Your presentation web site

If a delegated representative of your group has not emailed me to request access to your new presentation website they should do so now.

To access your presentation site simply add a 'p' to the url of your group weblog as in (for group 8, section A): http://exonous.typepad.com/241a8p

The role of your presentation web site is

• to articulate to the world the findings of your research
• to illustrate its concepts
• to act as a presentation tool for in-class presentations

Unlike your weblogs the information presented here will be in chronological order. The list of recent posts in the margin will also be listed chronologically to act as a guide to the website. Each 'post' then should be pristine, succinct, and serving of a single distinct purpose (or thought) as would a page in a presentation. Beginning from the main home page, readers can then navigate through the site to browse its entire contents in logical order.

It is important that you organize your presentation to take advantage of this format. Here are some suggestions:

• Use the analogy of an academic paper or book to guide your site layout
  
• Your first post should be a preface which rather than delving into the content of the presentation offers the reader all the meta-data necessary for experiencing the site. Don't assume the reader knows anything about the course or the topic. Provide them with the background that is necessary for a full appreciation of what they're about to experience. Here, an outline with hyperlinks would serve as a great tool for those who want to navigate directly to a particular section.
  
• An introduction to the content should follow your preface just as you would find in any book. Here, of course is where you would clearly state your purpose, thesis, and method to set out a readable roadmap for your audience.
  
• As much as possible, each subsequent post should have a distinct role in your argument, it should support your thesis, and it should link to the next in the chain. Because some major topics of your research will span posts work out a method for delineating major headings from minor subheadings. The title or subject of your post might follow a convention such as HEADING > Major Sub-Heading > Minor Sub-Heading for example.
  
• The hyperlinks which you create throughout your entire presentation help to inform the reader of your underlying sources. Still, with your final post - the one that follows your concluding thoughts - like endnotes should list and describe your sources of research.
  
• Bear in mind the factors which influence a web site's usability.
  

It is up to your group to decide if you'd like to write up your report first and then translate it for the web site or vice versa. While the content of each version of the research might be quite similar you will notice that the aesthetics of the medium contribute strongly to the reader experience.