Keeping with the theme of creating a thoughtful and insightful Weblog that can be used for its repository of resources and information in addition to blog posts, I have chosen to review and add ten more useful websites to my linkroll (located to the right). As always, when considering a website's validity and overall effectiveness, I apply the Webby Awards criteria to my assessment. Having said that, I must now concede that none of the sites added this week can harbor any hopes of actually winning the Webby Awards. That, however, does not mean that these sites are entirely without value. Indeed, they host a wealth of content that, for the right person, is invaluable. Though they all fail in visual design, interactivity and navigation, most (by virtue of the information they catalogue) provide insight into the needs of soldiers and the training methods the Army is adopting in order to meet those needs. Sites such as The Army Study Guide, Army Counseling Online, and the gem of my linkroll; The Center for Army Lessons Learned, provide users with a plethora of resources that can be used for learning anything from calling cadence to reacting to roadside bombs. The official military websites included were, perhaps, the worst sites for visual design and navigation but (provided that they functioned and did not have security locks) had the most authoritative information. The United States Army Accessions Command includes links to all entry level training programs. Contained within this site were documents relating to just about every detail of upcoming schools. (These included guidebooks, field manuals, training calendars, regulations, and packing lists). For soldiers and researchers interested in the Army's overseas activities beyond the War on Terror, the United States Army, Europe & 7th Army's website housed a repertoire of news articles and command releases depicting American training, European training, and international combined training operations. For those who want to see more scholastic compendiums of training research, the Combined Arms Research Library and the U.S. Army Center of Military History were extremely helpful sites. They both presented reasonably searchable directories and (mostly) working links to military documents and files. One of the more interesting attributes I discovered within the Research Library was a table listing of the physical location (by address and sometimes shelf number) of old military documents that have not been archived electronically. Finally, my additions this week include a few sites that are a little on the frivolous side but still informative. The National Defense Magazine and the Soldiers Magazine websites are the e-based siblings to paper publications and Ranger Joe's is a civilian company that provides military and law enforcement personal with a catalogue of equipment that is not ordinarily available or issued to personnel. In spite of the design quality these sites are a treasure chest, but don't take my word for it- scroll down and make a few clicks!
28 March 2008
I'm a Steam Roller: And My Linkroll Rolls On
Keeping with the theme of creating a thoughtful and insightful Weblog that can be used for its repository of resources and information in addition to blog posts, I have chosen to review and add ten more useful websites to my linkroll (located to the right). As always, when considering a website's validity and overall effectiveness, I apply the Webby Awards criteria to my assessment. Having said that, I must now concede that none of the sites added this week can harbor any hopes of actually winning the Webby Awards. That, however, does not mean that these sites are entirely without value. Indeed, they host a wealth of content that, for the right person, is invaluable. Though they all fail in visual design, interactivity and navigation, most (by virtue of the information they catalogue) provide insight into the needs of soldiers and the training methods the Army is adopting in order to meet those needs. Sites such as The Army Study Guide, Army Counseling Online, and the gem of my linkroll; The Center for Army Lessons Learned, provide users with a plethora of resources that can be used for learning anything from calling cadence to reacting to roadside bombs. The official military websites included were, perhaps, the worst sites for visual design and navigation but (provided that they functioned and did not have security locks) had the most authoritative information. The United States Army Accessions Command includes links to all entry level training programs. Contained within this site were documents relating to just about every detail of upcoming schools. (These included guidebooks, field manuals, training calendars, regulations, and packing lists). For soldiers and researchers interested in the Army's overseas activities beyond the War on Terror, the United States Army, Europe & 7th Army's website housed a repertoire of news articles and command releases depicting American training, European training, and international combined training operations. For those who want to see more scholastic compendiums of training research, the Combined Arms Research Library and the U.S. Army Center of Military History were extremely helpful sites. They both presented reasonably searchable directories and (mostly) working links to military documents and files. One of the more interesting attributes I discovered within the Research Library was a table listing of the physical location (by address and sometimes shelf number) of old military documents that have not been archived electronically. Finally, my additions this week include a few sites that are a little on the frivolous side but still informative. The National Defense Magazine and the Soldiers Magazine websites are the e-based siblings to paper publications and Ranger Joe's is a civilian company that provides military and law enforcement personal with a catalogue of equipment that is not ordinarily available or issued to personnel. In spite of the design quality these sites are a treasure chest, but don't take my word for it- scroll down and make a few clicks!
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This goals with this post to better you linkroll has definitely been achieved. The links you have chosen each make its own contribution to the linkroll. I believed that your link roll has become a better source for resources regarding your field. It is apparent that much time and research to find the right websites to add into the linkroll. Your insight of the websites as a whole and each on its own merits have been well evalutated.
I wonder why you have not taken the IMSA criteria into account when evaluating your websites. From my experience the IMSA criteria is another good source as a guideline to evaluate your sources. After having gone through the new links in your linkroll, the websites could be given a little more credit to its design. I can understand why they will not be willing any Webby Awards but the structure and organization of the websites are actually very successful. Sometimes the best design is simple. There are many instances when people hide behind their failures with colors and graphics.
This post overall is very well constructed. The structure flows nicely from one topic to another. I can also tell that you have throughly gone through each site to know what each one is about. Your research is obviously deep and not superficial. Being that you have provided what each website is about, it helps the user to know what to expect and is helpful in finding what the user needs. This post has not only added linkroll, but is a wonderful addition to your compilation of posts as well.
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