Cabbies encouraged to report drug use

The Chinese government has encouraged its citizens to do a lot of things recently in hopes of cleaning up certain aspects of Beijing. For example, cleaning up street litter, fixing “Chinglish” signs and attempting to stop Beijingers from their habit of public spitting. But I just had to blog about one of the other odd things that the Chinese government has asked its cab drivers to do. The government sent text messages to cab drivers telling them to report illicit drug use if they come into contact with it, reasoning that they are more likely to come into contact with drug users/sellers than the average Chinese, according to English-language newspaper China Daily.

After spending a couple of summers in Beijing, this effort seemed odd to me. I guess it’s important first to understand the stigma that drugs have in Chinese society. Those caught with illegal substances can suffer dire consequences, even death, for the act. Drugs, while they can be found, are not nearly as prevelant as they are in Western culture.

 Another aspect of the campaign that worried me is the promise to give money to cab drivers for successful prosecution of drug charges of up to 2,000 yuan (about $270). It makes me concerned that some people might report people who have done nothing worthy of arrest. Considering the spotty nature of the Chinese justice system.

That’s not to say that stopping the use of spread of drugs isn’t a noble venture, it’s just that it seems a little out of line with bigger issues that China faces (pollution, transportation, to name just a few).

Site critique: newsobserver.com

In honor of my birthday and my last site critique, I decided to critique the local newspaper’s, The (Raleigh) News & Observer’s Web site operations. For some reason, I find the site’s home page to be unappealing. I think it’s because of all of the white background space because visually it doesn’t have that much more content than most other news Web sites that I have visited.

From the home page, I really like the video player feature at the bottom of the screen. It looks really sharp, and draws me into the content. The N & O site also contains an extensive list of blogs, though the quality and quantity of posts varies widely. One of the better blogs is the Under the Dome feature about North Carolina politics.

One of the consistent things that I do have to harp on is that the N & O doesn’t link to other articles, which consistently bothers me. Also their type font on their articles is small and not space out well. When I look at the page, it just isn’t appealing to read the article. It makes me want to exit out of my window and read a font that is more palatable (such as The New York Times).

The site is doing some nice things though, such as the newly launched site, Triangle.com, which is including databases for crimes, courts, the education systems, etc. The site isn’t perfect, but it is trying to be more community-based, which I appreciate.

Site critique: indystar.com

I decided to head back to the Midwest today to review Indiana’s largest newspaper, The Indianapolis Star’s, Web site. I thought it would be especially interesting since this is the second Gannett newspaper site that I have reviewed (previously I reviewed the Cincinnati Enquirer’s site).

As a first impression, I really liked the blue color palette on the site’s home page. The layout was pretty typical in that there was a dominant picture in the left-hand corner with more top news located to the right of the main image. The navigation toolbar is located on the top and includes local news, opinion and multimedia, among others. I particularly like the multimedia section because it includes recent videos, as well as photo galleries. The headlines for these also were very accessible, so it was pretty clear what I would be watching a video of.

I also like Indy’s Data Center more than the Cincinnati Enquirer’s. This page is good because the headlines are large and are broken down into interesting topics such as real estate and education. There’s also a sidebar on the right that includes links about the Indiana public’s right to know laws.

Overall, my impression of the site is pretty good. I think it’s one of the more visually appealing sites that I have encountered in my critiques of local newspapers. It’s accessible, interactive and visually pleasing. My biggest gripe is one that most news Web sites seem to fall prey to: not including links to other articles and sources within the news stories.

Site critique: foxnews.com

For my national broadcast site critique, I decided to step over to the conservative side and look into foxnews.com. I’m not really a tv viewer of them, so I didn’t know what to expect from the Web site. On first glance, the home page was very unappealing to me because it seemed cluttered, and I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to focus my attention to.

