Suhtekorraldus 1. loeng - Tiina Tšatšua

• Kohustuslik kirjandus: Black, S. Public Relations. Revision Workbook. (1992)
• Suhtekorraldus on planeeritav ja pidev tegevus! S on juhtimisülesanne.
• Ettevõtte filosoofia - põhiväärtused, missioon, visioon, äriplaan, turundusplaan, arengukava, finantsid
• Tee head tööd ja räägi sellest!
• Turundus ja suhtekorraldus peab olema juhatuse otsuste ja uute toodete loomise juures.
• Spindoctor
• Suhtekorraldus tugineb tõel ja faktidel, aga suhtekorraldaja räägib nii vähe kui võimalik, aga nii palju kui vajalik
• Filosoofia on tarkuse armastus
• Visioon - unistus, missioon - lubadus, mille eest vastutad
• Korporatiivstrateegia - Kes on kliendid? mida oleme lubanud neile pakkuda? Millised vahendid on selleks olemas?
• Strateegiline eesmärk - kui palju me peame sellega raha teenima?
• Nädala jooksul saata kommentaare ainekaardi kohta.
• Tea oma asutuse ajalugu - mis teised turunduses, suhtekorralduses varem teinud on? Kuidas?
• Uuringute tegemise jooksul konsulteeri sotsioloogiga. Nii küsimused kui tulemused.
• Grunigi mudel!
• Kontekst!
• Suuline + kirjalik + kordamine
• technics/tehnikad - tööriistad
• PR töö planeerimise mudel
• olukorra hindamine
• eesmärkide defineerimine
• sihtrühma defineerimine
• kanalite ja tehnika valik
• eelarve koostamine
• tulemuste hindamine
• KODUNE ÜLESANNE:
• Loe läbi 2 Sam Blacki artiklit
• Avalikud suhted - nende roll, ulatus areng ja ajalugu. Põhimõisted
• Kommunikatsioon - avalik arvamus
• www.epra.ee
• www.ipra.org

Book summary - Steve Krug - Don’t make me think (Second edition)

Don’t make me think (Second edition)

by Steve Krug

Book summary

Steve Krug wrote the first edition of the book “Don’t make me think” in 2000, during the time of the Internet boom. The second edition was published in 2006. Although the time had moved on since then, most of the advice Krug gives in his book still continues to be adequate and up to date.

The main idea of the book is already explained in the title. Don’t make me think is the first rule for the web site designers that Krug points out. It means that the web site should be designed in a way that the user should be able to interact with it without thinking what one ore the other action will lead to. The web sites should be built according to the common sense rules that the users are familiar with. For example the menus are usually on the left as a column or on top as tabs, the logo of the site is located on the top left corner of the site and clicking to it leads back to home page. Another thing he points out is that the clickable things should also look clickable, like a button.

The second chapter of the book explains how do people really use the web. While the web designers think about every little detail and text piece in a very thorough matter, the reality is that the users do not read most of it. Instead of reading the web site, they scan it to find the information they are looking for. Krug explains that the users do not look for the best solutions but rather if they find something that even vaguely reminds them of the thing they are looking for they click on it. If it does not satisfy them, they just return to the previous page. Another example Krug brings says that the users do not spend time on figuring out how things work, rather they muddle through and reach their goal in unimaginable ways even though it could have taken seconds to do it as the designer had thought.

Krug goes through the main steps for designing a good web site. He calls it designing pages for scanning, not reading. The site should be visually clear and indicate at first look, which are the more important parts and which are less important. Building a visual hierarchy and using conventions – the familiar design elements which make it easier for the user to understand the page.

One of the chapters is dedicated to the content of the web sites. It is called omit needless words. The web sites are often crowded with texts, introductions and instructions, which do not give any actual value to the site. Therefore Krug suggests to get rid of half of the words on a site and then to get rid of half of what is left.

Considering the navigation part of the site, he gives valuable advice about the use of breadcrumbs, tabs and navigation menu. The user of the site should always be aware of what site he is on, how to move to another page or how to get back to the home page. The navigation part should be clear and understandable and seen on every page. The web site should also indicate at a first look, what is the point of this site, where can the user start to look for the information he needs.

One of the most important parts of designing a web is testing the usability of the site. Krug advises to test often and simply. Instead of using carefully picked samples, renting cameras or a special room for testing, all that are necessary are a computer, a test subject and a simple camera to record the process of testing. The facilitator asks questions and gives tasks. At the same time the camera records the process and the results can be later seen and analyzed. Krug emphasizes that the results should be reviewed right away and solutions should be offered. Testing should be done once every month. The mornings are the best time – 2-3 user tests in the morning and debrief over lunch.

The chapter “Usability as common courtesy“ says that in addition to having a web site that works and is clear to users, the designer should also ask, does the site have a human touch. This mainly goes for the content of the site. The web site should be meant for people. It means that the page should offer the things that the users expect and lack the things that they don’t like. For example Krug explained what things tend to make users feel like the people publishing the site do not have their best interests at heart. These include for example hiding the wanted information, asking for information you do not need and an amateurish site. He also brings out the things that increase the value of the site for the user. For example knowing the main things that the users are looking for and making them obvious, putting effort into solving the problems of the user or knowing what questions the user might have and answering to them.

One of the last chapters of the book concentrates on the accessibility of web sites. He explains how to make the web site user-friendlier also for disabled people. The very last chapter helps the designers explain to their boss why it is not good to ask too much personal data from the users or why to not add too much animation, background music or large photos to the site. He has even published his e-mails that the designers can use as an expert advice for convincing their bosses that it is not a good idea.

Don’t make me think is a useful book for every web designer. Although written over 5 years ago, it still carries a lot of information, which could be still used today.

References

Krug, S. (2006). Don’t make me think! A common sense approach to web usability. Second edition. New Riders.

Media Project - Final presentation

Initial idea
To produce an infotainment video about organizing an event using social media.

• Organizing a birthday party



• Looking for a place for the party



• Looking for DJ’s, catering

To compare the same actions without social media, using corporate Web sites and search engines

Benefits to the thesis

• To learn about the possibilities of replacing corporate Web site with social media profiles



• Which possibilities does social media offer?



• How much is the potential of social media used by the companies?



• How much do the companies use the possibilities of social media?

Schedule
The initial schedule showed the plans for implementing the project from February to May.

Feb 15 Defining the idea
Feb 22 Constructing a project plan
Mar 1 Reporting the process
Mar 7-13 Storyboarding
Mar 14-27 Research and Preparing the shootings
Mar 29 Reporting the process
Mar 28-Apr 3 Shooting
Apr 4-13 Overview of the material
Apr 14-24 Editing
Apr 25-May 1 Final overview and correction
May 3 Presentation of the project


The process
My video consists of actions done in Facebook. Although my initial idea was to involve also other social media like blogs and Youtube, it could be added to the video later.

The most difficult part was to stage the processes going on in Facebook. I had to find the suitable Facebook pages, talk to people who would help me with staging the situations and edit it all into one storyline.

Finally I chose one storyline which involved a person, who logged into Facebook, looked at her calendar application and discovered that her birthday is coming up. Then she uses the status update possibility to ask her friends whether they could suggest a place for the party. From the comment of her friend she starts to look for the place he recommended and finds that this place has a Facebook page. She likes what she sees on the page and uses its online booking system to book a place for her birthday party.

For screen recording I used Screenium software. For editing I used iMovie on my mac. These software were both rather easy to use and I could use them in my future works as well.

The reasons why my project turned out to be less than I had originally planned were that in the middle of March I found out that I am soon going to work somewhere else and therefore for a month, my workload in the old place as well as the new place got very intense. In addition it was the busiest time in school too, so my media project did not get as much attention as it would have needed.

Another thing was also that staging of those situations turned out to be more difficult then I imagined. There weren't so many applications available to use in the video. And putting these few together in one storyline was rather difficult.

But still there were lessons I learned from this process. Some which are also useful for my thesis and could be studied more.

Lessons learned

• It is possible to use a Facebook account instead of Web site - a company can add many functionalities and applications to its profile so that it could replace the same functionalities as its Web site



• Many applications missing - there could be much more and better applications available. For example I would miss an application for my Google calendar, also many companies who offer services could add a booking application of their site.



• Possibilities could be used more - companies can attract customers by creating a functional and good looking profile on Facebook. In Estonia it is not very actively done yet, so there is a possibility to be one of the first in this.



• Not easy to manage everything in social media yet - There are applications available but most of them are not good and create spam rather than are useful. Maybe that is one reason why the company pages have not taken advantage of them. Creating your own application costs. Maybe companies have not seen the reasons for paying for these services yet. Therefore it is not easy if you want to manage everything on Facebook for example without using Web sites.



• Peer recommendations - a good thing in social media are peer recommendations. Even a simple Facebook "like" gives a credibility to a certain thing liked.



• Not good search possibilities - Facebook at least has not a good searching and filtering possibilities. Trying to search for something does not work properly. Only if you know exactly what is the name of the thing you are searching for.

