1. Pretend you are seeking to relocate your business to Northwest Indiana. Based on their city and chamber of commerce web sites which of the following cities/places will you consider first? Why?

1. I would consider highland. They show the beauty of their community and don’t load their home page with so much information that it is intimidating (Valparaiso) and also they show a very important aspect of community. The aspect of community is very important to me because I am from a small community that stands by each other.

2. Pretend you are a tourist. Will you visit Lake County or Porter County first? Why?

2. Porter county because their graphics draw my eye faster than on the other page for lake county. Plus Porter county is a little more East meaning it is further from Chicago.

3. Pretend that you are a resident of each of the following cities. As a citizen which city serves you the best through their web site? Why?

City of Valparaiso

Highland Indiana

Whiting Indiana

3. Highland is the best for residents only because it seems like the pages are cleaner in content. Valparaiso has a lot of information but I know from experience that you can get lost quickly on the pages and it is very hard to get back to where you once were.

Cities and regions are not the only places represented within the virtual region. Take a look at the Miller Beach pages. Miller is a neighborhood in Gary.

4. Who created this site? Why do you think the site was created?

4 Steve created it and he wanted to see a web page for miller beach plus he wanted it for the history portion of miller beach.

5. How is this site different from the city, tourism, and chamber of commerce sites you looked at? Is its primary purpose to promote the neighborhood to outsiders?

It is different by looking very simple. It was meant to be informative to visitors. It is pages like these that can pant more of an accurate picture of places for visitors.

6. What image or story about Miller Beach does this site convey? Does this image match the image that you have of Gary?

He is trying to paint a picture of beauty which he did which is something I wouldn’t think of for Gary. When I think Gary I think left behind steel mills bad neighborhoods and dirty.

7. To what extent do city government web sites promote their cities for economic development? How might this goal come into conflict with providing citizens with information about their cities?

Governments try to make their pages look very informative but that can make it hard for residents who aren’t sure what they are looking for. Businesses like information and residents are looking for more specific things like health services, education, and taxes.

8. To what extent do the city and chamber of commerce web sites that you looked at here attempt to "brand" their cities? Do you feel that branding a city is an appropriate thing to do? Why or why not?

Branding for a town is important. Most of the town tried to sell themselves as a unified community. Also they try and make themselves look professional. This is important because of the fact that people like the idea of a community and also everyone wants to look professional no one wants to look like their site was thrown together by a ten year old.

9. What story or image does the Valparaiso Chamber of commerce site create for Valparaiso? How is it similar to or different from your own perception of Valparaiso?

Valparaiso tries to make themselves look very important. They have a lot of information that can be accessed by links that go to other pages with info. It is similar to my perception of Valparaiso because I find it a very confusing town to navigate through.