Last sem, our professor required us to evaluate 4 websites of any Philippine government agency. I chose Project Noah, PHILVOLCS, DPWH and DENR. The criticisms below should be read and understood constructively and not as derogatory comments.

Project Noah

• URL: http://noah.dost.gov.ph/
• 3 Major Functionalities
  • Doppler System Development. Doppler stations of PAGASA give data on the amount of moisture and precipitation over a certain area covered by the Doppler stations. There are 5 Doppler stations in the Philippines, but that is not enough to cover the entire country.
  • Weather Outlook. Right now there is only the tool for “Probability of Rain” but this makes it easy for a normal Filipino to understand graphically what would be the predicted amount of rainfall or weather for a specific area.
  • Graphical rendering. Gathered data from various gauges and sensors are translated to digital form for computer processing. The website shows an interactive (Google) map of the Philippines wherein several tools can be used to plot data coming from various sensors and gauges.
• 3 Strengths
  • Relays data from automated rain gauges and water level sensors to various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
  • Doppler is my favorite among these tools since it is accurate and easy to understand. The Doppler’s data is more accurate than the Probability of Rain tool.
  • The system can translate rain intensity and volume measurements in terms of warning and evacuation level alarms.
• 3 Weaknesses
  • Sophisticated User Interface. Although the system is meant to show scientific data, its target users aren’t only meteorologist or people with higher education. The system is open to all Filipinos and should be easily understandable.
  • Flood reporting and mapping. What’s wrong in this reporting tool is how the data should be inputted. It requires that a person should pin point the location on the Google map. I think that it would be more friendly and accurate if a user types the exact location.
  • Viewing Flood reports. While I do understand the importance of showing the reports over a map. I think it is also with same importance that these reports can be viewed in list view, per town or city.
• Recommendations
  • User Interface. By default the system shows the map of the Philippines without any Weather Tool applied. Maybe applying the “Probability of Rain” tool by default would save a lot of time and make this system more understandable for first timers. A normal Filipino would instinctively click on any tool to experiment until it makes sense.
  • Improve Flood Reporting Interface. I think that there should be a web form to report floods in a specific area, with the person’s contact info.
  • Downloadable Flood Reports. I think that the local government would benefit from this tool if reports would be available in list view. Records should be sorted according to the towns or cities.

PHIVOLCS

• URL: http://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/
• 3 Major Functionalities
  • The website gives the latest seismic events in the Philippines
  • Serves as an information system for this agency’s services, projects, news, job opportunities, biddings etc.
  •  Provides important geographical information to its target users.
• 3 Strengths
  • Seismic Bulletins.  The daily report gives the geographical location of the seismic events, time, magnitude and alert level.
  • Hazard Maps. This section contains important geological maps, like fault zones, tsunami prone areas, earthquake induced hazard maps per region.
  • Rich in information. The website contains important information but sadly, it is unorganized.
• 3 Weaknesses
  • Search function not working. Tried to search for the word “Mayon” and the page returned server error.
  • Urgent links are not in the right place.
  •  Does not utilize the power of the web. PHIVOLCS fails to reach out to the very dynamic Filipino web users, having no social network accounts or does not give updates via Twitter or Facebook.
• Recommendations
  • User Interface should be enhanced. Confusing navigation structure. There is a topmost menu with 4 links pointing to 4 minor divisions of the website. Below it is the “Main Menu” in the sidebar.
  •  Install Google Webmasters Tools. Installing this “free” tool on the page would crawl all the web pages in the website. Google can give reports on various types of web page errors for maintenance.
  • Urgent links in the header. Urgent links such as seismic events/bulletins should be posted at the header area of the site.
  • Text should be extracted from images. Readable text should be extracted from images for indexing purposes.
  • Interactive maps. Like Project Noah, PHIVOLCS can use open source tools such as Google Maps and Python framework  Django (https://www.djangoproject.com/)

Department of Public Works and Highways

• URL: http://www.dpwh.gov.ph/
• 3 Major Functionalities
  •  The website contains information about the department, process of procurement,  infrastructure projects, employment, FAQs, budgets etc.
  • Posts announcements and monthly status of infrastructure projects
  • Accepts community feedback in different forms (web, sms,landline)
• 3 Strengths
  • Contact details.The website is gracious in giving contact details on how to reach them or specific personnel, for complaints and feedbacks.
  • Infrastructure Projects Monitoring. This section of the website shows the status of various infrastructure projects in the country. (http://www.dpwh.gov.ph/infrastructure/pms/pmo.asp)
  • Available Information. Rules and regulations, FAQs, instructions, downloadable forms are included on the website.
• 3 Weaknesses
  • Web page layout. It looks like the website did not go through a planning or design phase.
  • Dead/Broken links.
  • Sections of the site are not present or mismanaged. Sections for emergency management, development services, transportation, water resources, waste management and public building are hard to find.
• Recommendations
  • Services of a web development team in the Philippines should be acquired. It’s cheap you know.
  • Major sections of the site should be determined.
  • Any dynamic sections of the site like monitoring features should be included in the quick links.
  • Remove unnecessary information. The goal of the website is to serve the public. Do Filipinos need to see that picture on the homepage, sir?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources

