The Environmental Website

When looking at environmental organizations websites are a big way of engaging with the people that the org wishes to involve in their cause. Done successfully websites can effectively lead the researcher to key information about their org and have a stimulating enough web page to entice people to donate or volunteer. I decided to look at three different websites and analyze how effectively (or ineffectively) their websites are at enticing and effectively communicating to people of the digital age. The three websites I will look at are the pages of the DFW Wild LifeCoalition, the Fort Worth Audubon Society, and Air North Texas.

While looking at these websites I looked at the aesthetics of each page. I found that the DFW Wild Life Coalition was very, for lack of a better word, bland. It was beige and green, while the lettering was very small causing me not want to read what they had to say. My first thoughts on the webpage were that it looked like the endangered animal website I had to make when I was in middle school, not very appealing. The next website I looked at was the Fort Worth Audubon Society. This on was far more appealing with is large “Welcome!” in neon green. Though the website is mostly white it has enough pictures to make it not loo so dull, the only thing I thought was off putting was the black banner at the top of their site that had there name in the corner. It was like a black cloud on an other wise sunny website, it made the feel of the website dark seeing is how it's the first thing you look at before you scroll down to the more uplifting part of the website. The last website, Air North Texas, was the most modern of the three with color blocking and easy maneuverable flow of the eye around the page. The colors were bright but muted so not to be overwhelming and the web page was so crisp that you could print it off and use it as a pamphlet or magazine insert.

When I was looking at these websites I was also reading a chapter form the book Organizational Rhetoric: Situations and Strategies by Mary Hoffman. In the book she uses a phrase call “the strategic use of symbols to generate meaning” (Hoffman, 3). These websites use this technique in there websites.

The DFW Wild Life Coalition on their page have four pictures of animals that can be found in the DFW area, a bird, a rabbit, a turtle, and a bee. Once clicked on these symbols gives a list of common concerns about each animal. These pictures represent the animals this origination wishes to protect and to educate the web audience that the animals they overlook may need assistance. Other symbols this website uses are the symbols of Facebook and Twitter. They generate the meaning that they wish to share their cause through your concern so you tweet or share it to help get their message out. Though one thing bout this symbol is that it does not look like you could actually click on them and they would work. The Facebook and Twitter symbols look copy and pasted to the website, they don’t look like links they just look like reminder that you can tell people about their org on your social media.

 Fort Worth Audubon Society did a great job of getting their message across through symbols. There are pictures of birds every were on their page so that automatically I understand their main cause is birds. The other thing they do is have a calendar with events so the public can see what they are doing and how active they actually are which is nice because if I wanted to swing by one of their events to see them in action I know where to be and what time. One message, besides that they are all about birds, is that they really want you to donate and pay to become a member of their cause. Right under there logo and next to their “Welcome!” they have two credit card capable boxes, one that asks you to donate and the other asking you to become a member, with the credit card they take right under them. At least they’re up front about it. The one symbol I thought they need was something linking them to social media. There was nothing I could share, tweet, or pin. I think the compromised by putting a thread board were people can post links and talk about their feathered cause.

The last website, Air North Texas, was filled with catch phrase after catch phrase in stylized front and pretty colors. Phrases like “Be Air Aware” or, their slogan “Go Green Breath Clean”, symbols used to stick in your mind so I a very catchy manner can make you remember what they are all about. They also use symbols that have become cliché but still work if your just looking at a website for five seconds, like the symbol of parent and child as the ones affected by air pollution. We all care about the child and what pollution is doing to him and if that pollution kills the parent who will look after the child. Cliché symbols can be very affective because the automatically engage your audience. This site also has a video that has symbolism in it though having the actor play every day people letting their cause about air seem more relatable. The only thing this website does not have is the social media connection that could spread there cause to friends of friends of friends.

Though each website is different and has strengths and weakness I think that they all accomplished getting their message and cause out to an audience that most likely skimmed their page.

Work Cited

"Chapter 1: Organizations and Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture." Organizational Rhetoric: Situations and Strategies. Eds. Mary F. Hoffman and Debra J. Ford. SAGE Publications, Inc., 2010: 1-22. Print.