Platt Portal

A few suggestions for critiquing a web site, kiosk, DVD or game…

Pre-Writing

1 Find a major web site, kiosk or DVD, or game that you find interesting.
2. Study and analyze the writing, the structure, and presentation.
3. Think about how well the content keeps your interest and helps you to access information.
4. Take notes on first impressions.

Writing
You might include:

• An introduction that describes the content, purpose, intended audience, and scope
• An analysis of the information architecture
• Comments on what works well
• Suggestions on what could be improved
• Any feature that doesn’t fit the program
• A concluding paragraph that summarizes your feelings about the multimedia work.

Overall Objectives
Identify, Summarize and Evaluate

• Make a few key points about the work
• Analyze it. Take it apart.
• What are the major components?
• How do you like the design?
• How do the parts work together?
• Does the design fulfill its basic purpose?
• Is the audience well defined?

Objectives for the Leading Paragraph
Strong Reactions and Overview

• Write an introduction that describes, in general, the work
• What are your initial reactions?
• What do you think of the work as a whole.
• What are the issues?

Objectives for Concluding Paragraph
Provide an Overall Critical Evaluation

• Does the work achieve its purpose?
• What is the most important final comment you want to make?
• Could the design or structure have been better? How so?

Do you learn best with images? with words? or numbers? Lucky us! With multimedia, we can tailor our studies to favor our best learning styles. Howard Gardner first introduced the concept of multiple intelligences in 1983, pointing out that our standard testing for IQ was far too limited. He identified seven different types of intelligence.

Read more on the web!

Click Here for first article

Click Here for second article

P.S.
If Snow White’s learning style had been intrapersonal intelligence, she might not have taken the poisoned apple from the wicked witch and bit into it. She definitely lacked “people smarts”.

Welcome to Multimedia Writing

During the course you will explore many techniques, genres and formats while building your multimedia writing skills. My hope is that you’ll think of our class time (and the Purple Room) as both a training ground and your personal laboratory for writing experiments. Mix into the beaker a little drama, some humor, and plenty of dialogue. Then observe what bubbles forth. I expect you’ll find some of the writing process a challenge, some fun, and some mysterious. Sometimes you’ll find it magical, as your truest thoughts seem to surface effortlessly onto the page.