Running head: ETPT7210 FINAL PROJECT

ETPT7210 Final Project

Music and Conflict: From Patriotism to Protest Website
Michelle Arbogast
The University of Toledo
December 7, 2015

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Our final ETPT7210 Introduction to Multimedia and Web Design course project was a
challenge in synthesizing all of the theory and web design principles discussed throughout the
class into a comprehensive and well-designed website.

For this challenge, I chose to design a

website using the Wix.com site builder which I believed had the most versatility and design
options. The topic of my website is Music and Conflict From Patriotism to Protest and it can
be found at http://michellearbogast.wix.com/musicandconflict. The site concept is to depict the
history of music as it pertains to times of war or conflict.

First is a brief discussion of the

implementation of each of the three theories covered in class, Multiple Intelligences Theory,
Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, and Cognitive Load Theory. Next is a brief
discussion of the application of 10 web design principles used in the creation of my site,
including universal usability. Finally, a few general concluding thoughts are provided about the
project and my opinion of the learning experience in completing this project.
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
I specifically selected the music and conflict subject for the rich potential the subject and site
would have to addressing the intelligences outlined in the Multiple Intelligences Theory.
Multiple Intelligences Theory, developed by Howard Gardner, theorizes individuals encompass
at least eight forms of intelligence by which individuals may vary in strength or weakness. The
standard eight intelligences are as follows:
1. Intrapersonal This intelligence deals with self-reflection and the knowledge of oneself.
2. Interpersonal This type of intelligence deals with ones sensitivity to others. These
individuals tend to be good collaborators and enjoy discussion or debate.
3. Visual/Spatial These individuals are visual learners and are generally very creative. Art
and beauty are key areas of interest for these individuals.
4. Musical Individuals with aptitude toward sound and rhythm and are able to play
musical instruments or compose music.

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5. Bodily-Kinesthetic These learners express themselves and learner through movement
and tend to be good at physical activities such as sports or dance.
6. Verbal-Linguistic These learners have a general ability with words and language and
tend to be good at reading, writing, and memorizing words, along with storytelling.
7. Logic Mathematical These individuals have an aptitude for reasoning, critical thinking
and problem solving. These learners are also good with numbers.
8. Naturalistic These learners tend to be in tune with nature and how things interact with
nature. (Wikipedia, 2015).
In designing my website, I carefully and intentionally addressed each of these intelligences as
described below:
1. Intrapersonal I decided to address this intelligence through the use of a blog rather than
my original idea of a reflection question on each page. I felt a blog would allow me to
tell my story and reflect on the veterans in my life and how their experiences impacted
me personally. I incorporated pictures of my family to give it a personal touch. To
encourage intrapersonal learners, I invited submissions of personal stories to the blog for
reflection and discussion.
2. Interpersonal I was able to incorporate quotes and reflections from veterans, musicians,
and historical figures to provide a pathway to how these individuals felt during these
times of conflict. In addition, I provided numerous videos depicting scenes of war,
happiness, and protest to provide even more reflective material supplemented by music.
3. Visual/Spatial Each page is set up on a template type in which there is text and then
supporting video and pictures to appeal to the visual learner. There are music and war
videos, broadcasting/news videos, videos of famous speeches, as well as still pictures and
a timeline to appeal to this type of learner.
4. Musical The musical learner will benefit from the plethora of sights and sounds
scattered throughout the site, including a Thinglinked jukebox in the media gallery

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with music spanning over 300 years. (Thinglink is a software program that allows text,
words, pictures, videos, and other multimedia to be attached to point-and-click spots on a
picture allowing for an interactive design.)
5. Bodily-Kinesthetic The best appeal for this learner in my website is all of the
Thinglinked objects the individual can click on and follow. Additionally, there is a
timeline and some hands-on activities suited for this type of learner.
6. Verbal-Linguistic I have not only included videos of songs, but incorporated pages that
include the entire song lyrics for this type of learner, drawn to literature and poems. In
addition, the quotes from famous people would appeal to individuals with this type of
intelligence. I have also incorporated a word search activity specifically for individuals
strong in the verbal-linguistic intelligence.
7. Logic Mathematical I have incorporated a timeline which is an organized,
chronological order to the site specifically intended for this type of learner. The historical
facts and figures on each of the war and conflict pages would also be of interest to this
type of learner.
8. Naturalistic This intelligence was a little more challenging as I wanted to show the
battlefields of each war which would outline the geography, as well as the terrain each
group had to endure during the war/conflict. With so many battles and battlefields, I
found it better to link to sites with vast amounts of technical and nature-related
information about all battlefield sites corresponding to each war/conflict. This concept
worked out better than I had hoped and broke up some of the longer text pieces I
originally incorporated.
Overall, I have carefully planned pieces of the site to target different intelligences within the
Multiple Intelligence Theory itself.
Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

