Tools to Measure your Effectiveness

Analysing all elements of your communications is essential to ensure ROI. Here are some useful links that will help you evaluate key metrics:

Google Analytics - for tracking traffic to your website

Google Alerts - for breaking news on your organisation

Google Insights for Search - compare search volumes over time

Hootsuite - for Twitter tracking

Klout - for your Twitter reputation

Twitter Grader - for your Twitter influence

Socialmention - real-time social media analysis

NetTrackz - to check where you are listed online

I would definitely pay NetTrackz for their premium service if you are widely linked to in order to manage your listings and make sure all of your information is up-to date.  It is much better use of time and money than doing it yourself, which can take hundreds of man hours and doesn't always guarantee complete and consistent coverage.

RESOURCES FOR DITA POSTINGS

All of my module lecture materials were the backbone of my learning in this module and therefore the basis of the content of these blog posts. Every time I have referenced (Lecture materials), I am referring to the lecture materials from the specified session I am writing about.

During my learning I also referenced:
http://www.city.ac.uk/tsg/unix/DoingMore.pdf
http://www.getty.com/
http://www.google.com/
http://homepage.mac.com/pmsexton/Germany/PhotoAlbum14.html
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/JPG_GIF_PNG.asp
http://www.w3.org/
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/
http://www.w3schools.com/Css/default.asp
http://www.wikipedia.com/(entries on HTML, XML, SQL)

My programming work can be viewed at:
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~abhp725/indexsession4rvsd2.html
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~abhp725/mariaefstathioufirstjavascript.html

My blog can be viewed at:
http://www.thesmilinglibrarian.blogspot.com/

Hmmm … My Information Architect Ex-Boyfriend in 1997 Was Actually Cool?? (Session 10)

Information architecture and information technology: architecture and construction. Each relies on the other – it is a symbiotic relationship and will always impact my work as an information manager. A website is like a building, or like a grocery store for example like in lecture today - quite ‘Godard-esque’ as many people actually grocery shop online.

To identify the mystery vegetable I first entered my own descriptors ('vegetable, large white bulb, multiple green stems') which returned pictures of spring onions. I then searched for ‘vegetable pictures’ which returned veggie cornucopia pictures. Then I searched 'vegetable descriptions' which returned sites that were child-oriented. Then 'guide to vegetables' or 'vegetable guide' yielded a site that listed vegetables which required me to click on the vegetable names to access pictures and descriptions. I chose vegetable names that I couldn't identify until I found a picture that vaguely looked like the mystery vegetable. I entered the name of the pictured vegetable into Google Image search and the mystery picture came up number 3: a kohlrabi. This took over 5 minutes, but it would have taken me over 1 hour at the library.

The Tesco site was built with excellent architecture. The user has fantastic control with the 'shopping list feature'. The lack of graphics and more copy heavy product description works well. It is a practical choice of architecture favoring speed over prettiness, but the user can choose to see images. Amazon is busy and annoying with too many choices, but I can create a wish list (a desired library).

Information architecture has a wide reaching impact. Datacenters will proliferate as e-books become de rigueur and client-server applications based in JavaScript move from our desktops into the Cloud. This information tidal wave must be managed by information architects on the WWW, and our world will look very different. The learning materials and tools in this program are just one example. We are entirely digital and a significant amount of information architecture was required to put our learning experience together comprehensively.

Developing Applications Rather Than Applying My Make-Up (Session 9)

I learned that nothing I have done to date is actually programming, it is just ‘declarative’ code that defines the digital world. JavaScript is programming that allows for user interaction and results in more personalization of online experiences. (Lecture materials)

Here is my sad JavaScript:

Maria's JavaScript

JavaScript exists within HTML and it influences HTML processors in the WWW, and that is why it is written within an HTML file.

Durer’s Drunk Bunny Must Feel Inverted Too (Session 8)

I used Boolean search terms in Bing: all of these terms "arts & crafts movement" AND "architecture" AND "best" produces great results, in fact even better than when I did not specify 'all of these terms' in the search box. When I replaced AND with OR in the exact same query as above it gave me results I have no interest in (most were about cooking). No coherent answer was returned if I asked "Who is the best architect in the arts and crafts movement?" Not surprising, as the answer is debated widely.

To find a photo of the Durer statue of the Drunken Bunny in Nuremburg, I created two inverted files:
DOC 1: Durer and the Nuremberg rabbit statue
DOC 2: Gothic sculpture photos and archived in a ‘collection’

Inverted files allow for full searches of terms in a document. They are the central data structure allowing typical search engines to operate. Rather than Google searching through a forward index of listed words in a document, which would take significant power and time, inverted indexes are lists of how many documents contain a specific word, like, for example, ‘Durer’. So instead of searching a list of words for each document that exists on the WWW, there are lists of words that correspond to a number of existing documents that contain the word ‘Durer’. (Lecture materials) Inverted files don’t work as well for images, as they must be specifically tagged by the creator or user. This is why Flickr is better than Google, because users throughout the WWW tag photos with descriptive terms on Flickr. On Web 1.0 sites, photos can not be tagged to make them more searchable.

Source:  http://homepage.mac.com/pmsexton/Germany/PhotoAlbum14.html

My Se-Qu-eL To Basic Algebra, But Actually Useful This Time Around (Session 7)

Doing complicated things on a black screen makes me feel smart. Following the directions, I am rushing through the exercises, and I love it. It reminds me of algebra class, like I am writing math. SQL commands are fantastic. This is how we find things, how we impose order on heaps of information. I am pleased that I can query effectively within a given set of rules.

SQL is a programming language that deals with files that are in a DATABASE format. You can create tables by choosing the relevant data as necessary (ordered by column) in order to make it useful for those who need to use the database to get information. (Lecture materials)

I searched SQL on Google and learned it is a language that was based on relational algebra. It is satisfying that my first reaction to SQL was the same as when I learned basic algebra. I attempted to make a database table that contained my favorite magazines and publishers and category names. It didn’t work. But if someone were writing the code, I believe I could guide them well in which publications were important within a given subject and the appropriate publisher’s name.

Oooh, I Just Loooove Your New Cascading Style Sheet … Did You Get It On Net-A -Porter? (Session 6)

Cascading Style Sheets are my answer to how websites look good. I understand why those who are good at writing CSS get compensated handsomely. It is important to interface with work colleagues that are masters of these style sheets, as your resources and should be presented in a user-friendly, engaging manner. Style is the key.

CSS does not result in consistent styles across browsers, because browsers read the code differently. This creates user dissatisfaction. CSS work is necessary create efficient, useful and popular information resources, but I am frustrated by my in ability to rattle off code. This can't be learned in a heartbeat.

I applied a CSS that I found on the internet from W3 Schools to my website:
Maria's HTML

"THIS IS LIKE OPENING THE BONNET TO SEE WHAT IS INSIDE." - Professor Andy MacFarlane