It's for us, it was entirely created for people to view, it is an informative website. Many of the aspects of the website are very easy to use, which is good; however, as I was going through the site and exploring different parts of it, I noticed a few things that I think send subtle, but clear messages to viewers. In truth, many of the written and visual "texts" in the site actually make claims of fact, value and policy. For Example, on the first page that opens when I clicked on the link I saw a picture of Obama wearing an American flag pin on his lapel. This is one subtle message that seems to say to viewers, "I'm patriotic, just like you." This could be similar to a claim of Obama's own value. The president also looks very crisp, regal and dignified in each of the photo's shown, a simple fact which also places a similar claim of value; that Obama is prepared and professional. Even in the pictures where the president seems to be posing as a pensive deep thinking man looking off into space, the image seems to send the message to people that the president is very thoughtful, not impulsive, and that he is looking to the future, confident and determined. All positive values. All this could be guessed at while looking at the many pictures in the gallery of photos provided on the web site.
Again, in the opening of the website, the words “STAY INFORMED” is printed, enticing people to sign up for “periodic updates”. This may be alluding to the idea that perhaps the president doesn’t actually keep so many things from us average citizens, and that he actually wants us to know what's going on. It also sends the feeling that if you don’t sign up you will not be “INFORMED”. These ideas seem to be claims of fact and policy.
On the first page after the initial opening page that I was taken to I immediately saw the first big bold letter on the page "The American Jobs Act" and "Read the Bill". Now, after all that I have just discussed and observed, it's only natural that a person would want to "stay informed" on this topic, especially given today's economy and current major issues which relate closely to the subject of this bill. The website is very well organized. I was immediately interested in the sub menu titled "Issues". When I scrolled my mouse over it, a drop down menu appeared showing me a list of issues available for me to read. I was impressed at first by the simple, often one paragraph summaries of many of the issues listed; but I was soon disappointed to see that each of these issues were answered with only a bunch of claims of fact statements of what Obama has or is doing concerning each issue. There was no place for discussion by the reader on the topics listed. In this way, the website is merely informative, and not interactive. Perhaps the most interactive area of the website is actually the White House Blog which appeared to allow for many different writers to post. However these posts seemed to be done by professionals only and not by the average American, and again there is no comments section. The best you or I could do with it is to pass any of the articles along using the "share" "tweet" or "email" icons and from there on a separate web location discuss the topics that concern us.
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