Audience Analysis: By Age

The first website is: http://pbskids.org/, which will be compared to the second at: http://www.metmuseum.org/. The nation-wide success of pbskids.org is heavily based on pedagogical research assessing the most effective teaching methods that attract students to educational Internet-based programs. It is very possible that PBS recruited not just teachers and school officials, but social and traditional scientists (psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, etc.) to assess the mental, social, emotional, and physical impact PBS’s programs would have on their young viewers. In addition, PBS allows for parental involvement and considers their young audience to be their most valued critics, as revealed in the research web page at: http://pbskids.org/read/research.html (below).

It is very probable that researchers would not only then assess the behavior of the young viewers before, during, and after viewing a PBS program, but the young viewers are also encouraged to speak their minds on what kinds of educational programs they want, and how the present programs can improve. In this way, PBS goes out of its way to understand children by learning to think like children, and therefore empathize with their learning needs. It is evident, therefore, that various learning needs are being catered to. Interactivity and imagination are two huge factors that seem to play a role in the interest of a young viewer when viewing this website. Bright colors, cartoon characters with extreme personalities and colorful dialogue, light-hearted and whimsical music and sound effects, as well as hands-on games enables the audience to effectively learn through this eclectic mix of learning styles.

Various elements are applicable to pbskids.org. The most important would be the factors of goal and knowledge. The attainment of knowledge is the entire goal of the website. It teaches young learners to overcome weaknesses in math and spelling, introduces them to science, proper etiquette, history, music, and art. Pbskids.org has a mission to feed young learners information at an early age, enabling them and their parents to discover their own strengths, overcome their weaknesses, and pursue their dreams for a life of success in the future. Therefore, human factors, which take into account the capabilities and limitations of the young learner, is another element that is applicable to this website.

For the second website, the design, structure, and contents are based on the expectations of elite scholars who would have the greatest impact on such a prestigious educational institution as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Leading historians, archaeologists, artists, and professors may have been selected in the making of this website along with professional graphic designers, curators, and editors. As this is a website based on displaying art from various historic periods and ancient civilizations, visual appeal and historical accuracy are the major factors which determine the success of the website. In connection with pedagogy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art would most likely have had drawn the criticism and praise of art critics, historians, governmental institutions for learning and research, and donations from the social elite. Based on the expectations drawn from their comments, this museum’s official website was born. In addition, the general public coming to view the exhibits can become fully involved in the educational aspect of this museum by creating their own profile on “My Met Museum” at: https://www.metmuseum.org/mymetmuseum/index.asp?HomePageLink=mymetmuseum_l



Unlike pbskids.org, this website looks at first glance extremely boring. Neutral colors are used for the background, and the website shows art from various periods that would generally not be appealing to the eyes of a child. The font type and size, is relatively the same, with the exception of web page titles that differ in color according to the artistic theme of every page. The learning style, though it focuses on art, is ironically not through visual aids alone, but almost totally by textual information, which is characteristic of websites that are geared towards older audiences.

The elements applicable to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s official website are less than those applied in pbskids.org. Certainly, this website is based on circumstances of use, in which the quality of research is based on the authenticity and accuracy of all the information presented. In addition, goal drives the website to educate the public on history, culture, politics, and society through various art forms, while culture provides the various media in which educational art is displayed.