Confessions of a newsletter awards competition jury chairman.Judging a newsletter beauty pageant pageant, modern dramatic spectacle or procession celebrating a special occasion or an event in the history of a locality. In medieval times the word pageant had meant the wagon or the movable stage on which one scene of a mystery or miracle play was performed. is an imperfect process, but it helps to have guidelines. NL/NL editor Paul Swift asked me to chair the jury for the online awards. We didn't want a simple popularity contest without a meaningful outcome, so we agreed on some ground rules. We decided on four categories substantially different from those for the print newsletters. I suggested the first three, and Paul added the fourth one, which provides a good bridge to his traditional print customers. The categories are not the criteria. And the criteria for judging an online publication are not necessarily the same as those for evaluating a print newsletter. Here's why: Online readers tend to skim and scroll and jump around using hypertext hypertext, technique for organizing computer databases or documents to facilitate the nonsequential retrieval of information. Related pieces of information are connected by preestablished or user-created links that allow a user to follow associative trails across the links. The medium is more dynamic and the readers tend to have shorter attention spans. And a subscription website or online newsletter can be a dynamic community of readers or subscribers that includes a lively discussion forum, a searchable database Refers to databases on the Web that are searchable by typing in a query. The term is quite redundant because all databases are searchable. In fact, that is one of their major features. of past articles, even a file download area. In short, it's a different communications medium. So what constitutes an outstanding subscription website or online newsletter? That's a question the director of the Subscription Website Publishers Association (me) ought to be able to answer in 100 words or less. No ducking for cover behind "fluff" and ambiguity. No weaseling out. You cannot say, "As with pornography, I know it when I see it The phrase "I know it when I see it" is a colloquial expression by which the user attempts to categorize an observable fact or event, although the category is subjective or lacks clearly-defined parameters. ." If you profess pro·fess v. pro·fessed, pro·fess·ing, pro·fess·es v.tr. 1. To affirm openly; declare or claim: "a physics major to be an industry expert, you ought to have defined standards. What's important? What's not? Why? I was in the graphics design business for more than 20 (not as a designer), and I've been a professional journalist since I was old enough to vote. I believe I'm qualified to judge. But judgments must be based on something tangible, not whimsical whim·si·cal adj. 1. Determined by, arising from, or marked by whim or caprice. See Synonyms at arbitrary. 2. Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability: a whimsical personality. . It's not enough to simply like one design or one editorial topic more than another. The criteria So I started by establishing my own standards for excellence. Here are the criteria by which I decided to judge online information excellence--a checklist you might want to use to review your own online offerings: * Specialization. How well does the site focus an audience or on a topic? * Relevance. Does it satisfy a need or solve a problem? * Utility. Does it provide useful (even indispensable) information? * Organization. Is it easy to navigate and find pertinent information? * Brevity Brevity Adonis’ garden of short life. [Br. Lit.: I Henry IV] bubbles symbolic of transitoriness of life. [Art: Hall, 54] cherry fair cherry orchards where fruit was briefly sold; symbolic of transience. . Can online readers scan bite-size stories and bulleted bul·let·ed adj. Printing Highlighted or set off with bullets: a bulleted list. lists? * Appearance. Does it have an appealing visual design? * Credibility. Do the content and design auger auger (ô`gər): see drill. auger Tool (or bit) used with a carpenter's brace for drilling holes, usually in wood. It looks like a corkscrew and produces extremely clean holes, almost regardless of how large the bit is. well to inspire trust? The entries The entries we received were wide-ranging in both content and quality. I had the feeling that some of them were websites created simply because someone in the sponoring organization decided that they ought to have a website or online newsletter. They exist (in my mind) only because it's the trendy thing to do. When there is no stated objective to an online newsletter or website, there is no way to measure how well it meets its undefined goals. Other entries were strong in graphic design (style) and short on content (substance). Like a blind date with a very good-looking but dim-witted adj. 1. mentally retarded; relatively slow in mental function. Adj. 1. dim-witted - lacking mental capacity and subtlety simple-minded, simple person, the initial excitement wears thin quickly So I weeded out the hopeless and ranked the remaining. "The choicest part of the dairy product," as the saying goes, "moves from a lower to a higher position." Visit the winning websites to see if you agree with us judges. If you really get hooked on one but need an access code and password, contact Paul Swift, who has temporary ones submitted on the entry forms. Peter Schaible, director, Subscription Website Publishers Association, 215 Stony Brook Stony Brook may refer to: Massachusetts:
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion