EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Q IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVECTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Media is a term that deals with various means and methods of communication such as radio, television and newspapers etc. Our media product is website dealing with infertility. Our media product has the capacity to challenge and standout amongst other websites. The strong content of the website is a strong highlight. This is because there are few if any Pakistani websites on infertility. We not only explain the disease and possible treatments, we also inform people of the latest and ongoing clinical research trials on infertility, adding to their hope. In addition a lot of thought has been put into designing the website.

Each and every element of the websites was chosen with utmost care. From colours to flash, from the navigation bar to the logo all was selected vigilantly. Thus it can be safely concluded that our website has the ability to make its mark among competing websites.

Q WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Our media product is a website and thus unlike other media product such as magazines, our website will not follow convectional distribution channels. The uploading on the website is its distribution. However merely uploading the website is not enough. Further marketing needs to be conducted. Optimizing the websites on search engines like Google, placing banners and ads on relevant websites such as websites based on medicine and infertility all will aid the distribution process. In addition along with e-marketing, advertisements concerning the promotion the websites will also be placed in newspaper and magazines. Magazines based on health and medicines are the ones where our website will be promoted.

Q IN WHAT WAY DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT A PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP?

Our media product is a website based on infertility. Thus clearly the social groups that we are representing are the people suffering from this disease. This very important social issue has been widely neglected especially in Pakistan. Few if any awareness programs are being conducted and NGO’s too rarely support this cause. Government health and awareness campaigns are mostly centre about family control and family planning but negligible work is being conducted on infertility. Therefore it’s our website that not only aims at creating awareness but hand and hand provides information regarding how to treat infertility, with references of doctors both at home and clinical research trials being carried abroad.

Q WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE OF YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

Our media product is a website is made for an NGO Circles. Circles aims at creating awareness and consequently provide treatment in co-operation with the Doctors Hospital, Lahore. However Circles is not a charity based organization. The full cost of the treatment lies with the patient. Considering the fact at infertility treatments can be extremely expensive, our target audience strictly comprises of those people who can afford the expense involved. If our target audience was to strictly divide in socio- economic classes, then it can be said that Circles is catering to upper and elite class.

However as far as the awareness aspect is concerned our websites has a vast target audience. Anyone who has access to the internet and is interested can visit our website and gain valuable information.

Q HOW DID YOU ATTRACT ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

The launch of our website Circles was backed up by an extensive promotional and advertising campaign. The website was promoted by distributing pamphlets and broachers to the leading hospitals and infertility clinics of Lahore. These pamphlets were then in turn distributed to the potential customers. Our website was also promoted on television and newspaper. Highlights of the promotional campaign included our highly qualified and experienced panel of doctors and experts associated with our NGO Circles, the high standards of medical care provided and our dedication towards patient care.

In addition seminars were conducted and an awareness campaign on infertility was conducted via both electronic and print media to highlight the issue in public eye.

Q WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

In the process of constructing this website I think we have learned a lot about technologies and procedures involved in developing a website. Basically two main software were used in developing this website, Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dream viewer. Photoshop taught us a lot about image manipulation and enhancement using layer blending options, cropping and by the use various filters. Smudge, blur and sharpen tools, feathering, transformation tools, gradients and colour curves all proved immensely useful. We also learnt about masking and merging layers. The pen tool also proved very useful for developing strokes and curves.

This software also taught us about blending and mixing colours in order to come up with new and interesting shades In addition Photoshop also assisted us with developing the layout of our website. The layout of the website was first developed in Adobe Photoshop and then from there sliced and taken to Macromedia Dream viewer. Photoshop assisted us with slicing as well. Rulers and guides were placed enabling us accurately and precisely crop the required parts and portions of the website turn by turn. Once cropped they were saved using the option of ‘save for web devices’ (present in Photoshop) in GIF or JPEG format depending on the colours present in the image. If the image comprises of two or three basic colours GIF format is used otherwise in case of colour rich images JPEG format is applied. Once layout and images were ready and cropped they were transferred to Macromedia Dream viewer. It was in this software that the layout of our website was translated in form (HTML coding) suitable to be opened in the internet browsers. Tables were developed, images rollover images, flash, music and links were inserted to our website using this software. Flash for the website was developed using Macromedia Flash. This software taught us how to develop flash using various effects and methods.

Q LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Our preliminary task was short and much more simplistic compared to the full product. The preliminary task comprised of just two pages where as in case of the full product we made nine pages. Initially content development was brief where as in case of this full product the content writing was in much more depth and detailed. Our initial website did not comprise 0f flash. Flash was developed and was part of only the full product. Our preliminary website did not include a video and music where as these features were a part of the full product. Our preliminary task was short and much more simplistic compared to the full product. The preliminary task comprised of just two pages where as in case of the full product we made nine pages. Initially content development was brief where as in case of this full product the content writing was in much more depth and detailed.

Our initial website did not comprise 0f flash. Flash was developed and was part of only the full product. Our preliminary website did not include a video and music where as these features were a part of the full product. The layout of our initial website was very basic where as we feel that in case of the full product more complex and enhanced. We learnt about logo development and designing in the full product and not in the preliminary task. Linking of web pages in case of the initial website was straightforward and simple where as the full product required a network of extensive linking