2009

ITGS Assessment

Christina Svensson

Christina Svensson
 000953- 189
25.03.2009

G IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM WITHIN A SOCIAL

CONTEXT

Introduction
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music. They are generally held outdoors, and do often
incorporate other attractions such as social activities, merchandise vendors or performance art. European
music festivals have had some of the greatest musicians play on their festivals, and festival lovers from all
over the world would come back every year. A festival is all about peace, love and music!

Purpose
This summer (2008) I have been visiting quite a few festivals, and when I came to Canada, I felt like no one
knew anything about European festivals. This is why I sough to make Canadians interested in European
festivals. As I found more and more pictures and collected information and festival evaluations, it was
obvious that there was a need for a way of sharing all this information without having to contact each and
every interested Canadian by phone or mail.

I chose to use e-mail as the information sharing medium. Sending out newsletters by e-mail would be a
perfectly fine way to send pictures, videos and other information. It was also easier, since people now could
send me responses to the media attached, or add other information which would be sent next time a
newsletter was sent out. The “members” of this festival interest group could now also send mail to other
“members” and share experiences and information.

Problem
After a while I learned that e-mail was a hassle, and it took time and effort to send of all the e-mails. Some e-
mails would fail to reach the recipient, and some would even never be sent. This was most likely caused by
the massive amount of media (pictures, videos, etc) that would be attached to each e-mail. There would also
be “members” who was no longer interested in the European festivals, and wanted their name of the e-mail
list. This was quite a job; looking trough hundreds of names to find that certain name that was to be taken of
the list. By sending everything by e-mail, I also had to duplicate my effort, in order to answer everyone’s
questions. It was great that so many responded and kept adding comments, but they kept asking the same
questions, and I kept giving the exact same answer. By sending out these e-mails I would also infringe upon
the members privacy, because I would also provide all the recipients with e-mail and name of the other
“members”.

Alternative solution
After several negative comments on the present system, e-mails, I decided that there was time for a new
information distribution system. This IT solution would have the ability to include a large amount of media
files (e.g. pictures, videos, etc) and being able to change at a moment’s notice.

End-user
The end-user of this IT solution would first of all be Canadian youth interested in European culture and/or
music, but also other, in general, festival-, music-, and culture interested.

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H ANALYSIS AND FEASIBILITY OF THE SUBJECT

Introduction
Two feasible and different IT approaches to the solution of the problem will be analyzed. For each approach,
four areas will be examined in order to justify a chosen approach, and explain how it solves the problem.
These four areas are; Introduction, benefits, detriments, and feasibility.

Brochure:

Introduction
A brochure is a splendid mean for distributing information to the masses. The brochure could be made using
one of Microsoft Words publishing or processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. By selecting an
appropriate layout, appealing to the “correct” audience is more likely. By using this brochure, users can
obtain the wanted information from notes and articles.

Advantages Disadvantages
Can be distributed by mail Distribution by mail is costly
Information is current Past information not available
If the users do not wish to receive the brochure any more, Users will not get the information unless they
that can be arranged within short time request it
Can be distributed by mail (everyone has an address) Those who receive the newsletter by mail can-
not easily replicate articles to further distribute

Through internet distribution (if possible), users can copy
sections and forward to other in order to spread the inform-
ation
Update articles can provide minimal information while
still being informative
Most users have internet access, if sent by mail
Such features result in a product that is costly to
print for mail distribution
If lost, there will be no possibility of obtaining
the brochure again
Not all users can access internet

Feasibility
Creating a brochure is very feasible, as programs for making brochures are user friendly and many tutorials
are available. The brochure would only have to be made once, because it cannot be updated as more
information is available and renewed.

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Web site:

Introduction
This would act as a guide through the world of music festivals. It could be laid out on separate web pages,
each addressing one aspect of the topic. A 'table of contents' page would offer links to each page on the site,
and there would also be links between the pages, offering visitors a clear overview and the possibility to
check a specific question quickly.

Advantages
Internet is an splendid source for
information, and information can
be spread to the whole world
You can obtain only the wanted
info without committing to any-
thing; a website is open for every-
one
Past and current information is
available
Disadvantages
Not everyone have access to the
internet
You have to check the internet
yourself, and will not receive a
“reminder” (as you will by choos-
ing to receive the brochure)
Information can change over
night, you will have to update
yourself frequently

Can be distributed by e-mail and Errors in sending the e-mail might

sending internet links
Web pages could include a num-
ber of attractive visual effects col-
our, images, animations, movies,
links, etc.
occur
Ergonomic issues could hinder
use of this site regularly. E.g. The
animations and bright colours
might damage the users’ eye
sight.

Feasibility
Creating a website would be very feasible due to the user friendly programs, and the popularity of internet
accessible information. Updating the website would be easy, as it is changeable. The website would also be
easily accessed by people all around the world, and would not limit the target group.

Final solution and justification

In comparing the benefits and detriments, it has become evident that a website is the best solution to solve
the problem. A webpage can not only be changed within seconds, it also provides enough room for all the
media and information. The chosen solution is also the cheapest one, as the paper and all the ink for the
brochures would have to be paid for. Other benefits are that a website is open to everyone, meaning the end
user group will expand – which with a brochure would be impossible at this level – and the interest in
European music festivals will grow.

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I PLANNING AND DEVELOPPING THE CHOSEN IT
SOLUTION
Introduction
This part of the report will concentrate on the development of the solution to the problem of awareness to
Tabby’s Hair studio. It will focus on 5 main areas: a timeline, design, Software, Hardware and the data
collection process.

Timeline
The following timeline shows the days of the events and processes that were completed during the creation of
the IT solution.

Date Project status Person responsible

22-Oct-08 Came up with two optional solutions, for dis- Christina Svensson
playing information, to replace e-mailing
01-Nov-08 Presentation of both solutions to end, followed Christina Svensson /
by discussion. Preferable IT- solution chosen. Bjorn Vilsten
02-Nov-08 Information is collected Christina Svensson
04-Dec-08 Website layout created Christina Svensson
12-Dec-08 Colour Scheme incorporated into website, cre- Christina Svensson
ation of DHTML menu bar
08-Jan-09 All pages created, photos collected Christina Svensson
17-Jan-09 Photo gallery created and incorporated into web- Christina Svensson
site
29-Jan-09 Homepage designed, font size and style selected Christina Svensson

28-Feb-09 First Beta Test (Beta Test 3) completed, changes Christina Svensson /
made to header Hans Gjoksoy
02-Mar-09 Second Beta Test (Beta Test 2) completes, Christina Svensson /
homepage introduction constructed Amelia Bailey
04-Mar-09 End-user testing (Beta Test 1) completed, no Christina Svensson /
changes made Bjorn Vilsten
06-Mar-09 Report started Christina Svensson
24-Mar-09 Report completed Christina Svensson
25-Mar-09 Project submission Christina Svensson

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Design
The following is a flowchart of the site map of the design of the European Music Festivals website:

European Music Festivals

O
Exit All Tomorrows Parties
rigi
nall
About About y,
the
Artists/Bands Artist/Bands

Costs Costs

Pictures Pictures

Roskilde Electric Picnic

About About

Artists/Bands Artists/Bands

Costs Costs

Pictures Pictures

Hove

About

Artists/Bands

Costs

Pictures
plan was to have 7 festivals, each with 6 subcategories. After some trouble with one of the html codes, I
decided I had to cut down on the number of pages; it was just too much work correcting the mistake. Also,
time started to become a serious issue, and therefore cuts had to be done.

As for the technological aspect of the website, a template was created using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 9.0.
The template created was dark, using bright colours for the writing. This was done to ensure a young, but still

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professional look throughout the whole website. This one template was subsequently used for each page. The
difficulty changing the pages later was a problem I encountered. Instead of changing the template, every page
had to be changed, by altering the html code for each and every one of the pages. This was highly
disadvantageous for me in terms of time, and caused trouble several times during the process.

Header created in
Adobe Photoshop
CS3

Menu bar is placed

here when viewed
in Internet
Explorer. Due to
the fact that the
menu maker
software Sothink is
not compatible with
the website creator
Dreamweaver, the
menu bar created is
not visible other
than in the html
code when
displayed in
Dreamweaver.

