thestoriesfromtheworld-blog

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

We revised our Anzac Day story! Please enjoy.

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

SYDNEY MORNING HERLD WEBPAGE ANALYSIS

For my analysis, I looked at the Sydney Morning Herald website. For the most part, it is an incredibly effective and well constructed site. The layout and user interface are straightforward and easy to use. When browsing the top stories of the day, they are easily catalogued by topic and popularity. The main page is uncluttered and seemingly modular. The main story of the hour has a large banner at the top of the page, with a small description and the reporter’s credit underneath. Other important stories are under this banner, continuing down the page. On the right of the screen is a list of all the most recently uploaded stories, for those who check the page frequently throughout the day. Scrolling down the page, one will find the top stories from each category (finance, sports, arts etc.) arranged neatly. On the left is a pop-out menu, where you can select to browse categories in more detail or even news stories relevant by region. A handy search function is also available.  All of this culminates in an effectively structured, ergonomic website. A surprising and incredibly useful feature I found, was the ability to add stories to a queue, or a “shortlist”. Allowing a reader to select all the stories that interest them, and read them without having to open several tabs. This is a very smart user experience option that I was highly impressed with. As for within the actual articles, it’s all fairly basic. The title sits at the top with the reporter credit and publication date and time underneath. The story is then underneath. This makes it easy to read and digest the information, however it is a little dull. This is one of the criticisms I had with the SMH website. The article pages are uninteresting and honestly quite bland. This isn’t a huge issue, as the main focus should be on the story anyway, but it was a small letdown after being rather impressed by the design of the front page. The structure of these pages enforces ads to be place intermittently throughout the story, which divides the article and distracts the reader. I would much rather see these ads on the left side of the screen, an area that honestly seems desperate for content. My major issue with the website however, is there seems to be no way for the reader to tailor their reading experience. I have no personal interest in anything the sports section could ever show me, but I was unable to hide the category or individual articles. This takes up valuable real estate on the screen that could be saved for stories that would more interest me. This is the only issue that I found negatively influenced my reading experience. Overall, the Sydney Morning Herald has an excellent website. The design is pleasing and functional, and the articles are generally easy to find and follow. It was only some small issues that hindered the experience. The most frustrating thing about the site isn’t these issues, but how easily they could be fixed.

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

COSMOPOLITAN NEEDS A NEW WEBSITE

A publication that could benefit from an improved online presence is Cosmopolitan Au. As it’s a magazine focused towards young adult females, it would be more beneficial to present it as an online website and corresponding mobile app, as physical magazine sales in this demographic have seriously declined. A website for this magazine already exists, however I propose a new one and improved site could benefit both the publication and the readers.

Firstly, the existing website looks rather bland, with a banner at the top of the page, and a white background. I propose to add a little colour to this, with a very light blue background, that’s unobtrusive to the eye, but adds a little flare and personality to a previously quite boring site. The light blue will also complement the iconic Cosmopolitan hot pink, without being overbearing. The layout of the home page will feature the Cosmopolitan banner at the top, category bar just underneath, and the articles themselves under that. The page should be more conscious of the 16:9 aspect ratio of the computer screen. The existing website holds all its thumbnails in the centre third of the screen, leaving at least 30% of each side of the screen completely white. This is unused real estate on the screen that could be used to expand the thumbnails to include a small description, as well as moving the ads from the top of the screen where they get in the way of the articles, to the side of the screen in small banners. Featured and more popular articles will be placed at the top, as larger thumbnails with small descriptions underneath. All other articles will be in smaller thumbnails further down the page, without descriptions, allowing more thumbnails to be on the screen at once, without seeming overbearing.

The category banner will feature the regular categories (beauty, fashion, celebrity, news, sex & love, horoscopes, women of the year), but it will also feature a new category: quizzes. In here, readers can compete quizzes written by the Cosmopolitan writing staff, similar to those on websites like Buzzfeed. This gives readers more of an incentive to visit the webpage and then stay there. More interactivity will keep the reader engaged with the website much longer.

The category pages will each feature a custom background, to differentiate them from the home page and other categories. The beauty page will feature a light purple background with small illustrated images of makeup brushes, lipsticks, eye-shadow palettes etc. The celebrity page will feature a light pink background with images of cameras and stars. Horoscopes will feature a beige background with the star sign symbols scattered around the page. Each page will be structured similarly to the home page, with the most popular and featured articles at the top and all other articles below.

As Cosmopolitan is a magazine targeted towards young women, it is important to remember the site needs to be aesthetically pleasing, and functional. This will ensure regular page views and increased time spent on the site.

