Blog Post II

The XKCD comic in Figure 2.5 is funny because it’s often true. First, look at the “things people go to the site looking for” list. Do you agree with this list? Why or why not?

As a student who’s experienced this issue, I partially agree with what the comic is saying. Current students and faculty use any school’s website as a resource to find general information. However, because school’s use their homepage to put their best foot forward, they’re clearly trying to impress more than students and employees who are already involved at the university. Therefore, I believe the true intended audience may be more for soon-to-be high school graduates and their parents, those looking for employment or anyone else curious to learn about the school itself. So while I may consider the purpose of the site as a tool to contact a professor, the author may feel that it’s more important for the rhetorical analysis of the site to persuade tough critiques (parents and competitors) and potential customers (students and the unemployed) of the credibility of the university. To summarize my point, the overall rhetorical analysis of a university website doesn’t fit me as a student because I’m already a loyal customer and dedicated to taking classes by paying tuition every semester, which means I am no longer the target audience and my use of the site is different from those the school is marketing to.

Second, visit a University website homepage and see if it follows the patterns listed in this comic. If so, why do you think this is the case? If not, what differences do you see and how do you think they matter when it comes to the purpose and audience for a University’s homepage?

I chose the University of Notre Dame – http://nd.edu/ – and found it to be extremely helpful and easy to use. The overall look and context of the site immediately appears clean and simple. The moving graphic is rather refreshing and encourages viewers to read about the student experience. There are also general links at the top with an interactive menu that slides down, while resources for frequent users resides underneath next to the news and spotlights. Personally, I think the author did a good job of following both sides of the comic because it seems to meet common needs while also maintaining credibility of the school and its values.