Displayed below is
a screenshot of the
header while being
worked on in
Adobe Photoshop
CS3

Different effects,
among them the
effect of
transparency used
to create the EU-
rings in the middle
of the header
image.

Layers were made

in order to create
depth and a unique
look.

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The image below is a screenshot of the program used to make the menu bar, Sothink.

The drop-down
menu is made by
mixing effects like
colours, shading
effects, outer glow
effects, etc. from
the sidebar in
Sothink.

The sections and

subsections of the
menu created is
displayed on the
left side

Software
A screenshot and description of how each of the software was used is included below:

• Microsoft Word (word processor)

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 (photo editor and graphic design)
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 (web design and coding)
• Microsoft Paint 5.1
• Sothink DHTML Menu 9.0
• Internet Explorer (web browser)

Microsoft Word is a word processor used to create

this report, type the information that is on the
website, and the testing forms used to get feedback
for the website from the end users. Features such as
spell-check corrected any spelling and grammatical
errors, helping me make the website look more
professional. The thesaurus also helped me
constructing a more professional look with
synonyms and correct terminology. Both features
helped extensively throughout the creation of the
website.

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 Adobe Photoshop is a graphic design
program used to create and enhance images
such as the header and some of the festival
logos for the website. Features such as
layers and crop/ resize were used. Layers
helped to preserve the original state of an
image while manipulating another version
of it through another layer and resizing
helped to resize the photo while keeping the
high resolution.

Adobe Dreamweaver is a website design and

code application that was the one of the
primary applications used for the creation of
the website. Features such as CSS panel,
layout visualization, and site definition were
used to assist in ensuring a formal working
website.

Microsoft Paint 5.1 is a simple graphics painting

program. Picture cropping was the main feature used.
Parts of pictures were easily cut out, cropped, and
resized. One of the advantageous qualities of this
software is the cutting; the size stays the same and the
high resolution kept.

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 Sothink DHTML Menu 9.0 is a user friendly navigation
menu builder. The menu was used to create a cross-
browser and a modern drop-down menu. The different
features, like the diverse colour scheme and the
transparent look, make this professional looking, dark
drop-down menu look modern and eye-catching.

Internet Explorer 6.0 is a series of graphical web

browsers. It was used for testing the product, and
preview the product throughout its creation.

Hardware:

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 The hardware required to run the software
above is satisfactorily provided by the
system displayed. These are all the specs of
the computer in the schools computer lab
used to create the final product.
Dreamweaver, Sothink, Microsoft Word,
Paint, and the rest of the software were all
accessed through this computer system, as
the software was installed on it.

This Ixus 95 IS digital camera has 10

mega pixels, 3x optical zoom, and a 2.3”
LCD-screen. The camera was used to
most of the pictures displayed in the
websites photo galleries (the rest was
collected from the festivals’ websites).

Data Collection:
The data and content used in the website
was collected from the music festivals’
websites and the key people associated with the European Music Festivals website. I made a request to

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several members of the end user group – youth between 16-25 years – about the content they wished for to be
accessible on the website. All other data was collected from the Beta Testers who were determined to have
the proper expertise in website design and who were festival experienced enough to be able to contribute to
the website content.

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J TESTING AND EVALUATING THE CHOSEN SOLUTION

Introduction
This section is dedicated to the testing process. Three testers will be asked to perform a Beta Test
questionnaire, with questions concerning the design, navigation and content of the website. I will display
the comments they made, refinements made (if any), and the result. Beta Test questionnaires can be found
in Appendix A.

First Beta Test (Beta Test 3)

Hans Gjokoy was asked to test the product because of his experience from visiting and volunteering at
several Norwegian festivals. He is also a part of the end user group; youth between 16-25 years. He has
been requiring information about European music festivals.

Comments
Mr. Gjokoy gave excellent rating for almost every section of the questionnaire. He mentioned the
“appropriate and relevant content” and navigation as outstanding, but he disliked the design of the header in
every page.

Refinements
Mr. Gjokoy’s comments gave one suggestion for a refinement:

• Make the header smaller, so the menu would be more outstanding.

Justification
This refinement will help the users of this website to see more of the page without having to scroll down,
and they will also see the professional-looking menu better. The new header also makes the information
look more reliable and professional.