Media project was a good opportunity to look more into the integration of social media and corporate Web sites. It was useful to use the video recording and editing software as well.

Here are my final outcomes of the project:

Media project final

View more presentations from Kerstin Sonts.

The final outcome - infotainment video

Deadlines for Spring 2011

May 2nd - Creative Entrepreneurship - Business plan

1. Initial idea
2. Market analysis
3. Business idea and plan for implementation (Gantt chart)
4. First financial calculations

Send ‘draft’ to arnis.sauka@sseriga.edu.lv by Monday, May 2nd.
Length is not so important, contents are!

May 2nd - Experimental Input and Output - Project report delivery

May 3rd - Media Project - Final presentation of the project

May 5 - Creative Entrepreneurship - Business plan presentation

May 9 - Creative Entrepreneurship - Business plan submission

May 13 - Creative Entrepreneurship - Final assignment

May 15 - Avalikud Suhted ja Läbirääkimised - Juhtumi analüüs (10 lk)

• Leida viimase 5 aasta praktikast ettevõte või organisatsiooni õnnestunud või ebaõnnestunud kommunikatsiooni näide ning analüüsida seda (näiteks: EMT, Haigekassa, erakonnad jne). Võib analüüsida eraldi turundust või PR-tegevust või mõlemat koos:
• Ettevõte, organisatsioon, toode, teenus
• (Mis juhtus?)
• Kellele suunatud?
• Mida taheti öelda?
• Kuidas öeldi (sõnastus, kõneisikud, kanalid, vorm, visuaalne keel jne)?
• Tulemused?
• (mis läks viltu?)

May 16th - Experimental Input and Output - Cross-referenced review delivery

May 22nd - Interface and Interaction design - Book summary

Media Project - Report nr 2

The process has been going almost as planned.
Percentage of fulfilling the whole plan for now is about 40%


Tasks done so far

1. Defining the idea – what is this project going to be about? 100% done
An infotainment video about organizing an event using social media.

2. Constructing a project plan. 100% done
The full project plan could be seen in the previous post.

3. Reporting of the process
The first reporting of the process took place on the March 1st

4. Storyboarding – Creating storylines, characters, content ideas 80% done
There is a storyline, which is being gradually improved.

5. Preparing the shootings 60% done
I have a software, with which I can do the screen recording and editing. I have spoken to people who will help me to stage a couple of scenarios in Facebook and blog environments. Cameras have not yet been rented and the correct order of shooting the scenes is not confirmed yet.

6. Reporting the process
The second reporting is taking place on March 29th.


Changes

There have been some changes made from the original plan:

• There will not be a second storyline, which will show the organization of the event as if the social media does not exist. As we thought this would lengthen the video and make it too broad.
• The main character is probably going to be me as it is going to be difficult to create a fake persona ad build a needed social circle around him to fulfill the idea.
• Therefore the video will show how I am organizing an event using only social media. It will also show, which applications should be needed to make the process more interactive and comfortable.

Tasks yet to do

• Shooting
• Overview of the material
• Shooting again if needed
• Editing
• Final overview and correction
• Presentation of the project

Interface and Interaction Design

In this course we are working on a project of creating an informal IMKE community site. More information: http://imkeproject.wordpress.com/

Media Project - Project Plan

My project idea is to make a short infotainment video about comparing the possible actions of a user who wants to prepare his birthday party.

He/she is looking for:
• A place for the party
• A Band or DJ
• Possibilities to send invitations to his friends

One storyline will follow his steps while he is using social media to do it and the other line shows his information seeking through web sites and browsing as if the social media does not exist.

The goal of this video is to show the possibilities of social media and corporate websites on the users point of view.


Tools
• Computer with internet connection
• Video camera
• Photo camera
• Screen recorder software
• Editing software


Project team
Project manager (idea, management, production, editing) – Kerstin Sonts
Project assistant (camerawork, technical help, editing) – Berit Piho


Tasks and timeframe
Feb 15 Defining the idea – what is this project going to be about?
Feb 22 Constructing a project plan
Mar 1 Reporting of the process
Mar 7-13 Storyboarding – Creating storylines, characters, content ideas
Mar 14-27 Preparing the shootings
• Creating the needed environment
• Preparing the order of shooting the scenes
• Casting for actor
• Renting cameras
Mar 29 Reporting the process
Mar 28-Apr 3 Shooting
Apr 4-13 Overview of the material
• Shooting again if needed
Apr 14-24 Editing
Apr 25-May 1 Final overview and correction
May 3 Presentation of the project