Upon first glance of the website, http://www.cbc.ca/acadian/index.html, the site seems simple, direct and to the point. The color scheme represents an older time complete with pictures, links and resources. The fact that is has been created by CBC allows the explorer of the site to feel confident with the facts being presented as CBC is known as “Canada’s Online Information Source” and a “Comprehensive web site for news.”[1] However as I explore the site in more depth I am disappointed about the lack of information in the article and the timeline.

In the link, “The origin of Acadie”, on the CBC site, there is a map from the National Archives of Canada that is rather difficult to see and seems to add little value to the article. Being as there is no title, orientation, date, author, legend or scale on the map, it does not allow the reader to do more research on what they are seeing nor does it appear to have anything to do with the article beside it. In all honesty it seems to add more questions than it does answers. What is the purpose of the map? What do the words say and what are the mountain like shapes climbing out the landscape? Are they a representation of the French population or the Mi’kmaq tribes? Is this a representation of Acadie? Adding a link or having the ability to see the full map would have helped to clear up a lot of questions or at least given the reader the ability to make their own decisions as to the significance of the map. Otherwise it just appears that the map was put in as a space filler.

[2]                While the timeline looks interestingly enough, complete with pictures and little facts representing significant occurrences between 1064 and 1763, once again there seems to be a lack sources for the facts being presented. The only items cited on the page, at least from what I could see, were for the pictures. There are also big gaps in time. For example, in 1654 “French settlement ceases” and then there is no more information for 17 years. Is one to assume that nothing happened over the 17year time period? A better use of the timeline would be to have the ability to click on the dates or facts in order to get more information or at least have the facts cited so that one would have the ability to seek out more information.

Overall the website offers some facts, pictures and links about The Acadians. However, it fails to give in depth knowledge or sources about where the facts have come from. Being as this site is from CBC, I had higher expectations on what I was going to explore. Instead of being a wealth of knowledge on the topic of the Acadians, this website falls short in it’s simplicity.

 

[1] “The Acadians,” 2016, http://www.cbc.ca

[2] “The Acadians,”2016, http://www.cbc.ca/acadian/feature_acadian_origin.html,

[3] Niaoni E.S Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: Creation and Re-Creation of Community.” Dalhouse Review, 325

[4] Niaoni E.S Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: Creation and Re-Creation of Community.” Dalhouse Review, 335

[5] Niaoni E.S Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: Creation and Re-Creation of Community.” Dalhouse Review, 336-338

[6] ibid 335-338