Glamour Magazine - http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/
a) How is your chosen site structured?
The glamour magazine homepage is a kind of gateway to lots of information, based on sections of the magazine. The site is structured to display a lot of hyperlinks, which is done in a logical and organised way using lists, subheadings and images.
Lister et al define hypertext as "made up from discrete units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other units" (2003: 24). Shields (2000) suggested that links are essential to both navigation and composition of websites. This is very true for glamour magazine.com the majority of the text on the main page is hypertext – a click of the mouse takes you off to the particular article you have chosen. Hypertext composes the majority of the page and also is the way of navigating around the site. Hypertext means that reading information takes a non-linear form; using glamour magazine.com is defiantly non-linear as the user can start wherever they choose and read as much as they want. Sonia Livingstone suggested that as hypertext is non-linear, you may need a new type of literacy to comprehend it. The user of glamour magazine.com doesn’t need a certain type of literacy to understand it, as although hypertext is the main function of the site, it’s clear and easy to use.
Bruns defines produsage as “the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement” (2006: 2). There is an element of produsage on the site, as users can submit their comments and thoughts about each article which is in a way 'extending existing content'. However, the produsage limit stops here, there is no moderation or produser content similar to produsage heavy sites such as Wiki sites or forum based websites.
b) What is it about on a cultural level?
On a cultural level, Glamour is about women, fashion, beauty and celebrities.
The website appeals to mainly women aged 20-35 who are readers of the magazine in real life.
There is an element of community within the site based on the fact there is an element of produsage. People who leave comments on the site obviously have a shared interest; they are visiting the same site, reading the same articles and caring enough to comment on them. However, there is not a feeling of community throughout the site because of the limited interactivity involved for users. McMilan and Chavis (1986) defined the concept of ‘sense of community’. According to their definition, I would say that there is no community within the glamour magazine website, which in turn eliminates and issues of privacy. Similarly, there is no openness to the small element of produsage which is in the site as any comments users do submit have to be authorised by Glamour before posting. Bruns has suggested that having a governed site would put people off, however this doesn’t really apply to this case as becoming a produser isn’t the reason people visit and use the site.
c) What is the appeal for you as a user?
The appeal for a user of glamour magazine.com is the fact it contains items which are in the magazine yet viewing them is easier on screen with the aid of hypertext compared to reading the magazine. On the website the user can be directed straight to the section, or even article that they wish to view, without having to search through the entire print. Another appeal for the user is that they can read other peoples opinions of the topics within the magazine and chose whether to participate become a produser, or just observe. There is trust between the user and the website, as users will feel ‘secure’ knowing that glamour is a big-selling magazine and company which means the user feels confident using the site and its information.
Shields, R. (2000) “Hypertext Links”. In Herman, A and Swiss, T (ed’s), The World Wide Web and Contemporary Culture, New York London: Routledge, 2000, pp. 145
Bruns, A (2006) ‘Towards Produsage: Futures For User-Led Content Production’ online at: http://snurb.info/files/12132812018_towards_produsage_0.pdf
McMilan and Chavis (1986) in Blanchard, A (2004) ‘Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community’
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html
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I like how you have gone back and defined all of the things which we have learnt about as a fresh for your analysis - good one.
ReplyDeleteI, too, like this! this shows a mature response to a website analysis, using up to date theoretical material to support your observations This is 2:1 work, for sure.
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