes links to other sources such as hyperlinks indicated by viewers to encourage others to view their personal blog etc.


Authority

The copyright trade mark and it's terms of use are clearly stated by the company which is powered by PunBB. Sources of information are comments and opinions posted by viewers in the forum. Hence, the reputation is relatively acceptable as the site is a forum discussion board and comments were acceptable and no complains were present.


Accuracy

The facts shown on the site are inaccurate as it does not use research as a basis. It is not a factual site as it is a forum discussion board which contains a discussion topic with comments and opinions that are given by viewers. There are no political, ideological or biasness in the source and cited references are also unavailable. The site does not include references as it only contains personal opinions indicated by viewers and it is free from grammatical as well as spelling errors.


Currency

The information were not up to date as it was posted months ago and the comments were made based on personal opinion.


Accessibility

The site requires registration as well as log-ins in order to post comments. Only members are allowed to post an issue and respond to the topic. However, viewers are no required to login unless they are posting their opinions. Membership is free and does not require payment. The site includes copyright ownership and the end of the page, hence citation is required when referencing to this site.


Presentation and Arrangement

Information is well presented and could be read at ease. The comments posted by each registered users are indicated clearly. The join date of the users as well as the date of each post is indicated on the top including the time of each post. Navigational icons are well implemented on each page including “Home”, “News”, and “Reviews” etc. The text size is appropriate and easy to read. The headings were clear and the advertisements were displayed on the appropriately and not all around the corner.


Usability

The navigation menus were well designed and easy to handle around. In terms of user-friendliness the website is definitely there. It is easy for viewers to navigate around the source to locate information as well as an additional search facility to search for information.


Overall

The quality of the website is not really outstanding and rather simple as compared to other sites. As a whole, it is user friendly and well understood.