I did like that they had a seemingly accessible mobile version and that they had a radio and podcast section where I could listen to more content if I wanted to. There was a section for top videos, which was good since this is a Web site for a tv station after all, but I found it harder to figure out which news articles also had video content with them in addition to straight-up writing. I also wish that they had more than three blogs listed because I feel as though Fox News is known for strong personalities, and those could be played up more with online content and interactive features like blogging. Linking to other sites and Fox News stories also would be a good way to keep readers coming back for more and digging more into the site.

The video section was good because it had a dominant video to lead with that helped draw readers in. The smaller videos also had succint descriptions about what other stories were being featured. Overall, Foxnews.com gets a middling grade in my book, mainly because its site is too cluttered and hard to navigate.

Air China expanding flights

Officials at Air China, the 2008 Olympics official carrier, are looking to expand and improve the services offered to customers, according to a report published in the English-language newspaper China Daily. Launched this week, the initiative is looking to hire 300 new attendants and is holding a national recruitment period. Apparently, more than 5,000 people across the country have applied to far.

The oddest part about the recruitment (at least to Americans) is the requirements for the hiring process. For example, successful applicants must be between 19 and 25 years old, be unmarried, be between 164 centimeters and 172 centimeters tall (for women) and be fluent in English. Some of these requirements, mainly the English-speaking one, seem fairly intuitive, but many of the others are just downright discriminatory by Western standards.

Having traveled on Air China this summer, I wasn’t completely shocked by the story. Most of the flight attendants that I came into contact with during my flights were attrative, young Chinese women (It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a de-facto requirement that the women be good looking).

It probably makes a lot of business sense for the airline to look to expand in light of the upcoming Olympics, and it definitely makes sense that they’ll want to give foreigners the best impresssion of their operations. However, most Westerners would definitely frown upon these types of hiring practices if they were aware of them.

Site critique: WRAL.com

Raleigh-Durham local tv station Web site wral.com has expanded its tv capacities to include online stories through its Web site. The site’s home page differs from newspaper Web sites that I have frequented because it lacks a dominant image in the left-hand corner. Overall, I don’t think this takes away from the accessibility of the page. Rather, there are several top stories (about five) that are posted on the top of the page and that include small images and blurbs.

Obviously, a tv station should have an advantage over other media because the nature of their job is to take video, edit it and broadcast it to a wide audience. I think it’s good that the site clearly labels which articles have video content. I also like that in the upper right part of the day there is a today’s top videos section. That helps the site user know which clips might be of particular interest to them.

I also liked the Triangle411 data center that the site links to. It reminded me a lot of the (Raleigh) News & Observer’s new GoTriangle Web site efforts. The 411 version includes information about automobiles, pets and travel, among others.

One area that I think the site could improve in is linking to other articles within its articles (or other sites). It’s great that a tv station is doing news articles, but they need to take it a step further to make that information more interactive and to allow their site users to dig even deeper into the content. I also would work to introduce blogs to the site, to allow for some more community discussion.

Site critique: baltimoresun.com

The Baltimore Sun’s Web site is set up visually like many other newspaper sites that I’ve seen. Overall, it’s visually appealing. There is a dominant image in the upper left of the home page with a leading news story and a site navigation tool on the left side of the page. There is also a search bar on the top, powered by Google, which I’m sure makes navigating the site for specific coverage easier.

The Sun is clearly also trying to expand upon its traditional news offerings. There are links to pages about pets, jobs, homes and even a page to print out coupon offerings. I think these additions are really important because people will start to go to The Sun to search for information that is more interactive and community based as opposed to just news based. For example, you can search for people who are selling pets or automobiles. This is in direct competition with other sites like Craiglist.

There also is a page to learn about wireless news options from The Sun. I think this is especially important given the changing face of media. As cell phones such as the iPhone increasingly make wireless news more accessible, people will start to turn to this venue more and more.

As for multimedia content on the Web site, there is a decent selection of videos and blogs on the site. However, the information isn’t very accessible because there is no central navigation tool that says where the site reader can find the multimedia content. I think this would be more useful than only embedding multimedia in the specific articles or desk pages that they’re related to. Also, the articles don’t have links within them, which makes them very one-dimensional and doesn’t lead you farther into the site.