Result
Before changes were applied:

As displayed in the screenshot on the left; the

header is too big, covering most of the page
causing inconvenient scrolling and taking the
attention away from the menu bar.

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After changes were applied:

As the screenshot shows, the new header

makes the website more professional
looking, and it also makes the navigation
easier because there is no longer a need to
scroll down to see the main part of the
page.

Second Beta Test (Beta Test 2)

Amelia Bailey was asked to test the product because of her experience from visiting several European
festivals. She is also a part of the end user group; youth between 16-25 years.

Comments
Ms. Bailey really enjoyed the website, and marked every section perfect. Ms. Bailey really liked the refined
header, I quote; “perfect”. The whole design section was commented to be good. The only suggestion she
made was that she did not like the homepage because it had no further introduction.

Refinements
Ms. Bailey’s comments gave one suggestion for a refinement:

• Create an introduction on the homepage

Justification
This refinement will help the users of this website to better understand what the website contains, and give
it a more professional look.

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Result
Before changes were applied:

As mentioned in Ms. Bailey mentioned, the

homepage was missing something: the
introduction.

After changes were applied:

As displayed, an introduction was added. The

introduction is a welcoming paragraph
mentioning the main sections of the website.
This change made it look far more
professional, and the homepage seems more
complete in its whole.

End User Test (Beta Test 1)

Bjorn Vilsten was asked to test the product because of his experience and expertise in website creation for
several Norwegian and Swedish music festivals. He is also a part of the end user group; youth between 16-
25 years.

Comments
Mr. Vilsten made it clear that he was satisfied with the design, navigation and content. He said it “had a

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very professional look”. Due to lack of time, the comments were not as extensive as wanted, but due to his
fine expertise and substantial experience, the scaling is more than good enough for the testing.

Refinements
Mr. Vilsten’s comments gave no suggestions for refinements, so none will be made

Justification
No refinements made

Result

As seen in this screenshot, no

refinements were made, and the
website remains the same. Previous
changes due to comments from Beta
Testers, helped provide me with the
changes both they and I felt like the
webpage needed.

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K ASSESSING THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
PRODUCT

Observed social impact

The observed social impact of the solution was first noticed during the first Beta Test. Mr. Gjoksoy has
previously been involved in a gang activity before he became interested in music. When he saw the website,
his face turned into a big smile. He mentioned that this type of websites was what saved him from the “gang
environment”, and that the website was interesting for youth because of the modern layout and interesting
content. “This is what kids need; a healthy hobby. This website creates cultural interest, and approaches
youth from a different perspective than other web pages by posting personal pictures, showing how it is “in
real life””.

I was astonished when Ms. Bailey was interested in the content, not only the pictures. She, as every other
typical youth that age, usually does not read the content on the web pages she browses. But with my web site,
she was reading about the festivals because she was not familiar with them, and she wanted to learn more.

This was the reaction I was hoping for, making this website. In conclusion, this website has been observed to
be the perfect solution to the product, and has given the wanted results; it is available to everyone with
internet access, larger target group (end user), and promoting European music festivals.

Projected social impact

Because of the website, I believe that more people will attend the European music festivals, developing
cultural interested youth, only to become great artists and culturally open-minded leaders. By attending to
the music festivals you obtain a kind of life experience you will never get anywhere else. The combination
of being on your own (which is the most likely scenario), interact socially with people from other cultures
and from a totally different part of the world, and obtain artistic skills is genuine.

The world is a place for everyone, and if there is one thing history has taught us, it must be that cultures
must be united in order to achieve equality and peace. And that we must be united in culture.

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 APPENDICES

Appendix A: The works

Sothink

Adobe Photoshop

Appendix B: The Product

All Tomorrows Parties Main Page

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Electric Picnic Main Page

Exit Main Page

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Hove Main Page

Roskilde Main Page

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All Tomorrows Parties Pictures Page

All Tomorrows
Parties Photo
Gallery (from link
displayed in previous
screenshot; “All
Tomorrows Parties
Pictures Page”)

22
Hove Costs Page

Roskilde Artists/Bands
Page

23
European Music Festivals Main Page (showing drop-down menu bar)

European Music Festivals Main Page

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Appendix C: Evaluations (Beta Tests and End-User Test)

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(See following 9 pages)

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