Week 3 - Historical Website Review

Assignment: Review an approved History Website.Your review should cover the following issues:1) Usability;2) Content;3)Scholarship;4)Presentation;5)Use of New Media
Website: The Decameron Web - http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/dweb.shtml
This website is designed by Brown University Students for use in investigation and discussion concerning the Decameron texts. The Decameron texts are a collection of 100 stories by Italian author Giovanni Boccacio in the mid 1300s. They are presented on this website in full both in Italian and in English translation by J.M. Rigg.
This website is well constructed and has some wonderful attributes but also some severe flaws. First we will start with the Usability of this website. This website is very user friendly. However, it is primarily usable to someone who knows what the Decameron texts are. This website does describe what the Decameron texts are, but you must search a bit for the definition, whereas to a new user a quick reference would be much more helpful. But this one small thing aside this website is constructed masterfully. You have access to almost any piece of knowledge concerning these texts you could hope for. One major asset is the sheer search ability of the texts. This website offers search ability by word, character, place, or an advanced search. This is only hindered by the need to search for the Italian words. This website breaks down the characters in the stories, allowing for individual information on each for the reader, as well as breakdowns on the culture, art, black plague, society and a number of other aspects of the stories. It gives details on these components of the 100 stories, while maintaining search ability and providing a plethora of additional resources outside this website. It even has pictures of maps included to detail where events occur. In total, this website allows you to both better grasp the works, and to research them with an ease and thoroughness that is welcome. In short, very usable by someone who needs to do research. Additionally, it is very usable by the teachers too. There are sections for lesson plans, sample syllabus, and exercises for students. This website is constructed as if to host aid to a class devoted to the Decameron texts.
Though content has largely been touched on already, it must be re-iterated that this website provides a large amount of information concerning these texts. The html version of the texts are broken down in the numbered sections, and you may link between the Italian and English versions at almost any location to aid in content access. The information is thorough for a summary, which is what most of the links are. They summarize the information you look for without requiring the viewer to read through all 100 stories to analyze them for themselves. Additionally it presents histories on the author, and of the time period to help the reader get a broader picture of the dynamics of the stories. The scholarship and presentation are wrapped up largely in this as well. The information is well presented as well as well written. They are not opinion articles but are short pieces giving overall summaries of specific sections.
This website does not use too much new media however. It does offer as explained above, various additional reference sites, teaching techniques, and teaching resources, but it is fairly traditional in the website construction having a simple topics bar and a very useful search engine. The additional websites include several resources both to expand upon the research of the Decameron as well as expand upon medieval history, sources for images, and just general searches such as google.com. The website does not provide much in the way of videos or downloadable tools beyond texts, but it does have a very thorough bibliography, and resource guide for all texts, pictures, and maps used. The site also has a “What’s New” section where they keep the visitors posted on discussion board updates, and new sections of the website that are added. Beyond this there is little new technology used as this website does not even have a visible hit counter.
All in all, the website is built well for both the casual visitor and the intense researcher. It is easy enough to navigate so that a first time visitor will be able to find any information they require, while allowing them to gain an appreciation for the material presented here. It has room for improvement, mainly in presenting some of the more pertinent information in a more surface location, and it could expand itself by using some more modern technology, or perhaps some audio references without worrying about becoming too commercial, but in all it is still a very competent website, especially one that has been created solely as a source of discussion and not profit.