• URL: http://www.denr.gov.ph
• 3 Major Functionalities
  • Laws and Policies. This is an interactive section wherein users can search for a key word. The laws and regulations are organized in folders.
  • E-library. Contains publications and searchable directory of books.
  • Internal Concerns. This menu directs employees to internal links like webmail, document tracking system and downloadable forms.
• 3 Strengths
  • Simple and Friendly. I like the clean and simple look of the site (compared to other govt. websites that I reviewed) It may not embody a Web 2.0 look but it properly represents DENR on the web.
  • E-library. Using the search function gives you a good feeling of using the library’s card catalog to find a book/publication.  The search results provide proper data.
  • Well planned. The web development team of DENR was able to create a proper structure for the website. It is not perfect but I’m sure I didn’t get lost in browsing their site. I know where I should click if I want to find something in their site.
• 3 Weaknesses
  • Dead/Broken links. The “Priority Programs” section and its submenu are not working.
  • Complaints and Feedback. The site provides a normal contact form. But then again this is not a normal website. The purpose of this site is to serve users online. Maybe they should think on creating a complaints section, where in feedbacks/complaints can be inputted for a specific location.
  • Geological Database and Info Sys. DENR’s Geo-Hazard Mapping and assessment form is not updated. Some fields do not work like location specific queries.
• Recommendations
  • Issues. Issues about the environment are not posted on the homepage. This would help people understand the current situations in the following areas: air, climate change, emergencies, green living, health and safety, land and clean-up, pesticides, chemicals & toxins, waste and water.
  • Email alerts. In order for Filipinos to have better participation in improving our surroundings maybe newsletter subscription would be a good idea. This would promote awareness on how Filipinos can help.

1. Avoid Meta Keyword stuffing.
2. Create unique content.
3. Think of the keywords that your users would type on a search engine to reach your site.
4. Use Google Adwords's keyword tool to find the appropriate keyword/s (to target) for your site.
5. Take advantage of the concept of "user generated content" by implementing user reviews or comments and sharing tools for social media websites. User generated content helps to emphasize the title/content of the page without much effort from the web developer or web master (Look mom no hands!) [Read my reflection paper and know the impact of user generated content.]
6. If you're using a content management system (CMS) like Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal, make sure to upgrade to the latest version, as soon as possible, otherwise your site would be a candidate for hacks.
7. The main content should be in a good position on your page. Avoid putting ads, widgets, clickable thumbnails before or at the top of the content. These objects should be at the sidebar.
8. A matching URL and title makes a big difference. Make sure it is not spammy. Keep it simple.
9. Make your site unique. You don't have to worry in getting a domain that contains a piece of your keyword/s. It's all about the content.
10. Make people want to link to your site. Create a content that has value, unique, exciting or cool.
11. Use Google Webmasters tools.
12. Copied content does not rank highly.
13. Original content makes people want to return to your site.
14. Don't use images where text should be in.
15. Don't give your rankings to others - be careful with web developers / web companies that create your website and put their links at the bottom/footer of your web pages (ex. "Powered by Company Here"). Give value to your site.
16. Use Google Maps for every content when appropriate.
17. Observe the keywords that lead your users to your website. Utilize these keywords/web pages to attract more audience.
18. Make sure that your hosting provider is reliable and has good up-time.
19. For URLs use dash (-) or periods (.) as separators.
20. Find ways to make users busy on your site. Post related content in between paragraphs or images, especially on the sidebars. A 5 minute video is short and attractive to a busy person - then multiply that thought to 5 for each person (for another 5 video clips) who visits your site, and you'll know what I mean.
21. Shorten the meta description. Make sure that it is not cut-off abruptly in the search results.
22. Implement properly structured and clear breadcrumbs.
23. Make sure that the character encoding used renders all the special characters correctly.
24. Avoid rendering inorganic content. Focus on what users/humans like.
25. Don't put too much text on your site, especially if it's unrelated/spam content.
26. Don't sweat on creating a good URL. Unique and valuable content is the key. 
27. Be consistent with the links of each page. Use canonical tags.
28. Fix broken links and make sure links point to the correct destination.
29. Track your backlinks. Make sure that your backlinks are not coming from spam sites.
30. Use valid and appropriate HTML tags.

