User:MaryKPoe/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article
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 * Name of article: (Visual communication)
 * I have chosen this article because it can be related to my course studies. I have always been interested in the role that visual communication has on the success of the overall communication. It is interesting how the use of visual aids can constantly be improved for all individuals.

Lead
The Lead does include an introduction of what can be expected from the article. The breakdown of the topics are formed into links so that if you want to simply click on one certain topic you have the option to do so. The Lead mainly focuses on the definition and what can be typically be included in visual commutation, it does not mention descriptions of the sections. It is very simply with only two sentences giving a generic overview of what is included overall that makes up visual communication. The Lead does need major improvements to more accurately describe what can be expected from the article itself.

Content
The articles content does go over the brief history of visual communication and ties in the symbolism as well as numerous examples of what someone could use to improve the visual aspects communication. they also include a pro/ con list for certain things one might include to use as visual aids which I think is helpful if someone was searching to find what tools would be best to use. Instead on focusing too much on all topics that are listed in the Lead, the article includes a See Also section for people to have direct links to aspects that relate to visual communication without breaking the information down. I think that considering the information is included in the link it should have more detailed information. The references are from early- mid 2000s with the most recent reference being 2018. I think it would be interested to see how newer technology devices have been created to help improve the accuracy and overall satisfaction of visual communication. The article does show that it was last edited on 31 July 2020, so it is still being worked on.

Tone and Balance
The tone is very neutral. It seems the overall purpose of this article it to provide all the Information about how some of the visual communication devices can be helpful, the pros and cons which can be helpful. The article does focus the most on describing the visual aids that are the most simple to advanced which can be a great resource because each person might be on a different level. Some might want simple aids that can make a great impact and others that want to impress others with their aids. There is not much information given more about the history of visual communication, that could have been interesting to see more in-depth background of how visual aids were introduced/improved. The article does not persuade me in one way or another aside from the pros cons section, considering there is no references the information be solely opinion based and easily sway people's thoughts.

Sources and References
There are not many references because a primary section seems to be opinion based. For example the pros and cons section, I have no way of knowing if that is the editors opinions or if those come from focus groups or researchers. That could be biased because everyone is different so what works for someone might be a major con for someone else so you do not want to persuade someone to not use a certain visual aid that could still be helpful. The most recent source is 2018 but ranges from early to mid 2000s. I feel certain that there have been more studies on how visual aids can be improved to better communication especially in the Engineering/Computer Science industry. Not all of the links work, and some of the ones that do I am not sure if they are the most accurate sources of information because they are basic websites and not all of the references have direct links. The article does state that there is a need for additional citations for verification and to help improve the article.

Organization
This article is easy to understand and is very concise. I did not see any prominent grammatical errors. Because the article is so simple, each of the sections are very well transitioned and they flow well. There are some sections that could have more information for additional clarity for example, the Image Analysis section. They referenced a professor but did not directly tie in his direct thoughts or cite his work they received the information from. It would have been helpful to have that link included.

Images and Media
There were 3 pictures that were included at the top of the article and it was not displayed throughout the entire length of the article. If possible it would have been helpful to have some pictures of the examples of the types of visual aids that were included in a section. It would also have been helpful to see a picture of some of the visual aids that were listed as cons to help see where they were coming from and it would have been less bias. They are well captioned to help understand their purpose and to my understanding meet the copyright regulations. When you click on the image it does provide the link where it was pulled from.

Checking the talk page
There are not any multiple conversations. This article is listed as a level 5 vital article for an unknown topic and it is involved in multiple WikiProjects. The comments that have been included in the Talk page do align with the concerns that I have in my evaluation. That the introduction needed to include more of the details of the article and that there could be additional information about the history of visual communication and finally there could be more references included to help back up the information. The overall conversations are people who are simply wanting to help improve the quality and quantity of the information included to make it better overall.

Overall impressions


The article does have some strengths. It does try to really breakdown the visual aids but that can be improved with more history behind visual aids. I would also like to see how the technology is being improved and what one can see where visual communication will be going in the future. It could also be improved by adding some of the research trends that surround visual communication and aids. This is something that is constantly being updated with devices such as Alexa, and teachers use of smart white boards in classrooms. I wouldn't say that the article is completely well developed. It has great points and statements but it needs much more references and images to improve the overall completeness.

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