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The second theory addressed by my website is the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia
Learning by Richard Mayer. The theory is based on three cognitive principles of learning:
1. Dual Channel Assumption: Humans possess one channel for auditory input and a separate
channel for visual input.
2. Limited Capacity Assumption: Humans have an innate limitation on the amount of
information that can be processed, by each channel, at any one time. Limited Capacity
Assumption relates to cognitive load.
3. Active Processing Assumption: Humans actively, cognitively process information so that
they may construct a coherent mental representation of an experience (Cognitive Theory
of Multimedia Learning, 2015).
What does all this boil down to? People learn more deeply from words and pictures than
from words alone (Mayer, 2015). Using this principle, my website uses multimedia such as
Thinglinked objects with video and music to reinforce the facts presented in text only or
picture only. Not only will the user see a quote, they may watch a film clip of the individual
actually saying the quote. The user may read about the facts of the Kent State Massacre, but then
see actual video footage taken at the scene and listen to a protest song with images in the
background. The bulleted facts for each war are meant as only a hint or tease to find out more
information through a read more button because supplying all of the information required to
fully delve into each war would require a much larger website. The overall purpose of the site is
not to teach about the war itself, rather it is to teach about the human emotions and impact of war
funneled through music. The site purpose is then supported by music, video, and sound clips that
support the textual information providing the user with a more vivid experience. Another
example of this merge of audio/pictures is the timeline which gives the user a visual walk
through history using the dates and events outlined in the separate pages in a more summary-

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type format of how events unfolded in time. This audio/visual merge allows for more active
processing of the information and more likely the information will be retained.
Cognitive Load Theory
Cognitive Load Theory, by John Sweller, indicates short term memory is limited and in
designing learning activities one must be sure not to overload the user with information that is
not organized, or is redundant, or requires more working memory to process. The overall goal is
the reduction of the working memory load. I addressed this issue in my website by creating very
strict template for each of the wars/conflicts outlined. The user would be given facts about the
specific war in a series of short bullet points on the left-side of the page. The right side of the
page is dedicated to the music surrounding the war/conflict. Finally, at the bottom of the page,
the connections are put together for the user in a visual representation, thereby reducing the
cognitive load and allowing the user to process the information in manageable chunks.
One particular example of managing cognitive overload came when I wanted to address
the naturalist intelligence. This intelligence was a little more challenging because of the amount
of information and wars I decided to outline in my website which encompassed a large number
of battles and battlefields. However, I decided rather than overloading the user with large
complicated maps directly on the website for each battle, I would link to various interactive
battlefield maps and allow the user to explore as much (or as little) as interested them personally.
I found this to be much cleaner and less of a cognitive load for my users when tested. This same
principle was employed when presenting the facts of each war/conflict. There was so much
history to cover in small bulleted items so I chose to add a read more button linking to the
reference sites I used to pull most of the bulleted material. Again, in that way the user could get
a feel for the battle on my website with just the basic facts, but delve deeper into the history if

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the user chose to do so. Again, I found this to make my website much more readable and less of
a cognitive load on the user.
Web Design Principles
Our class covered a wide array of web design principles and admittedly, it was a challenge to
adhere to some of them while designing my website. Using the web design principles outlined
prior to beginning the project, I will present the results of my attempt at adhering to the
principles outlined.
1. Dont make users think: My site explains on the home page in a clear concise manner the
purpose. The title itself is clear in linking music and conflict. The first page provides
additional direction as to the purpose of the site through a three picture gallery at the
bottom of the page linking users directly to menu options using a more visual approach
with a short paragraph describing the linked menu items.
2. Dont squander users patience: My interactive items (videos, Thinglinks, music clips)
are a one-click wonder for the most part, thus not requiring a high skill level or high level
of patience by the user.
3. Manage to focus users attention: My initial page has a composite photo montage to help
tell the story of the purpose of the site. However, the pictures are not interactive to focus
ensure the users attention is not drawn away from the paragraph describing the purpose
of the site.
4. Strive for feature exposure: I used a specific template for each war/conflict page for
consistency with bulleted facts on the left side, music/song lyrics on the other and then a
meshing of the two at the bottom/middle of the page. This guides the user structure-wise
to see the facts of the war, then the music of the times, and finally some background as to
why there may be more patriotic songs or protest songs based on the war facts. The page
scans well from left to right and then down using headings. I finally bring it all together

