Slate My Website… and Your Website?

1:08 pm in barcamps by mike-nolan

Warning: the idea for this session is blatantly stolen from Nick DeNardis’ EDU Checkup. Blame him!

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone”
– John 8:7

So that’d be me then?!

I’ve run this session at a couple of previous barcamps and it seems to have gone down reasonably well (based on the fact I’ve got out of the room alive) so I figured it was worth suggesting for IWMW 2010.

The idea is simple – as many short website reviews as you can cram into a 30 minute session.  In the past I’ve used the same basic format as EDU Checkup:

  • 10 second test: show then hide the homepage then try to remember as much as possible.
  • ~5 minute review: surf around the site looking for things of interest – as Roy Walker would say, “say what you see”.
  • Ratings: scores out of 100 for design, content and code.

Unlike Nick’s podcasts, Slate My Website is filmed in front of a live studio audience which allows for mob mentality! At each stage everyone in the session can chip in their feedback.

The reviews are voluntary (although Phil Wilson did suggest a spinning wheel in case volunteers aren’t forthcoming!) and at some point the tables are turned against the main reviewer to make sure it’s “fair”.

So what do you think of the idea? I was planning to run it myself but I’m likely to be quite busy next Tuesday so if someone would like to volunteer to do the main reviews then that’d be great – I have slides prepared for it and everything!