Analysing photosharing sites and software

In progress....

After beginning a listing of photosharing sites, I quickly realised that an analysis of all of the possible sites was going to be impossible. For that reason I think that I will need to narrow down the analysis to some of the more popular and family oriented sites. This would still involve some degree of categorisation of as many sites as possible to determine which ones could be considered both popular and family oriented. I would then also provide a detailed description of the site and its features. The analysis would then need to focus on the following:

What are the affordances of the site in relation to photosharing between family members? What are the features that enable the photosharing to take place? Does the site facilitate a dialogue between family members about the photos stored there? How does it enable this?

What are the assumptions that underpin the design of the features of the site?

How easy or difficult is it to use the site? (This is a particularly challenging question as the answer is not only dependent on the facilities of the photosharing site but also on the competencies of the target users. One way to assess this would be to select a small group of users (5?) with a range of computing competencies and get them to test various ascpects of the site for ease of use.)

How does the site market itself to particular demographic groups? This would be determined partly by the look and feel of the site but also by the features that the site uses to distinguish itself from other photosharing applications.