Report

Executive Summary

This report is written by Brody Murray, Connie Zeng, Dai Nguyen, Niko Roqueza, Ian Tian. It gives an explanation of the chosen topic, the final design of the blog and some of the largest challenges with team assignments. It also compares a blog that has similar content to our blog and critically analyses it.

1.0 Explanation of the chosen blog topic and final design of the blog.

1.1 Chosen topic

The final chosen topic for our blog was hard to decide upon when we first started our blog. At first we brain stormed many ideas about our interests. For example, Dai and Brody were interested in games, Connie was interested in food, Niko was interested in shoes and Ian was interested in Anime. Since our group had different interests, we expanded the topic idea which would cater for our whole group. In the end it was hard for our group to come to a final decision for our topic as we had to decide between the topic of movie reviews, food and travel. We came to a final decision of the topic 'travel' because everyone in our group had traveled somewhere before and we wanted to share our experiences.

1.2 Design of the blog

The first design of the blog was drawn out so that we were able to visualize what our blog would look like. With that in mind we created the design of the blog with the intention of making our blog simple. The background of the Eiffel tower was chosen because it related to our topic of 'travel' and the colour of the text and font was chosen to be grey with a white heading because it would be clear, easy to read and wouldn't hurt the readers eyes after a long period of time. The pictures that we used were chosen because they were specifically related to the content, and we ensured we had an equal balance of text and pictures. This balance and addition of a visual medium would maintain the simplistic nature of the overall blog, whilst also adding complexity.

2.0 Largest challenges faced with a team assignment

2.1 Time management

One of the largest challenges faced in a team assignment was time management. This was a problem within our group as it was hard to choose a time that suited everyone to get together to discuss the topic and design of the blog. As well as spending time to manage the blog due to the difference in time schedules within the group. Also, it was a struggle to decide what people should contribute towards the blog. To combat this problem, the use of 'wikispaces' was used, this allowed the group members to communicate with each other without having the need to meet at a location and discuss, as the discussion happen online from home.

 2.2 Allocation of work load

Our blog posts were divided evenly among the five group members, where each of us were tasked with providing 4 or more posts each on our selected travel destination. It was difficult for some of us to complete in the required time due to other workloads, but everyone ensured that their contribution was completed.

The report was the most difficult in terms of allocating work, as the rest of the assignment was easily completed without physical communication. Every group member contributed towards the report through editing it on blogger, with each person focusing on a specific topic within the report. The report undeniably the most difficult task within the assignment to complete, not only due to varying schedules but also the allocation of the work.

2.3 Disagreement on the content 

Another challenge that we discovered while doing the assignment was the disagreement of content. This came about because of peoples varying experiences and personal views, where content was disputed and difficult to come to a final decision. Although, through communication and planning the blog over the weeks since we received the assignment, the final outcome of the blog was able to surface. Whilst disagreement was a challenge in the team assignment, it was able to be resolved through weeks of communication and sharing of ideas.

3.0 Comparing a blog that has similar content to our blog and critically analyse both blogs.

3.1

http://www.disarmdoors.com.au/

This blog is also a travel blog that is focused on the travel experiences of a individual over their journeys across the world.

The layout of this blog is extremely similar to ours, where the main content is centered, with a twitter feed and links to websites on the left.

They also have detailed icons for their social media sites, which adds to the aesthetic of the blog. In addition to this, they have a lot more pages than our blog does, where they go into depth about themselves and also their partners. This inclusion of added pages increases the extensity of the blog and adds a varying amount of content to their page, whilst also drawing in a diverse audience.

In terms of content  it features slightly different posts than ours such as 'Three signs you've booked the wrong hotel'. This style of blog post is commonly referred to as 'click-bait' and is created to draw viewers in, usually due to the blog being more popular and  receiving revenue.

4.0 Conclusion

Conclusively, this report covers the design and topic of the blog, some of the largest challenges that were faced with the team assignment and compares our blog to a similar one and critically analyses it.