MarylandWrestling.com

This week I am responsible for critiquing the website for Maryland Championship Wrestling.  The websites address is marylandwrestling.com which led me to believe that it was going to be more of competition wrestling website instead of a “professional” wrestling website.   I will be critiquing the website on its ease of accessibility, ease of navigation, use of interactivity, use of video, and quality of content.  I do not frequent professional wrestling websites, so this will be a first experience for me. 

The first thing I noticed on the website was that it had tabs on the right hand side to show all of the recent activity they had been involved in with social media sites.  I can easily see their most recent tweets, Facebook updates, Youtube videos, and Instagram photos.   It allows me access to the most recent information at a quick glance, and would allow me not to spend much time searching on the site.  Next is how easy it is to navigate the website.  The website used a nice tab system that made it easy to search and find everything I needed.  I can look up match history quickly, search the roster of wrestlers, and even purchase tickets quickly.  MCW actually has some former WWE wrestlers involved within the company which draws popularity. 

The website is not full of much interaction, but the quick tabs on the side to social media gives allows them to not push videos at the visitor or try and stuff being a twitter follower down my throat.  The tabs allow the visitor to see what they want to see, instead of having it forced on them.  The videos are accessible through the Youtube tab, but are left to the side instead of taking up space on the websites main page.  I like how the videos are kept off the main page, and if I want to see a video, I can go to their Youtube account page and watch the ones I want. 

Overall, marylandwrestling.com is a well structured website that is easy to access and easy to follow.  Basically all information can be found quickly on the website, and they do a good job of putting the schedule right on the front page.  The website was not overly crowded, which is nice, and is user friendly.  I was on the page for about 45 minutes searching around and I didn’t come across any banner ads or push notifications.  I would give the website an 8/10, and wish that some of my favorite teams would have websites as easy as this one.

Technology Deprivation

I chose to do my technology deprivation on Sunday, June 1 because I knew I had to get school work done, and also knew that I was going to be taking many naps throughout the day.  I had a bachelor party Saturday in Omaha, and needless to say, Omaha won last night.  I know some of the other students are worried about exactly how much technology they may miss, but one of my favorite things to do is to just not use my phone for days at a time.

Last summer I went to WeFest and would check my phone every morning just to see if my parents tried to contact me.  Other than morning, it was nothing but the out doors, cold beer, and great country music.  I absolutely love not having to be on my phone all the time.  Everything just seemed easier and more relaxing.  Today I tried to go all day without even charging my phone.  I didn't get back to Vermillion until about 4:00pm and my phone died last night around 11:00pm.  I was happy to go that long without my phone, but once I charged it up, I had to at least read some of my messages.

The hardest part about the deprivation I think was the fact that I didn't really tell anybody that I was doing it.  My parents kept trying to reach me, but I had to honor the assignment and I will have to wait until Monday to see what they wanted.

The hardest part for me was not using my Xbox 360 and watching MLB.tv.  I literally always have the MLB.tv on and just watch baseball every night.  Another part that was extremely difficult for me was not being able to frequently check my fantasy baseball team.  With day games all day Sunday, I have been stressed out not knowing how I performed.

Overall, I like going off the grid every once in a while to just be alone.  Its amazing how upset people get when you do not replay to them or text em during the day.  It felt just like the 90s again where nobody was accessible 24/7.  I might start doing this every Sunday for a few hours just to relax and regroup every week.  I do think I have a bit of an addiction to fantasy baseball though, I may need to slow down on how much I actually think about it.