I am in the process of redesigning my own site, and I think this list is a good guideline for search engine optimization to help me get a higher rank in Google search engine results.

By the way, thanks to Adrian for the Google IO video.

This is a simple Flash animation I created for my (UPOU) DEVCOM 207 course last semester.

The video contains information about the roles of women in the history of computers, current statistics and possible reasons on the status or participation of women in IT and how to encourage women to become computer programmers.

Gender is not an issue if you really want to pursue a career in (information) technology or other related fields.

Reference: Wikipedia

Digital convergence of news media was called "Mediamorphosis" by researcher Roger Fidler. He actually published a book entitled, "Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media", wherein he gives the 6 fundamental principles in mediamorphosis (page 29).

1. coevolution and coexistence
2. metamorphosis
3. propagation
4. survival
5. opportunity and need
6. delayed adoption

According to the definitions of propagation and survival:

"Emerging forms of communication media propagate dominant traits from earlier forms. These traits are passed on and spread through communicatory codes called languages. While survival states that all forms of communication media, as well as media enterprises are compelled to adapt and evolve for survival in a changing environment. Their only other option is to die."

Based on these assumptions and from what we are already experiencing, methods in gathering information is almost the same, what's noticeable are (1) broadcasters and journalists are provided nowadays with multi-purpose devices like smartphones or PC tablets, so they can publish news via different technologies and (2) how they broadcast news, again they have their laptops or PC tablets so they can also check real time news from other websites.

In terms of producing devcom materials for print and radio, we would often see and hear URLs of websites, this is considered as brand extension in order to promote news from their own sites (online version) or other 3rd party sources like Twitter or Facebook.

In reality, traditional media would not be lost in this technological synergy. I believe that the process in gathering news, designing or layouting of magazines or newspapers, are also applied when creating webpages. The target audience is still the same, what's really changing is the transfer from a physical form (in this case, paper) to virtual form.

             Being a web programmer, my work is closely tied to what the new media has to offer. The great amount of time that I spend in writing programs and browsing the internet puts me at a favorable situation to discuss second orality and its effects in the social construction of reality, ideology, power and domination. My reflection about the aforementioned subjects and concepts would be mostly based on Walter J. Ong’s book, Orality and Literacy.

            Ong stated in his book, Orality and Literacy,that a “second orality” is arising in Western societies with the advent of telephone, television and new electronic technologies”. I’d like to believe that Ong had successfully predicted what we are all experiencing at this day and age on the web, which is the profound publication of user-generated content.

I was also surprised that Ong included writing computer programs in his study, and considered it to be a performative literature. I agree when he expressed that although writing programs is not seen as a form of writing by the current literary tradition, it has subgenres that make up the performative works which most education people today encounter most frequently. [1]

After reading Gidden’s formulation of the dialectic of control as a process of enablement as well as constraint [2], I have come to realize that yes, the web applications that I create provoke human interaction and somehow there’s power and domination in my creation since my software defines the scope and limitation of usability, especially if internet users would rely on my application because it offers some information or interactivity that they would find dependable or addictive.

Affirming in a study entitled, “The Media Construction of Everyday Reality”, it stated that “media operates upon several levels in influencing and shaping both worldview and cultural and psychological patterning of human behavioral response”[3], Considering that new media has adopted the presentation and content of traditional media, at least to some extent, I believe that the current state of the World Wide Web is now almost equal in changing and shaping the point of view of those people who are considered to be free thinkers. To prove this point I remember how President Barack Obama, the first African-American president, launched an evolutionary campaign on the web, which immensely influenced and convinced internet users in the United States to vote for him. He was one of the first successful politicians to harness the potencial of the web.

Ong affirmed that with the development of print, Western culture moved event further away from a hearing dominated sensory world to one governed by sight [4], I suppose this has been more compelling in the advent of Web 2.0. He also goes to great pains to indicate that he feels that neither orality nor literacy is superior[4]. I agree with him. I believe that an idea is still an idea, regardless of whatever form an idea is presented. It doesn’t matter which medium is superior or inferior, what’s important is how both technology or method promotes growth and helps human beings in reaching their full potential.

 References:

[1] Orality and Literacy; Walter Ong; http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~mhalber/Research/Guides/ong-oral.html

[2] Communication and Power in organizations: Discourse, Ideology and Domination; Dennis K. Mumby; http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/570/476

[3] The Media Construction of Everyday Reality;  Feb 2005; http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/SystemsEssaysIII/MediaConstructionEverydayLifeSEIII.htm

[4] Review of Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy; http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/ong_rvw.html