Sunday 30 November 2014

Review of the Canada Goose

For our last project for our Digital History class, we have to develop websites on a subject of our choice using the various tools we have learned about during the semester. If we wanted, we could build on our previous project, the Digital Doors Open, or work on something completely new. I decided to build my website around the sliders I built for Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. If I can figure out how to embed the sliders into the new website, they will be part of the final product. However, the main feature of the website is will be an interactive timeline describing the history of Lansdowne Park with a focus on the uses of Aberdeen Pavilion. This will expand upon the information I included with the original sliders. I may also include links to further resources on Lansdowne Park and it’s uses, especially the major redevelopment project that is almost finished on the site.

As part of the project, we had to present our progress to the class, and review someone’s website. I was assigned to review Emily’s website. She chose a completely new subject for her website then her last project. Her website is aimed at exhibiting the results of paper she wrote for her Environmental History seminar. The paper discusses the history of Canadian Geese in North America from the early 1900s until now, with a focus on how urbanization has affected the migratory patterns of the geese. She examines the vocabulary used to describe Canadian Geese in three major newspapers to trace changes in migratory patterns, and changes in attitudes towards the geese throughout the 20th century and early 2000s.

The website is powered by the paid version of Wordpress, which allows users to customize their site more then the unpaid version. Wordpress.org has more widgets, and layouts that users can choose from; allowing for a more professional look, than the simple blog format permitted by Wordpress.com. The whole website is nicely organized and easy to navigate. The title bar is complemented by a band of Canadian Geese silhouettes, but these do not detract from the legibility of the text. The main page is headed with a slider to showcase various pictures of geese. The pictures are well chosen to illustrate geese in nature and urban settings. All the pages also have a comment function, and social media buttons which add to the interactivity of the site.

Navigation of the site is easy. The main page has links to the top pages of the site. When a user hovers over the links, a description of the page appears over the picture. This is a useful feature to help users find which page they want to visit first. There is also a tab bar across the top of each page, which also allows for easy page-to-page navigation. Finally, to reach the main page, all users have to do is click the title bar.

The tabs include information on the project; Canadian Geese; the sources used; textual analysis; strategies to deal with geese in urban settings; and a contact page. Not all the pages are filled yet, as the project is not due for another week. The two that are filled are the sources page and the textual analysis page. The sources page is well organized now, but may get a little cluttered when all the sources are added. The textual analysis page uses word bubbles to illustrate changes in vocabulary over time. Word bubbles are an interesting feature that allows researchers to visually display the frequency of words in any given text. They are similar to tag clouds in that the more frequent words are displayed in larger text, while the less used words are shrunk to fill in smaller parts of the display. Each individual bubble can tell a story, while across a whole series, the viewer can see the shift in vocabulary as some words shrink and others grow. The project is not finished yet, so this will probably be included, but it would be useful to include small explanations for each bubble, so the viewer has a little more context to explain their significance. This could also be done as an overall explanation at the end of the series.

Overall, the site is well organized, easy to navigate, and will probably be very informative once finished.

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