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

BILL CLINTON INTERVIEW SPARKS DIFFERING REPORTS

On the 4th of June, 2018, former US president Bill Clinton spoke to the Today show. They asked him about the #metoo movement and his 1998 scandal with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. During this interview, Clinton defended himself and said he would not have done anything differently if he were president now. This has caused major backlash, and many news outlets have covered the story. I will be comparing two of these stories, one is “Bill Clinton: ‘I wouldn’t’ handle Lewinsky scandal any differently today” from the Washington Post, and the other is “Bill Clinton Says He Doesn’t Owe Lewinsky a Private Apology in Light of #MeToo” from The New York Times. Both of these outlets cover the story in a different way, and I will attempt to highlight these differences and comment on what they mean in the context of the story.

The Washington Post story seemed to focus more on providing an objective viewpoint, simply quoting the former president in his interview and giving light context. It didn’t seem to offer any spin on the story or focus on any one aspect. The only part of the story that did not directly quote or describe the Today show interview was towards the end, when it quoted an essay written by Monica Lewinsky in Vanity Fair earlier in the year, mentioning her new perspective on the affair since the #MeToo movement began. The article quotes Lewinsky speaking on “the implications of the power differentials tang were so vast between a president and a White House intern”. With the exception of this one extra source, the story seems to be a very basic article with no agenda or perspective, which makes it rather hard to comment on, however it is interesting to compare it to the New York Times piece.

The NYT article takes a heavy stand against Clinton. It still remains objective, however unlike the Washington Post article, which mainly focused on the Today show interview, the NYT piece speaks about many of Clinton’s critics, such as Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and Paula Jones. All of whom have accused Clinton of sexual harassment. The article gives a lot of time to these women and other critics such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who the article quotes as saying Clinton should have resigned. This piece has a clear agenda, to retort Clinton’s comments in the interview and remind readers of the full weight of the accusations he is attempting to deflect. The author offers no opinion of his own, however his opinions are made clear. The article only mentioned the purpose of the interview (to promote his new book written with James Patterson) in the very last line. These two articles both have very different perspectives, and especially the New York Times story holds no reservation in displaying this perspective. Both stories will allow the reader to gain an understanding of what happened during the interview, but the NYT piece was far more engaging and provided more context to the story, as seemingly biased as it may be.

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

2018 Blacktown City Medieval Fayre

Nurragingy Reserve once again hosted the Blacktown City Medieval Fayre over the weekend. The event attracted over 70,000 attendees, from families, enthusiasts and medieval experts from around the world. The many guests could enjoy walking through a scenic environment, generously decorated with ornaments, stalls, historic reenactors, musicians, as well as countless things to see and do. The first day was opened by Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali, and was followed by a jousting event, performed by a team of internationally recognized, award winning jousters. There were also medieval weapons demonstrations, featuring swords, spears, catapults and more. Each day held a best dressed competition, where enthusiasts could get into the 14th century spirit and win prizes for colourful and extravagant costumes. Throughout the reserve were several battle areas, where professionals and attendees alike could don suits of armour, raise a sword and shield, and fight it out until the last man (or woman) is standing. There were hundreds of stalls across the reserve as well, selling food, authentic medieval crafts, armour and weaponry, for all to enjoy. Over the weekend, there were also several actors, who dressed up in 14th century garb and interacted with visitors, bringing charm and laughter with them all day. It was truly a successful event, and a great illustration for tourism in the west. This year marks the 13th year of the Medieval Fayre, and this years was bigger and better than ever. It’s no doubt that the fayre will continue well into the future.

 Check out our video report on the event below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXQZy7rq_cg&t=

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

Anzac Day 2018

Anzac Day has arrived once again, however this year, the city of Parramatta is celebrating the final year of the centenary of Anzac in style. With a beautiful projection display at St John’s Anglican Church, and a fantastic dawn service in Prince Alfred Square, the Anzac spirit is high. Hundreds of local residents and international guests alike, gathered together to celebrate and remember our brave men and women who’s sacrifice helped to shape our nation. Check out our collaboration with The Bend to bring you a look into the community spirit surrounding this very special day! Also don’t forget to check out our Facebook page! Links below!

https://youtu.be/W94l-GjzPeg

https://www.facebook.com/Stories-From-The-World-1946639952075170/

[thestoriesfromtheworld-blog]

9am Wakeup Roundup 03/04/2018

Our recording for today’s Wakeup Roundup is available at the link below!

https://youtu.be/hW3fBOhz-CQ