Assignment #2

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Fairbanks, AK)
While it should have been a laughably bad site, this Alaskan newspaper's website, features a fair amount of content, and it all seems highly relevant to the audience. Functional and sleek, it's not nearly the two-bit operation an outsider would expect from an Alaskan newspaper. It's not hard to navigate, but the site is a bit cluttered with ads. The video quality is fair, and definitely better than expected. Most videos are ice-related, but likely highly relevant to the people of Alaska. The photos, especially their sports photos are top-notch. The site allows comments, the bare minimum for interactivity. Letters to the Editor are accessible, a good idea.

CONTENT: 4
FUNCTIONALITY: 4
NAVIGATION: 3
A/V QUALITY: 3
INTERACTIVITY: 3

The Daily Sentinel (Nacogdoches, TX)
Now we're talking. Almost laughably bad. Very little content, and what they do have is hardly relevant, bordering on worthless. Covering stories that have already been done, and pulling countless AP stories and reviews. The only function is to take you to stories you don't want to read. The website is clunky and cluttered and their photos and video leave much to be desired, though "A Long Journey" was a step in the right direction. The interactivity was limited, and featured a difficult quiz on Black History Month that doesn't entice readers to play again.

CONTENT: 1
FUNCTIONALITY: 2
NAVIGATION: 2
A/V QUALITY: 3
INTERACTIVITY: 1

ABC-13 (Asheville, NC)
Talk about sensory overload. Far too many links make it impossible to decide where to go. As a reader, I want to know the good stories right away, not search for something that might be interesting. I'll get bored too quickly and go to another site. This cluttered site certainly could not be defined as functional, and the poor navigation speaks for itself. The video quality is sub-par, the lead story looks as if it was embedded from DailyMotion, and not the quality of where it should be, and interactivity is practically non-existent.

CONTENT: 2
FUNCTIONALITY: 1
NAVIGATION: 1
A/V QUALITY: 2
INTERACTIVITY: 1

NBC-15 (Mobile, AL)
A surprisingly well-designed website, perhaps the best of those selected today. Content is broken up into appropriate chunks, and the stories worth reading are prominently displayed. The content is useful, too. It's functional and easy to navigate, but the video quality is barely adequate. However, the site does feature an entire online forum for its devoted readers. And, of course, this station was the first to broadcast this video:


CONTENT: 4
FUNCTIONALITY: 4
NAVIGATION: 4
A/V QUALITY: 2
INTERACTIVITY: 4