Ryan Carney Comm 361-Online Journalism George Mason University
Stacy DellingerGeorge Mason UniversityComm 361
In journalism, there are rules about white space, and the age old rule about "limiting white space" still applies today. But when you make something interactive to evolve with the times, and the result is a lot of white space (which is evident when you are forced to scroll down), the site does not look as professional.
Perhaps separating the comments another way would work better, perhaps limiting by date or location. But it's a good start and I applaud the efforts.
George Mason University - COMM 361
When comments are appended at the end of an article, it is not as easy to read them. Comments at the end seem like a sidebar or something that is not very important.
Left-hand alignment is good. Katie said that she is more likely to read the comments if they are on the left-side because they are easy to find. Rob believes that this alignment is good because it has the appearance of a newspaper column.
Katie said that it is also good because the comments become a part of the website that cannot be ignored. If there is something important to include, the left-hand column is a good place to put it.
-Katie S. and Rob R.George Mason UniversityDepartment of Communication
In anycase, I think sites with serious charters like OJR, should offer a combination of strong editorial, technical, and member filters. The site is wide open right now for anyone to post garbage on their site. This is not to say that I am against free-for-all anonymous community sites. I simply believe that more stringent requirements for posting online will improve the quality of the posts and decrease the level of noise. I also like sites that encourage the usage of real names (like online-media-news).
In OJR's case, I would recommend: 1) registration; 2) a short-list of recent posts on the home page (one or two lines each; 3) an editorial selection of posts; and 4) free-flow member discussion similar to their main forum area.
A log of many comments (or even a few long ones, such as the first OJR post) force readers to scroll...and scroll...down the page. That's less friendly than the alternative: a screen-width, standalone forum.
Forcing posts to "graduate" to a separate page -- based on number or age -- would help, but it also would limit readers to seeing only a small sample of the available comments.
All that said, this is a creative attempt to address the readers' need and expectation to comment on stories and interact with the news -- and to do so *right now*, with a minimum of extra effort.
