Climate Change Website Usability

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Welcome!

Trying to find relevant information on any topic on the web can be a hassle. To help web surfers determine what is useful we have put together this website to help when with assessing climate change websites. In this online portfolio created by three UCF (University of Central Florida) PhD students you will find a printable criteria grid, sample evaluations using the criteria grid and a proposed site that we think would be a good way to approach the climate change debates.

Created for: ENG 6939 Topics in Texts and Technology: The Rhetoric of Climate Change, University of Central Florida (Fall 2009)

Created by: Amanda Perez, Connie Culler and Greg Bryan

Documents Available for Download:
Climate Change Website Proposal (PDF 2.34 MB)
Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool (PDF 39KB)

Sample Evaluations

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Here you will find two sample uses of the criteria tool for a good climate change website. The first website that was evaluated is Climate Change Hoax which received an average rating of 3. The second site that was rated with the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool is Climate Counts which received an average rating of 5. Below you will see a snapshot of each website that was evaluated (click the image to go to the site) and a snapshot of the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool that was used for each site (click the image to view the larger document). If you would like to download the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool for use, you can do so here.

Global Warming Hoax Evaluation:

Snapshot of Climate Change Hoax (click image to go to website)

Climate Change Hoax Evaulation Page 1(click to read document)

Climate Change Hoax Evaulation Page 2 (click to read document)

Climate Counts:

Snapshot of Climate Counts (click on image to go to the site)

Climate Counts Evaulation Page 1 (click to read document)

Criteria for a good website

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Below is a list of criteria and a ratings scale that you should consider when browsing through climate change websites. The more criteria a website meets the more likely it will be a useful source for climate change information or information in general.

Click on the image to enlarge

Click on the image to enlarge

About

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About the Authors:

Amanda M. Perez is a PhD student of Texts and Technology at the University of Central Florida and an MS of Software Engineering student at Regis University. She owns a small web marketing company called Zerepa Designs which specializes in small business design, maintenance and marketing. Her research interests include 18th Century English Literature and authoring software.

Connie Culler is a PhD student in the Texts and Technology program at UCF. She spent 15 years in management at The Walt Disney Company, and is currently a business consultant. Her interests include texts and technology, traveling, and tending to a Pug named Winston.

Greg Bryan is a PhD student at UCF and also works in the insurance industry. Born in Lakeland, Florida his interest include reading, music and traveling.

About the Project:
This online portfolio was created for ENG 6939 Topics in Texts and Technology: The Rhetoric of Climate Change, University of Central Florida (Fall 2009). To create this portfolio and its contents we used the following resources:

Blogger: for hosting the portfolio

Adobe Professional and Microsoft Excel: for the creation of the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool (see the Bibliography for the sources we used while creating our criteria)*

Flickr: for hosting images

4shared file sharing: to make the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool available for free download

Photoshop CS3: for creating and editing images and graphics as well as the creation of Proposed Site

Microsoft Clip Art: For some of the images and graphics.

*If we had used paid server space we would have liked to make the Climate Change Website Evaluation Tool and interactive PDF (you would be able to write on it online and email, share or download the document. We also would not have had as many outbound links to the different pages in this portfolio.

Bibliography

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Corbett, Julia B. Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages. Washington: Island Press, 2006. Print.

Fogg B.J. Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Boston: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. 2003. Print.

Grabill Jeffery T. Writing Community Change: Designing Technologies for Citizen Action. Cresskill: Hampton Press, Inc. 2007. Print.

Johnson, Robert R. User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts. New York: State University of New York Press. 1998. Print.

Rubin J. and Chisnell D. Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests (2nd Ed). Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing. 2008. Print.

Proposed Site Explanation

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1. Climate Change: You Decide is a proposed website that will allow the user to pick which side of the debate they would like to find out more information about.

2. The website will be divided into two general sections; for and against. It is then within the sections who can find out more detailed information. The site will always run as two panels so that way the user can compare both sides. (See the Who is Involved? Section below for an example of an inside page).

3. Each section will have it’s own navigation that will direct the user to tailored information. The top navigation is broken into three sections;

• Educate Yourself- will provide sources to external websites, books, articles etc. that will offer more information on the side which they have chosen to read about (For or Against).

• Who is involved?- is a section which will provide a listing of those who are major players in their side of the debate so the user can find out more information individuals or groups involved in the promotion of their side of the debate. (Click Here to see an example layout of the Who is Involved? page)

• Legislation- offers US government information and scientific information (studies links as well as finding links) revolving around their side of the climate change debate.

4. About Us- will take the user to a page which will talk about the creators of the site and how they determined what information to place in each category.

5. In addition to the top navigation of each side there will also be three sections inside each side of the debate;

• Argument- this will take the user to a page which will briefly summarizes the major issues and reasons for the side (For or Against) that the user decided to investigate further. It will also offer links to other sources.

• What can you do? (Get Involved)- Offers tips as to how you can support your side of the debate.

• Join the conversation- will take the user to a forum where others are talking about the issues as well as offer them they option for a newsletter that will update them changes to their side of the debate.

6. Search Bar- covers the entire website and will be powered by Google.

Sample Page:
When you click the "Who's Involved" tab on either side a page like the one below will pop up in a new window...

Click on image to view larger

Proposed Climate Change Site

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Click on image to view larger

This document is also available in PDF format for download.Climate Change Website Proposal (PDF 2.34 MB)

About the Proposed Site:
The above site is a proposal by Amanda Perez, Connie Culler and Greg Bryan for an educational climate change website. The idea for the site was one that would encompass both sides of the climate change debate in a relaxed environment that could be somewhat comical yet informative. The site would offer links to outside sources that would help to illuminate the brief summaries or comments that are presented on the site.

The Components of the Proposed Site:

Click on the image to view larger

1. Climate Change: You Decide is a proposed website that will allow the user to pick which side of the debate they would like to find out more information about.

3. Each section will have it’s own navigation that will direct the user to tailored information. The top navigation is broken into two sections;

• Educate Yourself- will provide sources to external websites, books, articles etc. that will offer more information on the side which they have chosen to read about (For or Against).

• Who is involved?- is a section which will provide a listing of those who are major players in their side of the debate so the user can find out more information individuals or groups involved in the promotion of their side of the debate. (Scroll Down to see an example layout of the Who is Involved? page)

4. About Us- will take the user to a page which will talk about the creators of the site and how they determined what information to place in each category.

5. In addition to the top navigation of each side there will also be three sections inside each side of the debate;

• Argument- a drop down option that briefly summarizes the major issues and reasons for the side (For or Against) that the user decided to investigate further. It will also offer links to other sources.

• What can you do? (Get Involved)- Offers tips as to how you can support your side of the debate.

6. Search Bar- covers the entire website and will be powered by Google.

7. Legislation: offers US government information and scientific information (studies links as well as finding links) revolving around their side of the climate change debate. This button was placed at the bottom of the page in between the two sides because we determined that it would be difficult to break the legislation down into sides, so it is visually represented as a bridge between the two sides.

Sample Page:
When you click the "Who's Involved" tab on either side a page like the one below will pop up in a new window...

Click on image to view larger

What is Needed to Create and Maintain the Proposed Site:
This site would need a server space that would allow the user to not only host multiple pages but also a PHP forum for the “Join the Conversation.” The site would need person(s) who are familiar and keep up to date on both sides of the climate change debate. There would also need to be a person (s) who will be able to create and maintain the PHP forum.

Climate Change Website Proposal (PDF 2.34 MB)