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on each page to show how music and the war/conflict came together with a Thinglink
object and a short paragraph on patriotism versus protest.
5. Make use of effective writing: I initially had one extra paragraph on each war entitled
Causes of the War and then decided to remove that piece and link the user to additional
websites for greater information and deeper research about each war. I decided this
because it was not effective to try to summarize complex and sometimes controversial
background issues surrounding some of the wars. I therefore, kept to bulleted facts at a
glance such as important dates and statistics of each war.
6. Strive for simplicity: The simplicity of my site is in the set up and template design.
Using the Thinglink feature allowed me to present a large amount of information, video,
data in a compact and one-click environment.
7. Dont be afraid of white space: This was very much a challenge when trying to condense
and balance the war versus music information side. I left obvious space between items to
provide the user with a break in the page. Out of all of these design principles, this was
one of the biggest challenges for me on the individual war/conflict pages. On the general
pages, I had more success.
8. Communicate effectively with a visible language: My site is logically organized with a
moderate, although condensed, use of visual cues. I believe I used a good mix of visual
cues with static text to allow the information to be communicated effectively without
feeling overwhelming.
9. Conventions are our friends: Using the Wix.com site helps with using conventions and
provides a nice color scheme for my site. I chose the more brown palate to give the site a
historical feel rather than a patriotic red-white-blue tone. The navigation of my site is
very clear and straight-forward with expandable menu items when necessary. Each page
has a clear title with subtitles outlining the page. The template of war facts on the left

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side of the page, music facts on the right side of the page, Thinglink bottom left and
Patriotism vs. Protest box on the bottom right provides a clear convention.
10. Test early, test often: This is my own mantra and I have a moderate-sized group of
friends and colleagues to review and test my site during and after completion to ensure
everything works and is user friendly. User feedback prompted me to make several
changes, such as eliminating the Causes of War paragraphs and opting for links to
informational websites instead in the form of a read more button.
Universal Usability
Another design issue we discussed was universal usability. Universal usability refers to
reducing functional limitations through design, and in this case, specifically using the site I
designed. Universal usability is based on three primary initiatives: accessibility, usability, and
universal design. Accessibility is the idea that the web should be accessible to everyone,
including people with disabilities. To ensure accessibility, I followed the guidelines of ensuring
there were alternate descriptions on graphics and that the videos met the required specifications
for those with hearing or visual impairments. When I could not caption the videos, I provided a
full text version of the songs that were included on each war/conflict page.
Usability comes in the form of user-centered design in that my site is easy to use and easy to
learn because of the conventional menu options, navigation, and structure. Universal design is
the element allowing people with varying abilities to use my site. My site is screen-reader
friendly, works with mobile devices, and includes graphic captions on visual elements with
alternate text.
Another form of usability is the ability of my site to be viewed on many different browsers
and devices. I spent time using the mobile design preview to ensure my site was mobile friendly

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and removed any large graphics or unnecessary items to ensure the site was readable via mobile
device. This was enlightening when viewing the site from various viewpoints.
Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed this project and am extremely satisfied with how the site developed
and finished. Keeping in mind all of the theory, web design principles, and universal usability
issues during the development phase made the creation of the site a complex, challenging task.
At times, I had to fight with myself over content and structure, leaning on the web design
principles and theory to come to final decisions. I struggled with incorporating just the right
balance between multimedia and text. Additionally, I had to ensure the project did not grow out
of control with the amount of information available on each war/conflict and my overall love of
the music in each of the eras. I also had to ensure I did not get caught up in trying to provide
every angle and every piece of data available or the site could become overwhelming. All in all,
I am very happy with the results and believe the exercise really brought home the complexity of
the web design process.
I loved the subject matter and hope you will find the site as entertaining from the user
point of view as I did from the creator point of view.

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References
Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. (2015, December 2). Cognitive Theory of
Multimedia Learning. Retrieved from Cognitive Theory of Multimedia
Learning: http://cogload.wikispaces.com/
Mayer, R. E. (2015, December 2). Retrieved from
http://files.onearmedman.com/fordham/mayer2005ch3.pdf
Wikipedia. (2015, December 2). Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences