The InfoPlease Almanac
The InfoPlease Almanac
http://www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html
Grades: All | Subject(s): All | Overall rating: 6
The textbook discussed the InfoPlease Almanac, so I decided to research this online reference for this project. When I opened the site, I was bombarded by an enormous amount advertisements, all containing sound. It was incredibly distracting! I almost quit the site altogether and tried to find another resource to peruse; however, I decided I would give it a chance. Throughout my examination of the site, the advertisements continued to popup and distract the user experience.
The website is drab and boring, not nearly as interesting as the website for The Old Farmer's Almanac. When you enter the site, users can search for a term or examine the almanac by a topical overview including categories for: world, biography, business, United States, sports, society and culture, history and government, arts and entertainment, or health and science. Within each category, several subcategories exist. Users can also choose to browse the almanac using an alphabetical index.
I clicked on "World's Tallest Buildings" to view an article detailing the tallest buildings in the world. It was interesting; however, none of the buildings were linked to find out more information or at least view a picture of the building. A similar article was linked detailing the "World's Tallest Towers." O learned that the difference between a structure being classified as a "building" or a "tower" was that a building has floors all the way up to the top; however, a tower may have observation decks or restaurants, but they do not have floors all the way up. The Towers article did not have pictures either. Both articles were last updated in 2007, which is really dated for this type of information. I think the articles could be drastically improved if the site developers would link pictures or information about the topics.
To compare the InfoPlease Almanac with the Old Farmer's Almanac, I decided to search for my birthday. More than 120 articles were displayed for my search results. I browsed the first two articles. The first article discussed Frederick Douglass, the American Abolitionist, since we share a birthday. It also listed several more famous people with whom I share we share a birthday including: Sir Thomas More (1478), John Deere (1804), Charles Dickens (1812), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), Eubie Blake (1883), Sinclair Lewis (1885), An Wang (1920), James Spader (1960), Chris Rock (1966), and Ashton Kutcher (1978). While the list returned through InfoPlease is more extensive, , I still prefer the layout of The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Source Articles:
February 7th Birthdays. (2006). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/birthday/February-7.
World's Tallest Towers. (2007). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0886190.html.
World's Tallest Buildings. (2007). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html.
http://www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html
Grades: All | Subject(s): All | Overall rating: 6
The textbook discussed the InfoPlease Almanac, so I decided to research this online reference for this project. When I opened the site, I was bombarded by an enormous amount advertisements, all containing sound. It was incredibly distracting! I almost quit the site altogether and tried to find another resource to peruse; however, I decided I would give it a chance. Throughout my examination of the site, the advertisements continued to popup and distract the user experience.
The website is drab and boring, not nearly as interesting as the website for The Old Farmer's Almanac. When you enter the site, users can search for a term or examine the almanac by a topical overview including categories for: world, biography, business, United States, sports, society and culture, history and government, arts and entertainment, or health and science. Within each category, several subcategories exist. Users can also choose to browse the almanac using an alphabetical index.
I clicked on "World's Tallest Buildings" to view an article detailing the tallest buildings in the world. It was interesting; however, none of the buildings were linked to find out more information or at least view a picture of the building. A similar article was linked detailing the "World's Tallest Towers." O learned that the difference between a structure being classified as a "building" or a "tower" was that a building has floors all the way up to the top; however, a tower may have observation decks or restaurants, but they do not have floors all the way up. The Towers article did not have pictures either. Both articles were last updated in 2007, which is really dated for this type of information. I think the articles could be drastically improved if the site developers would link pictures or information about the topics.
To compare the InfoPlease Almanac with the Old Farmer's Almanac, I decided to search for my birthday. More than 120 articles were displayed for my search results. I browsed the first two articles. The first article discussed Frederick Douglass, the American Abolitionist, since we share a birthday. It also listed several more famous people with whom I share we share a birthday including: Sir Thomas More (1478), John Deere (1804), Charles Dickens (1812), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), Eubie Blake (1883), Sinclair Lewis (1885), An Wang (1920), James Spader (1960), Chris Rock (1966), and Ashton Kutcher (1978). While the list returned through InfoPlease is more extensive, , I still prefer the layout of The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Source Articles:
February 7th Birthdays. (2006). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/birthday/February-7.
World's Tallest Towers. (2007). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0886190.html.
World's Tallest Buildings. (2007). The InfoPlease Almanac. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html.