Evaluating Digital Texts - Essay Example

Evaluating Digital Texts The Christian Coalition of America describes itself as the online home for its supporters. It is a conservative political organization that seeks to safeguard and strengthen family values within and without the government. It mainly targets the Christian voting class on the United States and has its roots deeply contained in churches and religious members. According to the organization they work endlessly and effortlessly identifying, enlightening and mobilizing Christians to make an effective political move when voting[Rob13]. This paper seeks to bring out the key points in this website how effective the website is in campaigning for the conservatives. The Christian coalition website does indeed reach its intended audience and successfully represents, speaks out, trains, informs and protests in values and teaching even to non members who have the opportunity to interact with it. To evaluate the effectiveness of this website this paper will explore the following criteria: User friendly organization, Clear statement of beliefs, Visual appeal, Verifiable data, Mission statement, Speeches, Videos. Digital content is fairly new and based on how fast technology changes simplicity and user friendly sites have a higher rate of successfully passing across the intended message[Rut02]. Simplicity best describes a user friendly environment, and although the Christian coalition for America has a strong and complex message to its followers, it has been portrayed in a friendly and simplified form on their website. So much so that even a semi illiterate person can get the gist of their views. The ability of a website to clearly put out its statements makes it stand out. Information should be straight forward, concise and to the point. For a political site especially, a visitor and or potential client should be in a position to point out and get the exact answers with one look. Research shows that users visit many websites at a given instance and as such the ability of the website to capture their attention and offer quick simple solutions is what makes them come back[Ger11]. In this regard, this type of site should focus on answering the users’ questions and the developer should have this in mind. The author of the Christian coalition website drives the point home with very brief points that carry a lot of information. A dynamic site should be able to come out appealing to its intended audience. Images in this aspect come in handy to not only pass across the message, but also they make the website more attractive, unique and stand out[Ger11]. A picture is worth a thousand words and having the correct image can earn the difference between passing the intended message and losing a potential customer or member to the organization. Color choice on the Christian coalition of America website is least to say perfect. It blends in very well and sets the correct mood for the sort of message the website is passing across. Furthermore, the choice of graphics used leaves very little to answer as to what policies the organization stands for. It is one thing to have a lot of content on a website and yet a totally different one to have correct and verifiable information. Correct mathematical figures for example, with the correct formulae and answers for example will hold more water compared to a question and answer without any explanation. In order to convince a novice to your ideas and concepts it is important that the facts are accompanied with proof. This gives the audience confidence in relying on your information and the organization a credible trustworthy image[Geo09]. A keen observation of the figures and their sources on the Christian coalition website reveals that it is indeed credible, and the external links redirect the users to verifiable facts used about the organization. Mission statements in organization seek to show its intended audience that not only is the organization focused on achieving presently but it has a vision and is fighting for a cause in the long term. Such information on a website in a nutshell shows where the organization is, where it is from and the direction which it is taking to achieve its set objectives. It clearly marks out a solid, stable and focused system that has been implemented and shows the audience that whatever information is placed on the table actually holds water. Speeches and videos on any website are additional information that acts as recorded evidence and proof of the message being portrayed on the website. These actually show commitment and how far the organization has gone to walking their talk and whatever campaigns they are carrying is real, not just hog wash to fool the eye of an innocent visitor. Speeches of prominent people such as president Obama and videos of families being reunited with their loved one who are soldiers from deployment enables the users to connect with the author, the policies, and values upheld in the website. These evaluations are on a Christian website that carries a political message and will definitely be opposed by many who are for instance of a different political and religious opinion. It is popular belief that Christianity and politics do not mix and the very point that this site carries a political message right to the doorstep of churches and Christians in general will be viewed as wrong essentially contradicting points on this paper that say this Christian coalition site successfully conveys its message. Another argument may be that for any political organization to be considered successful one, it must have a large number of followers and two, the message it carries must be felt, heard and conveyed even by an opposing government. On this note then, this organization and its website then have failed and been unsuccessful seeing as America is dominated by democrats and republicans not conservatives. However, the main point of a website is to communicate and this it has done judging from how many people understand the principles behind the Christian coalition for America. By this alone all evidence against the evaluation that the Christian foundation website and that it does not reach its audience is indeed unfounded and baseless. In other words this website as a digital text or content does its function and in the correct way. The organization, Christian coalition’s, has a goal of reaching out to Christians and fellow countrymen who uphold family values. As much as possible through its website it has taken its message across the country on a leveled platform and indeed reached out to the grassroots. Work Cited Rob13: , (Roberta Combs), Rut02: , (Ruth Wilson), Ger11: , (White), Geo09: , (Rockwel), Read More