WEEK 6- WEBSITE ANALYSIS!!!

The Lincoln University website, is a website that is used by possible students who wish to apply there, as well as by parents and teachers. It is also used by the students themselves in order to access the Portal and Blackboard for learning materials. I have decided to look at Lincoln Uni website for my analysis task because it is a website I personally use quite a lot and also think it is a good website to analyse.


When considering the structure of a website there are key concepts that must be addressed; A well structured website will include navigation menus located either at the top or down the side of the page. It's sequence should also be structured in a logical way, for example the ordering of the information, usually the sequence will follow a linear path. It should also be logical for the visitors of the site to be able to instantly find what they are looking for. There is also the concept of hierarchy and themes. Pages that are all related to the same subject content should be grouped together and a natural hierarchy of placing importance on the main places should also be evident.



When you first arrive at Lincoln University's home page, immediately I can see the use of graphics, text modification and use of different colours. The use of colours are not necessarily attractive and eye catching however the image of Lincoln University and the Brayford is attractive and invites the user in, without saying so the image is a form of persuasion saying 'this is where you could study'. In terms of the websites structure, the main navigation links are situated down the side of the page where users would expect to find it. There are also options located in the middle, I would say these options were the main subjects that people using the website are looking for. So the website homepage has a good structure as is it fulfilling the users needs and requirements. Hypertext is an important in analysising a websites structure, I think that hypertext definately shapes the experience of using the web. If websites have a lot of hypertext and visual images etc then I would say that I would pay more attention to that website. The structure is logical and is echoed by many other educational websites as well as websites in general.

The website is about university level education so it is of a educational culture. The website offers a chance to study for a degree and offers information about possible courses. So it is a a cultural institution where people of higher education can gather and find out more about further education. It also offers the students and lecturers of Lincoln a chance to gather and find more learning materials on their courses. The ideology is about furthering ones own knowledge and is also saying that University is the best way to do this. I think this website differs to other websites with another subject content as it does not offer a forum type website, it is a place where people can go to find out information and also to communicate with university staff.

The sense of Community on this website lies in the different people that play a part in the university. The language is obviously of a formal nature as it is an educational institution. There are certain copyright laws that have to be fulfilled on a website such as this. However the content, of the courses is freely available to all which is what all websites should offer,openness- information should be free. The blackboard and Portal are operated by a user name and password, so visitors are not able to enter these and access information unless they are a student or a Lecturer. The content of this website can be trusted as it is from a established source(the university), it would not be in the university's interest to provide content that is false also the content is not uploaded by just anyone, it will have been done by website designers and university staff.

In terms of produsage, this website does not allow others to contribute content, however it is a produser of content that is widely available to all. There will have been discussions with different people of what content to put on the website and also to an extent intercreativity because it would have taken stages to build this website.

As I said earlier, there is not forum on the University page as the website is not that type of interactive site. People are however, able to contact the university via email. If you go on the staff and student link, there are other links that lead to the student Union website etc. In a way students are interacting with the site through blackboard and also the the portal.

"Gatekeeping is the process through which ideas and information are filtered for publication. The internal decision making process of relaying or withholding information from the media to the masses"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatekeeping_(communication))

I think that the information on this website is quite open, it describes the courses and offers open days for possible students. It offers information about the university itself. Remember that this website is made to impress as the university want to persuade, and invite people in to make them study here against hundreds of other universities. They cannot hold back certain information because this could cost them places. Once again this differs to other websites as its content is about one thing 'studying', it just not offer general information about life. Users of this website will be be searching for something in particular and will want to find this information quickly and efficiently.

The appeal for me personally, as a user is obviously I am a student at the University of Lincoln and use this website a lot for work and finding out information regarding my course but also as I think University websites are very important on the Inet. The website offers insight into a place you may choose to spend 3 years of your life studying at, so if the website offers a range of information and is presented and structure in a way that is easier fo the user. As well as being attractive and professionally appealling then the website has done it's job.