Online Lecture - 17/02/2009

In today's lesson all members of the group were present. We pitched our website idea to Steve and started on our production schedule.

Firstly, we received feedback on our previous semester work. I found this very helpful, because I wanted to know what areas I needed to improve on. Steve advised us on our content, saying that it was weaker than our technical evaluation. Here are some things I need to think about when writing an online feature:

• tone
• style
• agenda
• purpose - what's it's goal and is it to inform, entertain, instruct... etc?
• audience - who's it for?
  

Steve also advised us to research into our features more, so they have more substance. He said that too many people were writing comment instead of doing the proper research they needed to give their features substance.

When we got into our group, we all decided that F-Town was a good idea for our website and that my introduction was a good foundation for the website. Adam also wrote a mission statement, which we thought would be good on the 'about us' page or merged with my introduction.

We also decided on features for our website. We're aiming to do five big features (one each for group member) and some smaller weekly updates. Trying to aim towards students, we decided to use TV programmes as a basis for our ideas. For example, we're using a Top Gear idea for out transport feature, so we can include multimedia and images, as well as the written word. Other ideas include: Most Haunted, as Farnham is classed as one of the most haunted towns in Britain.

We're also trying to use the recession as a basis for a feature idea, so we came up with 'Living on a budget'. We realised that students might be put off by the expense of living in Farnham, so we decided to write a feature outlining how easy it is to live on a budget in Farnham.

We're also using the East Street development as a main topic for a feature, because the outcome will affect so many young people. Already having contacts for this, will make our research slightly easier.

Smaller features may include reviews of pubs, restaurants etc. We are also interested in doing a weekly top ten for things in Farnham.

Now knowing what we wanted to do, we've set up a basic production schedule, so that we know when we need to get things done by. For example, we've decided to do our research for 'Living on a budget' ready for next week, so we can put the feature together and edit it. We will also commission the writer for the feature next week in lesson.

Finally, we also discussed what we would prefer to use to design our website. In my personal opinion, I would prefer to use Dreamweaver as I have used it for years and I am confident in my ability to use it.