Practical 7 Reflections

a. (i) Which criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp.com?


I used three criteria which are

1) Accuracy

2) Purpose

3) Coverage



STOMP simply means Straits Times Online Mobile Print

1) Accuracy

STOMP provides e-mail, contact address and phone number. Furthermore, Straits Times is the most popular traditional media source here in Singapore which makes it more trustworthy even if the information is posted online.


In addition, STOMP is “Asia's leading citizen-journalism website with user-generated material fuelling its success”.


However, the videos posted on STOMP are not by qualified reporters which questions viewers the maturity of the information the respective authors are trying to convey.



2) Purpose


In the ‘About Us page, STOMP mentions “STOMP connects, engages and interacts with Singaporeans in a style and approach that is different from conventional news websites.”


It also declares that STOMP “have unparalleled reach into the hearts of Singaporeans and the resources to tailor-make approaches to maximise your brand.”


From the two points stated above, I can clearly understand the objectivity of STOMP. The advertisements included at STOMP home page also caters to users easily which supplements its purpose of creating stomp.com.


Yet, many have misinterpreted STOMP’s objective and thus abuse the power of reporting information unnecessarily. Then again, the videos posts at STOMP must go through verifications by the organization first.


The fact that some posts are just trivial issues reflects STOMP’s “don’t care” attitude as most that are featured I the videos are unaware that they are being filmed.


Hence, the gap between right and wrong will only gets bigger if well-respected sources like Straits Times are encouraging violation of privacy.



3) Coverage


STOMP does include relevant and reliable links at the bottom of the Home page. Examples are ‘National Library Board’ and ‘Speak Good English Movement’.


The home page layout are filled with images and advertisements for users to click at the sections they wish to view.


There are a few interesting discussion pages like “Singapore Seen”, “Talkback” and “Star Blog”.


The information to be viewed is free and there is no need for any other special software to be involved in STOMP.


Which means that anyone can post and comment without any standard English being used and good maturity level.




a. (ii) Why did you choose these criteria? What lessons have you learnt from this activity?


I chose the three criteria as they are the fundamentals of evaluating a website. I have to at least understand these three criterion before I proceed on to other criteria for a more convincing usage.


I learn that we have to be careful and aware of the accuracy and purpose of the website by judging its coverage.


With this in mind, we will not be vulnerable to believe the information posted and will be questioning its validity for an effective internet research.