Washingtonpost.com Field Trip Reflections

I enjoyed today's tour of washingtonpost.com's newsroom; it was surely not what I expected or imagined it would be. I thought it would be an archaic and monotonous office-setting with traditional cubicles with the chaos and commotion that's stereotypically associated with newsrooms, such as phones ringing off the hook, reporters shouting to one another across the newsroom, editors running around frantically to publish the next story, etc. Instead, the office was quite tranquil, modernized and well-designed to meet the needs for the 21st century.

I was quite surprised to see the broadcast (radio and television) elements and aspects of Washingtonpost.com. I was even more surprised and even a little anxious when Chet informed us of how not only the print, but also the broadcast industry is declining, more rapidly than what I initially thought, and that everything is truly converging unto the Web.

I would have to firmly agree with Chet and say that Washingtonpost.com has too much going on in their main page, which can be very inundating and distracting to visitors who may be easily turned off by just the overwhelming amount of information. For me personally, it's way too cluttered for me to denote what's important, especially on the bottom portion of the home page. One specific ad that annoys me each time I go to Washingtonpost.com is the main page advertisement that automatically enlarges to the size of your computer screen and doesn't go away fast enough. I believe that the broadcast features and elements (photos, videos and audio) are working quite well on the site with the traditional text; it just needs more publicity and awareness in order to attract visitors to the site.

Though, all in all, I had an enjoyable experience at the Washingtonpost.com office.