Student Critiques

Student Critiques

This page was created on 17 May 2007.

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Vridhi Tuli | Yeunjin Kong

Vridhi Tuli

Concept
The concept of the project is very unique in that I have not encountered a website of a similar nature that addresses a narrow audience of parents of potential serious gamers. The audience definition is very specific and there is no ambiguity about who the website addresses. However, the purpose of the website is not so clear.

Website Layout
The header description of the website calling it "A website for parents about serious games" is a bit vague because although it specifies the target audience, it does not indicate the purpose of the website. Is the website going to defend the usefulness of serious games or is the website going to denounce serious games as pointless? This purpose is not immediately clear from the title and header of the index page. The title of the website does not reveal very much about the topic of the website or the information that is available on it. Therefore, it would be helpful to explain the meaning behind the title of the website somewhere. Although a layout of the project plan is available on the index of the site, a more concise statement outlining the overall purpose of the website would be more likely to be read than a detailed outline of the website.

Navigability
The layout of the website is a little difficult to navigate because some of the link names are ambiguous, such as "Building Blocks of Learning" or "Converting Coffee into Education." It is not immediately obvious what these links lead to. "About the Site" is not linked to anything yet and therefore appears to be the header of the navigation bar, which it is not. It's good that the webpages state what is in each section of the website so that the user knows whether he/she has found relevant information even before beginning to read the full content of the page.

Clarity of Content
Under the link "What are serious games?," it is helpful that you provide an example of a serious game through a video clip. The use of video and audio clips is very helpful and are a good way of providing information. A link back to the main page from each page would improve the navigability of the website. The writing is clear, but the overall purpose of the website is unclear. Perhaps, a statement of the site's purpose on the index of the website would be helpful. Also, a page about the background of the website would help clarify the motivations for creating this website and the goals of the website.

Overall
The website looks very interesting and original. Great job so far!



Yeunjin Kong

Concept
The concept of the project is very helpful because the website would provide valuable information to potential visitors to Korea. The audience could be more clearly defined on the website. One could infer from the title of the website that it is a guide to Korea. However, the target audience consists of tourists, which is not clearly specified. This information should go to the index of the website.

Website Layout
Rather than just a welcome introduction, it would be helpful to specify the purpose and goals of the website (i.e. to eduate the reader about tourism in Korea). The title of the website "The PWR Guide to Korea" would be confusing to anyone who is not enrolled in this PWR course due to the acronym PWR being included in the title. Therefore, if your target audience extends beyond the PWR class, then it would be best to change or at least to clarify the title. The website layout is nice and simple, with a navigation bar available on every page with a link that returns the user to the homepage. However, it might be helpful to date the updates, especially on the Database pages, so that the user knows how up-to-date the information and links provided are. Also, it would help to provide a weblog that specifies what categories have been updated in the database. Since multiple people will be contributing to the content of the database, it would also be helpful to label each new piece of information with the name or contact information of the person who added it.

Navigability
It would also greatly help with navigability if there was a layout of the website organization clearly presented on the index page. The link titles are vague, so it would be nice to receive detailed information about the information available at each link. This would be more helpful than simply writing that the user should click on "About us" to find more details. For example, "Want to participate?" is a very vague link in that the user is not sure what he/she is being asked to participate in. Therefore, background information would be very helpful in guiding the user through the links.

Clarity of Content
The Database link seems promising in that it would provide a lot of resources to the website visitor. However, it would be even more useful if you rated the popularity of each link or provided a detailed description about the value of the link. For example, allowing users to rate restaurants and also providing details about the specific menus and price range for each restaurant would make the database more user-friendly and informative.
The "Want to participate?" link could also be expanded to include motivations for why the user should participate in the project. Will the user receive a stipend?
Currently, the project does not seem specifically geared towards Korea. The "About us" page focuses on the motivation of the website as being due to the difficulty of planning a tour schedule. However, there does not seem to be any emphasis on the aspects of Korea that would attract potential tourists. Therefore, the goal of the website in attracting more tourists to Korea does not seem to be sufficiently supported by the planning behind the project. The website seems to focus more on making traveling plans easier in general, without focusing on the reasons why a tourist would choose to travel in Korea over any other location in the first place. A link providing an overview of Korea and the reasons why Korea is a great country to visit would help fulfill this goal.

Overall
The website has the potential to be a very valuable source of information for a wide range of people. I look forward to seeing further developments!

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