Single Flower Sangha Web
page
Peter Ash
ET 541 – James White
The Single Flower Sangha (SFS) is a small organization of Zen meditators, primarily in the greater Boston area, who practice with teacher George Bowman A Web site currently exists: http://www.singleflowersangha.org. This site currently contains very little useful content and most of its internal links are broken. I have identified a need to create an improved Web site, with the following purposes:
Hypertext and multimedia may be useful for the following reasons:
The intended audience consists of three groups, identified above:
Users of the site could be expected to have at least average technical skills. The site will not make any unusual technical demands.
The table below lists the needs that users have for the site. For each type of user enumerated in the list above, the relative importance of the need is indicated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 least important and 5 most important.
| User Need |
Users 1 |
Users 2 |
Users 3 |
|
Calendar with upcoming sesshin dates and general location (exact location available only by request) |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
Contact information (e-mail address and phone number) |
4 |
5 |
4 |
|
Sesshin sign-up form |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
Basic information on SFS (when formed, purpose, how many members, monthly sesshin) |
3 |
5 |
2 |
|
Financial contributions |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
Zen biography of George Bowman |
3 |
5 |
3 |
|
Sample teisho by George Bowman |
3 |
5 |
5 |
|
Sample sesshin schedule |
3 |
5 |
1 |
|
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions about Zen) |
3 |
3 |
5 |
|
Recommended reading |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
Links to other Zen sites |
3 |
3 |
5 |
Some users come to the site looking for specific information. The information these users are looking for is listed in the first four rows of the table: Calendar, Contact Information, Basic Information, Sesshin sign-up form. This information should be clearly identified on the home page and accessible in no more than one jump.
The information listed in the remaining rows of the table is more for surfing.
The sesshin sign-up form could be a form that the user prints out and mails, or it could be an electronic form; ideally both options would be offered.
The sample teisho could be video audio, or text transcript.
Most users will access this site from their home, as it is not a business site. We can make no assumptions about the speed of their connections or their computers. Some users will doubtless have slow connections and/or slow computers. Since users may be expected to be working alone from home, audio is a possible option. Users will be seeking information on their own.
If tests show excessive download times on a 28.8 baud modem, a low- or no-graphics version of the site will be produced, which can be accessed from the home page.
I have a lot of material to get started:
The following limitations currently constrain my implementation:
In future iterations of the Web site, the above limitations may be overcome.
The home page needs to be visually appealing. I hope to use calligraphy or nature photography to capture a Zen mood.
There will be heavy use of repetition of design elements to tie the pages together visually.
There may be a low graphics or no-graphics version of the Web site, as explained in the “Environment” section of this document.
Each user need will be represented by one or more Web pages. The Zen FAQ will probably involve 6-10 pages, connected by Next and Back buttons. A teisho typically lasts 45 minutes, so if I can obtain the text of an entire teisho (approximately 6000 words) I might do include it as a PDF file which users could print out.
I sent a draft of this proposal together with a cover letter to a number of Single Flower Sangha members, and after a certain amount of badgering I received three reviews of the proposal. The reviews made minor suggestions, which I have incorporated into this document. In general, the reviewers felt that the proposal would meet their needs and the needs of other prospective users.