Analyze the Baseline Magazine Website Review Essay
Change is the only constant in our new reality. That’s why any IT professional should continuously update his information and continuously learn to have an idea about new concepts, researches and tools to be able to compete among other professionals. This is what the baseline magazine web site provides for IT professionals in generals and IT leaders and executives in specific.
This paper aims at reviewing the baseline magazine website by giving a summary description of its structure and purpose, its overall ‘look and feel’ and adequate audience, useful links and interesting things about the site, and finally it gives a bottom-line evaluation of its value. Summary description of its structure and purpose Baseline magazine website enables IT professional in general and technology executives in specific to have an idea about the recent news and updates in the IT field in all forms whether written articles or videos and podcasts.
The magazine -itself- has many sections such as: features, topline, jobsite, baseline 500, techknow, workbook, opinion. While the content of the site is separated into main sections which are: compliance, intelligence, news, IT management, projects, and mid market. Other forms are provided such as podcasts, videos, and slideshows which support and enrich the content. The site provides many added values from other sites within the Ziff Davis network.
Within the home page, there are other valuable links such as: most read stories, baseline in depth, blogs/opinions, upcoming eseminars, especially top IT resources, most read white papers and research. Links at the bottom of the site enrich the site with adding more features to the magazine’s content such as careers, esiminars, Developer shed.. etc. of course, the site also provides a lot of sponsored content, obviously, to support the magazine. Its overall ‘look and feel’ and apparent target audience Concerning the magazine pages on the site, the design of the site is elegant and professional but unfortunately still traditional.
In another word, the user will feel like it is an online entry for the printed magazine. The main focus of the magazine is on technology leaders and executives and this is what mentioned in the registration welcome message and what is reflected by the level of the content. But it is clear that the website could practically benefit any IT professional in general. What you find useful about this site The main advantage is that baseline magazine belongs to the Ziff Davis Enterprise network so the benefits are not only obtained from the content of the magazine. Stories in general really hit the bottom line of IT management and decision making.
And the first thing the user notices is that news and stories are edited or filtered and this is an advantage compared with other sites. The mix of written and multimedia content is interesting and doesn’t make the navigation of the site boring at all. Not to mention the wealth acquired from the integration of all Ziff Davis network sites. Available blogs’ entries are rich and classified into main sub entries. Other interesting thing is that users can subscribe to the newsletter -which gives updates about all different issues belong to the Ziff Davis network- with one subscription form.
Links there that you either did or intend to follow up I liked the ‘projects’ page because it is categorized projects into main thirty-two projects sub categories in main topics in IT (Enterprise planning, SOA, outsourcing…) and this way it makes it easy for users to track certain projects concerning certain topics. Once I tried to check the research link for example, the first link was titled “how Google works” where I found all related articles that answer the question “how Google works”, so I guess this is an added value for any IT professional. That’s why I intend to follow the whitepapers and researches up.
The career link -in my opinion- deserves to be followed up in the future. Also, online videos, e-seminars and podcasts are real added value that enriches the written content. Above all of those links, I really liked the ‘Developer Shed’ mini site and I do intend to follow this link up in the future; especially, the ‘Tutorialized’ section. Any other things about the site that you find interesting I found that the idea of providing a free service offering such as an online magazine is interesting when it is used effectively to attract advertisers in IT domain to bring a business value.
I think the heavy advertising on the site prove that they are succeeding in this. Bottom-line evaluation of its value to you In brief, the site is a valuable resource for IT professionals in general and professional who has something to do with decision making -like leaders and executives- in specific. The power of the site comes from the integration of all sites of Ziff Davis network which enables users to get the information and knowledge he seeks in all form whether written articles, researches and white papers, or multimedia content like videos, podcasts, and esiminars.
However, I guess they didn’t get the maximum benefit from their service yet. The site should make an effective integration and evolution to replace the old business model which provides what the company has with the new business model which focuses on the customer. Each entry is separated and this makes confusion to the user because the user expects to see services which focus on his needs not a website that provides only what is available.
