calvin_yeung_project2


 * Final Website and Visual Mocks are in Digital Locker** under 2005_calvin_yeung_project2.zip and   _mock.pdf.


 * Website Examples**:

[|www.honeyee.com/blog/]

[|www.die-gestalten.de/]

The intent of this site is to emerge its users in the collective experience of witnessing a sporting event, and discussing it afterwards in a similarly contained manner. When a large sporting event concludes, the website will create a page specifically for the game or match, where the users can post blogs, make comments and generate discussion. Users are welcome to post their own experiences especially if they attended the event. This is different from a traditional forum or message board as the focus has been shifted from the users to the specific topic, and the interest in the topic will then be responsible in generating content. The interaction happens with the users contributing their insight on the topics at hand through blogs and comments, sharing their experiences and telling their perspectives of what they saw. Also with this format, the website is constantly changing in content, as sporting events come and go each day and thus there is more movement than the static state of a typical internet message board. When compared to a normal blog site, this also gives the users some incentive to post their thoughts in a way, as there is already a guaranteed audience, and the topic is also given to the user.
 * Vision:**

(the photographs of my process work came out badly and are incomplete, so please refer to the hardcopy version)


 * Rationale**:

For this project, I tried to create an environment where users can and are given incentive to input their thoughts on certain subjects due to convenience, ease of use, and established audience, much like a stadium's encapsulating attributes—only instead of being merely an observer, the user has a voice that can be heard by everyone. This way, the website continues the experience of attending an event at a stadium after it has concluded, using the internet as as the medium of communication. I tried to make the website relatively simple in its function and structure, first due to my own html/css limitations, and also to make sure it would be convenient for the potential user. I tried to accomplish this by structuring the website through the events that pages would be based on, since that is the focus of the site and the users would be more likely to search for events based on that over using other information, such as the stadium name. Also, with this structure, the interaction portion with the blogs and comments can be contained within each event page, and are thus easier to locate rather than having separate sections. Previews of blogs are listed on the main event page along with the result, so the user knows what event it is, and if there is any written content by other users thus far. If the user so chooses, he/she can click on the blogs, and read the content, as well as make comments; users can also add their own blogs and contribute that way. I decided to forgo the username/profile function, instead adding a name section when adding comments or blogs. In a way, this adds to the collective stadium experience rather than an individual and personalized one, keeping with the theme of single persons adding to create the atmosphere of a whole. With simple name sections instead of specific profiles, other users can be seen as random people, attending the same event and contributing to the discussion, such as "John from Kansas", rather than someone's profile and personalized avatar, complete with their details. This is also to attempt to pull away from the characteristics of a traditional message board or forum. Another note is that since users cannot make their own event pages, there will be more order and structure to the site, putting an emphasis on the actual discussions and content matter.

The challenges I had with this project were mostly rooted in the coding of the site, as well as focusing on the essential parts, and not expanding too far. With the coding, I had trouble positioning things exactly where I wanted to; however, in struggling with the html and css, it made me follow more of a rigid grid structure, something that in the end I felt made the site appear more orderly. Also, my knowledge of html and css has also increased as a result.

My initial concept for this site was one where the user would input or select options that would help them in regards to improving their experience of attending an event at a major gathering place, such as locating the merchandise shops or finding the closest parking lot. However, there wasn't enough interaction within the website, since it was mostly one sided with only the users selecting limited choices to generate a result. With the new concept, I had trouble containing and establishing the limits of what I was going to create. Since it is discussion and content based, and structured with expansion in mind(one event, 3 blogs, 2 comments for each blog=7 elements), I realized that I would have to limit the amount of content or else it would be overwhelming. The use and several revisions of a site map helped me eliminate unnecessary parts, as well as realize some pages that previously wasn't in the plan. I think that although this project was probably the most difficult to date, it was also a great learning experience.