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X.1. The Objectives and the Structure of
this Site
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You will see on this page information on:
The
context and the objectives of Careers
Information and Guidance on the Web
The
internet is changing our lives because it allows us to access all kinds of
information extremely easily.
- However, the full
exploitation of its potential and its wider application requires the
setting up of optimum methods of utilisation, transmission and retrieval
of information, which are still lacking or are in the process of
development by the people working with the internet.
As
careers guidance advisers, we have decided to establish a web site dedicated
to careers information and guidance resources, in order to contribute, within
our own area of activity, to this common effort in search of ways of
improving the system.
- Our project has
been promoted and in part financed by the European Union's Information
Society Project Office (ISPO) and by the Careers Guidance Service
of the District of Florence.
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Careers Information and Guidance on the Web has been
developed with three objectives in mind:
- 1. To establish a
guide to the British resources of the Internet, dedicated to job search,
professions, schools and education in general, that might serve as a
model of comprehensiveness, and of ease and speed in the search
for linked resources.
- 2. To establish a
web site with a structure (graphic layout, texts, subject
classification) that might serve as a model for ease of surfing and
reading
- 3. To establish a
site which, by taking full advantage of the features of the internet
would provide a broad and far reaching range of information and
careers guidance, both for those who connect from home, and as a
support to existing public careers information and guidance services.
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The
initial objectives have determined, therefore, the methods of realising the
project:
1.
The comprehensiveness of the site, and the ease and speed of searching for
linked resources
With
months of work, over 400 British web sites (see list) have been
traced, examined and linked.
The
ease of consultation and the speed of searching for linked sites have been
achieved through the following expedients:
- The linked sites
have been subdivided according to a logical structure which is
easily understood and quickly accessed (30 subjects - those which are
the most frequently requested in careers guidance counselling, you will
see subdivided into 5 large sections which can be selected from the home
page)
- The structuring of
the site into three levels only: Home Page, Index, and pages
which deal with individual topics.
- For each topic, the
choice of linking to only the best sites which offer quality and
clarity of content; (the full list of linked sites is however accessible
from the section devoted to careers advisers)
- The choice of
linking to each of the sites indicated, not via their home pages but directly
to their pages which deal with the topic of interest, thereby
reducing the time taken in surfing. With this facility, three clicks
of the mouse are all that is required to go from the home page of Careers Information and Guidance on the Web
to the page which deals with the chosen topic in each of the other external
linked sites. It is a unique facility compared to other guides to
internet sites. Along side each one of these links has been inserted, in
black italics but not underlined, a further link to the home page of the
site in question, so that the surfer might know in which site he has
finished up, and if required, he can also access the home page directly.
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2.
Ease of surfing and reading
The
transmission of contents through web sites can be made difficult by not
organising the contents in an instantly comprehensible way, for example, by
an excess of links and interconnected cross-referencing, or with regard to
reading texts on the screen, by an excessive brightness or by the clash
between the colours used, or by the choice of unclear characters, or by the
arrangement of the text over the whole width of the screen.
The
solutions adopted by Careers Information and
Guidance on the Web are as follows:
- The structuring of
the site in a clear and easily understandable way in only three levels
as has been mentioned previously
- The distinctive
structuring of the Home Page. In detail: the clarity and
conciseness of the content and the reduced number of inserted links
(just 5 main links)
- The
graphics: the text takes up only half of the screen;
the chosen characters (Garamond or Times New Roman, according to which
font is installed in the surfer's browser) are very clear; the colours
used belong to the same range and are not too vivid, the pages are not
overloaded with files of graphics, so as to avoid lengthening the
process of browsing, in each page dedicated to an individual subject
there is an initial summary of the topics covered and, after every
topic, there is a link in order to return to the initial summary
- The
simplicity of the texts; the use of difficult terminology has
been avoided deliberately.
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3.
The widest possible range of information and advice on careers guidance
Giving
professional advice means to supply information, keeping in mind "mental
pictures" of those who are receiving it. Every careers adviser knows
that the same initial questions are generated by each of the subjects dealt
with most frequently in their line of work, and that a significant number of
clients share the same options and uncertainties.
- Supplying
information which takes into consideration, from the outset, the
possible questions and uncertainties of the clients, allows the most
common requests of those who turn to careers guidance agencies to be
satisfied.
For
this reason, part of the various topics have been dealt with from a user
tailored approach, integrating in the text, where possible, links to
pages in other sites where the relevant information can be found. In the
cases of topics for which no site with relevant information could be found,
the information has been researched by ourselves and added directly to our
site.
- Careers Information and Guidance on the Web has
resulted, in this way, in achieving something different and more useful
compared to a simple guide.
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These
characteristics make it an excellent access point to the
internet resources dedicated to schools, training and job search.
As
well as being used by individuals at home, Careers
Information and Guidance on the Web can be used to improve the
operation of existing careers guidance agencies, in two ways:
- By allowing agents
to access the best available information on individual items of interest
on the net and for their own edification
- By allowing the
clients of the agency to surf the internet independently, in search of
information and advice of interest to them, thereby reducing the
workload of the agents. (see in greater detail)
Careers Information and Guidance on the Web can be
utilised, in addition, in order to transform any public place or place
open to the public (schools, libraries, offices which deal with the
public, cyber café) into a place where people might go to get information on
careers.
- We consider this
possibility will be of particular interest to all the public decision
makers who, with limited economic and practical resources at their
disposal, are wanting to improve or set up careers guidance services in
their own areas (see in
greater detail).
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In
the search for the best methods of supplying careers information and guidance
through the internet, there are two characteristics of the internet which
should be considered for the effective organisation of local
careers guidance services and which require the integration of Careers Information and Guidance on the Web
with other sources of information and advice.
- The limited scope
for interaction
- The impersonal
nature of the Internet compared to a face to face situation with an
agent.
Careers Information and Guidance on the Web is
structured in such a way as to satisfy the most common requests of people who
turn to careers guidance agencies and can be consulted without the need for
outside assistance, but in a certain number of cases (for example in the case
of particular requests which can't be met in the site and in all those
situations where it is preferred, if possible, to have a direct personal
relationship) it is necessary to turn to careers advisers, by telephone, E
mail or in person.
- For this reason
Section 5, entitled Personal assistance in deciding on my career path has
been introduced, which has links to and addresses of careers guidance
offices, as well as useful information on careers fairs and books and
magazines on careers guidance.
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