Societal Information

Societal Information

Lesson Three Homework
Lesson Six Homework
Lesson Eight Homework
Logs

OUR PURPOSE Societal Information n: the communication of knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction, of or relating to society.
In January of 1997, a new web class began at the Virtual University -- A Real Contribution to the Virtual Community: Web Pages That Make A Difference (#825). Our first assignment was to form a study group with a common goal.
Irwin made the original posting that caught our attention. He proposed a group that would focus on societal information. As each student responded, his or her name was added to a mailing list and, through e-mail and IRC, we bandied about some ideas.
Collectively, the group came up with the following topics:

Educational Information
Government Information
Health Care
Society's Issues

Survivors of Violence
Teen/Children's Concerns

While gathering and creating pages to disseminate this information, we will keep two goals in mind:

To focus on quality instead of quantity.
To provide information that makes the world a better place or makes a person's life better.

Take for example, the move toward "self-care" in the health industry. Few people know how to do it, and it is confusing to find information even when you know what you want. Providing a, "getting started" page with an introduction to the basics of self-care (what you NEED to know), and then leading the reader to more advanced, good quality information, could be extremely helpful.

OUR AUDIENCE Although our potential audience is the world, we would like to make special consideration for people who do not have access to the information through normal channels. For example, people who use community centers. There are those who come into these centers who find it easier to turn to a computer to look up information than to have to confide in others in order to have their questions answered.
People who live in rural areas and shut-ins are other examples of people who could benefit from having new channels opened to pertinent societal information. Even the homeless now have access to computers, via their libraries. Providing access to information about education, governmental laws and regulations, health, etc., to this audience can be extremely beneficial.

TYING IT
ALL TOGETHER We are exploring many ways of putting our pages together. We are still looking at the alternatives and have not yet come up with a consensus -- perhaps we will use a little bit of each.
We have discovered and are considering incorporating the "web ring" concept. This is where sites/pages of similar but different content lead users from one to another via a standardized link graphic until they ultimately return to the first site.
Another option is to use buttons to take you to the previous page, the next page, the topic page and the home page.
A final alternative is to use a small top frame with the title and menu-links to the topics.
The main debate is whether our pages are meant to be a site a person can use to look up the answer to a specific problem or are they a place to browse and wander about.
Regardless, we will be working on our topics as small teams and need a way to link them together and provide access in a way that is most useful for our target audience.

INVOLVING OUR
VISITORS Ultimately, we would like to involve our visitors; getting their input as to how beneficial the information is, and what we could do to make our site even better.
We would also like an interactive form to serve as a forum for visitors to post their ideas for solutions to problems.

Any comments, contact Irwin Greenwald or Tina Stanton
Last updated: 1997 04 25
This page brought to you courtesy of GEOCITIES

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OUR PURPOSE	`Societal Information n: the communication of knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction, of or relating to society.` In January of 1997, a new web class began at the Virtual University -- A Real Contribution to the Virtual Community: Web Pages That Make A Difference (#825). Our first assignment was to form a study group with a common goal. Irwin made the original posting that caught our attention. He proposed a group that would focus on societal information. As each student responded, his or her name was added to a mailing list and, through e-mail and IRC, we bandied about some ideas. Collectively, the group came up with the following topics: Educational Information Government Information Health Care Society's Issues Survivors of Violence Teen/Children's Concerns While gathering and creating pages to disseminate this information, we will keep two goals in mind: To focus on quality instead of quantity. To provide information that makes the world a better place or makes a person's life better. Take for example, the move toward "self-care" in the health industry. Few people know how to do it, and it is confusing to find information even when you know what you want. Providing a, "getting started" page with an introduction to the basics of self-care (what you NEED to know), and then leading the reader to more advanced, good quality information, could be extremely helpful.
OUR AUDIENCE	Although our potential audience is the world, we would like to make special consideration for people who do not have access to the information through normal channels. For example, people who use community centers. There are those who come into these centers who find it easier to turn to a computer to look up information than to have to confide in others in order to have their questions answered. People who live in rural areas and shut-ins are other examples of people who could benefit from having new channels opened to pertinent societal information. Even the homeless now have access to computers, via their libraries. Providing access to information about education, governmental laws and regulations, health, etc., to this audience can be extremely beneficial.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER	We are exploring many ways of putting our pages together. We are still looking at the alternatives and have not yet come up with a consensus -- perhaps we will use a little bit of each. We have discovered and are considering incorporating the "web ring" concept. This is where sites/pages of similar but different content lead users from one to another via a standardized link graphic until they ultimately return to the first site. Another option is to use buttons to take you to the previous page, the next page, the topic page and the home page. A final alternative is to use a small top frame with the title and menu-links to the topics. The main debate is whether our pages are meant to be a site a person can use to look up the answer to a specific problem or are they a place to browse and wander about. Regardless, we will be working on our topics as small teams and need a way to link them together and provide access in a way that is most useful for our target audience.
INVOLVING OUR VISITORS	Ultimately, we would like to involve our visitors; getting their input as to how beneficial the information is, and what we could do to make our site even better. We would also like an interactive form to serve as a forum for visitors to post their ideas for solutions to problems.