Multimedia evaluation

Hello Alison and Michelle,

After reviewing some web pages I found this http://www.dekalbcountyilsheriff.org/
really interesenting.

CONTENT
· Who is the target audience for this multimedia piece? All the citizens of Dekalb county who want some information about the Sheriff Office in Dekalb, Illinois. Such as Civil Process, Forms or Sex’s offenders information.
· How well is the information (including text, graphics, music, animation, and video) communicated to the target audience? Information is not useful. It is incomplete and unclear. The information is packed in a text too long, too compact and it is no visual at all. It is no attractive, it has no pictures, videos or animation. Blind people are not going to be able to use the web page. There is no audio. Information should be written in a clearer way, in shorter paragraphs, add some bold headings and titles, and add some pictures or videos to call viewers’ attraction (police cars, activities between police and adult citizen or kids)
· How would you evaluate the information for its clarity, usefulness, and ability to arouse interest in the target audience? The information is no clear enough. It looks like it was copied from an old history book. It is not useful because it is not connect with real-life problems so it is not going to arouse interest in the target audience. I think not everyone wants to read all this information; people will prefer to call to the office or talk to an officer. It would be necessary to inform the citizens about topics such as: jail information, court services, information about the sheriff divisions, volunteer opportunities, fingerprinting service, handgun-carry permits or even it would be necessary links that can inform about other topic related to the sheriff information or police information in general.
· Weighing all the above factors, assign a value to the content on a scale of 1 (poor) to 6 (excellent). 1

STRUCTURE AND NAVIGATION

· How well is this piece organized for the target audience? It is badly organized because the navigation bar is not classified from general to concrete. There is not a concrete Sheriff Home page in the more visible navigation tool. At the bottom we can find a “Return to the top” link, and a Dekalb County Government link, that works as the home page. I think this link should be “related links” instead.
· How easy and intuitive is it for a user to figure out how to move through it? It is no easy or intuitive. The navigation tool at the left it is not designed to be attractive or to call the viewer’s attention. For instance, the employment page is called Employment, but viewers do not know what are they going to find there, perhaps, job postings or benefits? Likewise, viewers cannot go back to the Sheriff’s Office page, because the home link takes them to the Dekalb County Government home.
· Is the breadth and depth of the information easily apparent, and how efficiently can a user move through the multimedia piece to learn the extent of what is being presented? There are no links that allow viewers to complete and wide their knowledge about the information available. It will be necessary to create a Related Links, for State of Illinois or emergency procedures.
· Weighing all the above factors, assign a value to this piece's structure and navigation on a scale of 1 (poor) to 6 (excellent). 1

COMMENTS:
They will have to redo the structure and the navigation. The navigation column on the left will have to be more attractive, cover useful topics and to have a Home page to the Sheriff Office web page. The navigation link at the bottom will have to be more useful. It will be a necessity to create a Banner and a Header that will act as identification and attraction. It will be necessary to create a Related Topic links to viewers’ convenience.

VISUAL DESIGN
· How would you describe the visual appeal of this multimedia piece? Awful. There is no visual appeal. It looks like the person or persons that designed this page were not thinking of making an appealing or interesting web page. They are only interested in telling something, but they do not bother whether viewers like or not.
· How suited is the design to the target audience? Badly. I think that the target audience is not going to pay too much attention. If they do so, it is not because the web page will be attractive, but because they need to retrieve some concrete information.
· Would this design appeal to users other than the target user? If so, which ones? If not, why not? No. Because there is no design appeal.
· Weighing all the above factors, assign a value to this piece's structure and navigation on a scale of 1 (poor) to 6 (excellent). 0

COMMENTS:
I would create a new visual design. For instance, I will edit the header, and I will divide the page into three columns. The middle one will be the widest one. I will use it to provide short ideas and I will include attractive pictures or animation or even with a video about citizens giving their opinion about the Sheriff office and showcasing some of activities. On the left column I will put a navigation tool about the sheriff office topic, perhaps adding a picture of the Dekalb sherrif. On the right column I will put other links that could be interesting for the audience, related links. Depending on what I would do in the center column, I could combine this with an animation.
I will complete the web page with a footer and navigation in a small font size, and with the sheriff office address and phone. Finally, I will add audio to each link.

FUNCTIONALITY
· How appropriate is the technology used on this piece for the type of content being delivered to target users? It is insufficient. The target users will need more technology to pay more attention to the information.
· Would this piece work on a dial-up connection or does a user need a high-speed connection? This piece work will work on a dial-up connection.
· Do all the links work? No
· Weighing all the above factors, assign a value to this piece's functionality on a scale of 1 (poor) to 6 (excellent). 1

INTERACTIVITY
· In what ways does this piece encourage users to interact with the content? None at all. This page only is telling some information. The designers do not expect any interaction.
· How does this interactivity enhance a user's understanding of the content?
Does not apply because there is no much interactivity.
· Weighing all the above factors, assign a value to this piece's interactivity on a scale of 1 (poor) to 6 (excellent). 1

I will look for your feedback,

Susana