More Olympic tickets to go on sale

As of Dec. 10, the second round of Olympic tickets will go on sale, using a lottery system that is similar to the first round, Beijing Olympic Games Committee Organizers announced today. There are about 1.8 million tickets total, but the number still available is unclear because payment was due today from the winners of the first round of tickets.

People can apply online for tickets at http://www.tickets.beijing2008.cn. Tickets for the disabled and those who accompany them will go on sale next year during a third round.

The second round had initially begun on Oct. 30. That process was on a first-come, first-serve basis and had created chaos, clogging phone lines and resulting in huge in-person lines, according to English-language newspaper China Daily. The system also was criticized as unfair.

The high demand for Olympic tickets reflects the huge amount of pride that the Chinese people have about hosting the 2008 Olympics. Many have said that the games will serve as an international coming out party for the Asian country.

I think the new lottery system for the second round will quell displeasure among those seeking tickets. The games are going to be hugely popular in China, so the bigger question is how the country will deal with all of those people once they actually attend the games. It remains to be seen whether infrastructure/transportation revamps will be effective and whether the poor English-speaking abilities of many Chinese working with the games will serve as a hindrance.

But for now, this is the exciting part, where the Chinese can take pride in hosting an exciting international event.

Site critique: The Awful Truth

I started to read Ted Casablanca’s blog The Awful Truth on E!online in high school, back in the day when it was updated on a weekly basis. I can remember when he started updating daily just a few years ago; I was shocked at the amount of information available about celebrities at my fingertips (less surprised now considering the big money celebrity gossip and tabloids make).

As celebrity blogs go, Casablanca’s is one of the more popular. A strength is that it has a writer with a really strong voice who also has credibility because he regularly appears on E!News, in addition to his blog writing. Another good aspect of the blog is that it keeps the news short and sweet. The blurbs are usually no more than a paragraph or two, and they make good use of links and photographs, when appropriate. This is particularly helpful when it comes to celebrity news because people often want simple bios of the stars to link to. This helps make the site more navigable.

Another thing that Casablanca employs well is the use of teasers to keep his readers wanting more. For example, Casablanca will give clues about celebrity vices, and his readers will write in and try to guess who he is talking about (he’s very cryptic; people rarely guess correctly).

There are also links at the bottom of the page to previous Casablanca columns and the option to sign up for a gossip newsletter. There’s also a link to leave and read comments, making the blog more interactive.

Overall, if you like to get your fix of celebrity gossip, Casablanca’s blog is a grade A product to provide that. Just be careful, you might get addicted!

Site critique: slate.com

I’ve got to admit that I get most of my news from either traditional print newspapers or their online counterparts. Occasionally I dip into news magazines, but not often. So going to online news magazine salon.com put me in something of unfamiliar territory.

Overall, I enjoyed what I found. My favorite part of the site was the snappy headlines because they really drew me into the articles. The site’s layout seemed pretty basic, with a dominant image at the top left and a navigation panel on the left side directing me to more content. More stories also were available as I scrolled farther down the page.

I liked the simplicity of the navigation bar. What I liked even more was when I scrolled over a category like news & politics, it gave me options of linking to specific news stories directly, without first linking to the page.

Another nice feature was how the tool bar below the navigation bar included consistent options of share, e-mail, discuss, print. I often have to go through news sites and search for these features. All too often, they are difficult to find. Making this function right below the tool bar ensures that I will never get confused.

I didn’t see much on the site in the way of multimedia, which I attribute mainly to the fact that Slate sees itself as an analysis-based online publication (a large part in its niche success). I did like that the podcast and RSS feeds seemed very accessible. The link to the RSS feed explained how to use the feature. That’s probably very useful since many people who read Slate probably are older and, no offense, not as tech savvy.

I’m pretty avid about reading the news, and I like analysis pieces. I could see some readers being turned off by the site because a lot of times there aren’t many visual elements thrown in. That would be my biggest critique of Slate. However, the site is pretty good about linking to other articles and sites within the specific articles, so I liked how Slate became more interactive that way.