Helping Gillmor: Making the News

I’m a little behind in blogging Elwyn Jenkins’ response to Dan Gillmor’s Making the News. Here’s what Elwyn says: “Writing, that you see here in this [Elwyn’s] weblog, is not journalism. This is more about pedagogy than it is about journalism. This is about organizing information — some bloggers do that by simply amassing a…

Low-End Media for User Empowerment

“Fancy media on websites typically fails user testing. Simple text and clear photos not only communicate better with users, they also enhance users’ feeling of control and thus support the Web’s mission as an instant gratification environment.” Jakob Nielsen —Low-End Media for User EmpowermentAlertBox) There’s nothing stunning in this post, but it’s presented in the…

Grammar Valued More in College than High School

“The writing skills college instructors most want from incoming freshmen–proper grammar and usage–are considered least important by high school English teachers….Among six writing skills, grammar and usage were taught the least by more than 700 high school English teachers surveyed during a national curriculum survey ACT conducts every three years.” Rosalind Rossi —Grammar Valued More…