Writing for the Web
 
 
In this exercise you will first analyze and then edit the Wikipedia entry for the City of Lake Macquarie:

Analysis
  1. What are the major headings and subheadings used for the information?
  2. Is the first paragraph a good summary? Are there factual errors in the document?
  3. Is the wording appropriate (too technical, colloquial, correct spelling)? Do the words you fond in the search exercise occur in the article?
  4. Does the Wikipedia layout make the information easy to read? Is the colour scheme appropriate?
  5. Is the city logo used the correct one? Are the photos appropriate?
  6. View the HTML source code of the web page. Which version of HTML is used? What keywords, if any, occur in the head of the document? What are the description, title, author and date?
  7. View the same web page adapted for mobile phone by Google. This shows the page without graphics and CSS styles. Is it readable?
Editing:
  1. Select one of the topics Lake Macquarie City Council provides an Environmental Fact Sheet for.
  2. Search the Wikipedia for a relevant entry. Hint: use the titel of the fact seet in the search.
  3. Add an external reference to the fact sheet in the Wiki entry. As an example, see "New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme". Enter an "edit summary" and save the change.
  4. Examine the page to see your change (others might have made other changes in the interim).
Blogs:
  1. Search for blogs which mention "Lake Macquarie", using the Google Blog Search. How many are there?
  2. Select a blog to look at. How does the tone and wording differ from the Wikipedia?
  3. How does the layout and structure of the blog differ from the Wikipedia?
  4. Who wrote the Blog? What for?
Podcasts:
  1. One of the blog entries for Lake Macquarie is a Podcast by "Kay Atkinson, The Lake Macquarie Small Business Centre". Click on "play" to listen to the audio. What is the podcast about?


Available from: Thursday, 17 May 2007, 12:05 PM
Due date: Thursday, 24 May 2007, 11:30 AM