Positives/Negatives

[Last updated: Feb 25th 2006]

I plan to use this to look at some of the positives and negatives to using quizzes and surveys as a form of Online Journalism. This post will be updated regularly looking at each point in as much details as possible, with some examples.


Positives

They can become a 'entertaining' and 'fun' way for the user to find out even more information about the subject of the news item. For example, if there was a story about a particular annual event - a quiz would help give details on the history, for users who want it.

It will feed 'facts' to the user without it seeming hard-hitting or boring.

If they are really good - word of mouth about them will increase hits to the site.

Negatives:

In order to make them look good, most designers would use something like Macromedia Flash. In order for the user to use it, they would need to have downloaded a Flash plug-in. Some plug-ins can't be installed on network computers, which would stop the visitors taking part in them.

If using images and animations within the quiz (such as the Chicago White Sox quiz), it may load slow on some internet connections.