What you'll want to write about

Submitted by bradb on Mon, 12/12/2005 - 04:12

Class Information

When analyzing a website, there are a number of elements of the site to consider. these elements are pretty much the same sort of thing you'll look at in the two assignments that follow this one. You need not cover all of these points, but if you are not sure just what you might look at, here are a number of suggestions:

Appeal: One of the first questions to ask about any website, or any text for that matter, is just what is it hoping to accomplish? In more technical terms, what is its appeal? Don't take this to mean is it appealing; instead, think about what its goal is, what it hopes to accomplish. Pretty much every other element you may analyze will likely follow from this so it's a good place to start with any analysis;
Organizational Mythology: Just as candidates have an ethos or mythology, so the organizations. An organization such as Greenpeace has something of a savior and friend mythology in they support environmental concerns. Pick an organization, and they seek to present themselves as experts in their field, whether or not they actually are.
Audience: While we can never be entirely sure about the audience for anything, we can make some good guesses based on the text's appeal, the way it presents this appeal, and so on. You might wonder, does this text appeal to people who already agree with it? People who disagree but might be swayed? Are they young? Old? Educated? Uneducated? (And just what might be meant by "educated"?) Who? A large part of whether the appeal is successful will depend on meeting the needs of the particular audience, so these first two points can often go hand-in-hand;
Authority: Just what authority does the site have? Is the material the work of some schmuck who has an opinion he or she wants to get out to the world? Is this the life's work of a person or organization? Is there any demonsrated expertise in the field the text covers? One place to look for information on this is the "about us" section of the site, assuming they have such a page. Generally speaking, reputable sites will provide a lot of information in this area, but that's not always the case. Sometimes a site will be sponsored by another organization, which means you'll have to check out that organization to see what sort of expertise is brought to bear on the site's content;
Bias/Agenda: To expect to find unbiased information on the web is silly in some respects. If someone puts up a site and goes to the trouble to make it worthwhile, they generally have an agenda, something they want the site to accomplish (which goes back to the site's appeal or argument or rhetorical goal) and this can only happen when biases are put into play. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but as a reader and analyzer of texts, you want to ferret out biases that might unduly color the information. One way to judge the bias of a site, assuming you are well enough informed on the topic, is to look for what is not included, what is missing or buried deep in the bowels of the site. What is not touched on is as important as the material that is presented;
Content: What sort of information does the site contain and just how useful is it for someone who has a reasonable understanding of the issue/topic?; Does the site rely on words? Images? A reasoned combination of the two? How about moving and static images (such as video) as well as sound?
Presentation/Access: How is this content presented? Afterall, if the site has the best information in the world, for its audience, but it's hard to find or use the information, what good is it?
Multi-media: How does the site make use of all the bells and whistles the internet allows for? When they provide the slick, high-tech stuff, does that enhance the message, or is it simply done for the sake of being done? Either, way, is what they are doing an enhancement or a distraction?

Keep in mind that it is all but impossible to wholly pull one of these elements out to look at it in isolation from the others. The success of the appeal will depend on the content, the bias, the presentation and so on. Keep this inter-connectedness in mind as you develop your thesis and the argument that supports the thesis.

“ It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain from becoming too ruthless” (118). Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran.