Practical 8

Activity 2 – Individual & Group
Visit this website http://www.talkingcock.com/
Using the criteria for evaluating websites, comment and justify whether you think this website is sustainable.

Purpose
Starting out as a forum for friends to share jokes is, talkingcock.com is now a site committed to preserving and advancing the authentic voice of Singaporeans, in a humurous manner.

Coverage
The website covers wide range of topic about happenings and facts of singapore. There are also many assorted columns each covering a specific topic.
List of Topics:
News:
- Local News
- International News
- Politics
- Business
- Sports
- The Arts
- News in Brief

Columns:
- Alien Talent
- Another Day In Paradise
- Diary of the Dragon Prince
- Art with Fatt
- Dear Ah Beng
- Travel with Auntie
- Lim Peh Ka Li Kong
- Louie Chin Ooh Lui
- Poet's Corner
- We, The Citizens
- Interview

Authority
The website is neither formerly credited or from any authorative source. The authors are made up of a group of Singaporeans that writes article for their own amusement and for others, usually by poking fun at unique trends in Singapore. As the website is of humurous nature, there are no former source of information, and is largely opinionated, and therefore have low credibility and reliability.

Accuracy
The website employs heavy usage of dialects and urban slangs, as well as Singlish and although sometimes relevant, are usually not completely based on facts, or have twisted interpretation of the original information to achieve humurous effect.

Currency
The website is well-maintained and updated regularly with information consisting of articles and post that .

Accessibility
The website is easily accessible with no restricted areas and do not require any log-in or registration procedures, with the exception of when one wishes to post in the forum.

Presentation and Arrangement
The website is designed more with practicality than aesthetic insight, with a simplistic layout that focusses on proper structuring of links and content. They also have a local search engine that allows people to quickly search for whatever information they desires.The presentation of the information and layout is consistent through out the website and the fonts used are readable with clear distinction between the heading and body of a post.

Usability
The website is strong in usability with properly structured navigation and side bars, as well as search engine and is designed in a manner that all the archived information can be accessed quickly and efficiently.

Overall
The website is entertaining and humurous, and the fact that it is regularly updated pulls vistor back to frequently check the website for update. Although the content is largely irrelevant to anyone that has not lived in Singapore before, it has a unique pull to Singaporeans as it gives them a platform to share their opinions about their country.

3. How would you react to this website if you were :
Singapore’s Prime Minister
A Singaporean
A Foreigner working / studying in Singapore

If I am the Singapore's Prime Minister, I would casually read through the jokes and humour unique to Singapore content, and perhaps post a reply or two myself anonymously to engage with my fellow citizens

In the case of being a Singaporean, that would be me, I would bookmark the page and frequent it for my daily amusement.

If I am a foreigner/student working in Singapore, I would find the way that Singaporeans poke fun at themselves to be hilarious or even laughable. I might not, however, understand where all these complaints and problems come about.


Reflections

From my experience in practical 6, I had this mindset that a website that are an authoritative source, or one that is accurate are the better website. But this week we look at a website with entertainment in mind, it is neither from an authoritative source, nor does it use proper language. It is neither outstanding in its layout, nor is it properly credited. The website just focus on poking fun at Singapore, yet it is updated regularly, has a large support base, and is a genuinely interesting website. This taught me that although we evaluate a website based on the same set of criteria, depending on the purpose of the website, certain criterias are less important.