WWF

Semiotic Analysis of a Website
World Wildlife Fund – for a living planet

wwf1

World Wildlife Fund, or World Wide Fund for Nature, is an organization founded in 1961 by Max Nicholson and Julian Huxley (World Wildlife Fund). The organization work for the protection of wildlife and nature. Their main goal is to conserve the world’s most important natural places and to protect the future of nature” (World Wildlife Fund).

Their United Sates´ page, www.worldwildlife.org, contains a lot of different elements. When we are going to take a closer look at the site the wisest thing will be to divide it into different parts, or divisions.

The index page is centered and is placed on a light brown background. At the top left you can find the WWF logo. Next to it, at the right side, a part containing animated pictures and text appears. Below these elements you will see the main part of the index page – the navigation system. Under this you will find yet another navigation system, but this time they have provided a direct link to relevant topics – it contains three boxes. At the right side of the main navigation, barley below the box with the animated pictures and text you will find another animation – a spinning animation of our planet. Starting at the top right, sided with the animation boxes and the navigation system you will see another part which contains mainly news and updates. In association with the Earth Hour 2009, a note is placed at the right bottom. At the bottom of the entire site you will find, in small, quite anonymous, lettering, a navigation bar to things concerning the site itself and WWF, for example Help/Faq, Rss-feed, contact etc. The target audience of the site is probably people who cares and wants to work for the environment; protect nature and help species who are endangered.

As mentioned, you can split the site into eight different divisions. The WWF logo has a white background and is rectangular-shaped with rounded corners. The picture in the logo is of a Giant Panda. The Giant Panda has with time become on of the main symbols of wildlife preservation. The species was first discovered in China in 1869 (The Bear Palanet), and has ever since been killed and used for their fur an skin. The killings of the Giant Panda has mostly, up until recent time, been ignored by the Chinese government. Today scientists believe that only a couple of thousand Giant Pandas exist in the Wild. Below the Panda bear, the organization´s initials, WWF, is placed with a black bold lettering. The logo is simple and clean, which is the goal for all logos, as it is to be used in small sizes as well as large. The WWF has over the years grown so large that it is also common to connect the Giant Panda with the organization itself.

Next to the logo you will find the box, or divison, with the animated text and pictures. The animation changes every time you reload the page – each time different facts and pictures appear. These facts are, as the foundation, about environmentalism, and there are at least eight different one. As an example you can take the fact “Almost a quarter of the world´s mammals face a high risk of extinction within 30 years”, with this fact there is several figures of different animals, each one of them slowly fading away to signify the animals being extinct. Another one is “Polar Bears are threatened by the rapid loss of arctic sea ice”, with this text there is an animated picture of a Polar bear who´s sitting on an small ice flake when a small piece breaks off and floats away. An third example is “WWF works globally to protect endangered whales” with this there is an whale swimming in from the right hand corner. The pictures and text is colored a darker brown and is placed directly onto the sandy colored background. The pictures support the text, as it would be difficult – in some cases – to understand the meaning if it were only pictures (not the other way around).

Below these two elements you will find the main navigation bar which works as the main part of the page. At the top you will see an horizontal navigation bar in the form of text. White text placed on a dark brown background (the same color as the animated box). This navigation bar provides link to topic as “Who we are”, “What we do”, “Places”, “Species”, “Science”, “Climate” and “Act Now”. These are the main topics which is the most important to the site and organization and they are pretty specific, it is not easy to misunderstand what they are saying and where they will lead you. Below this there is further ways to navigate the site. This time in the form of a slide show. Different pictures slide by every couple of seconds, so that there is just enough time to look at the pictures and read the headline placed on it. With these pictures there are links to causes which are hot and relevant at the moment. For instance a video captured of the world´s rarest rhino, a note about Earth Hour 2009 and that the sea turtles need your help now. Below this again all these subjects are repeated in the form of smaller animated pictures which you can scroll through. This makes it easier for people to locate their wanted topic.

Below this you have more navigation links – or boxes, one of these are a suggestion to adopt a species and shows an example of a polar bear. This is a stuffed animal which you can buy and the money will go the preservation of this species. Again the navigation here is a repeat of the main horizontal one, only here, the white text is placed on a green background – not brown.

As previously mentioned there is yet another animation to the right, next to the main navigation. It is a spinning animation of our planet and if you click it, a world map will pop up and it shows which projects they are currently working on around the world. The projects are marked on the map with a red circle, so that they clearly shows in the map. The other colors used is green, blue and yellow, each color showing which type of place that is shown on the map. For instance, the color blue signifies Marine Places. You can also hover the cursor over each place and there will pop up a dialog box with information.

At the top right, sided with the animation boxes and the main navigation, there is the division containing the boxes with yet more additional navigation. This is mainly for news, updates and results (of campaigns). It is also possible to sign up for news letters in this division. Again we also see a offer of adopting an animal to help. The same colors that appears on the rest of the site also shows here. Brown, green, yellow and blue. The colors are a very important part of the site, it creates a certain structure and makes a clear connection between the different elements. They are clearly supposed to signify nature colors, where the brown is earth, the blue can signify water – and also heaven, the green represents grass and forrest, and the yellow can signify for example the sun.

At this time there is an part of the site devoted to the 2009 Earth Hour. The Earth Hour is a campaign organized by WWF where people are urged to turn off all of their lights and electricity for an hour. It is supposed to be a symbol for people to take action in the climate change. This division is designed to look like a paper note that you normally would pin to a cork board. It is not meant to be permanent, but just for a little while as a reminder.

There is allot of various elements to the site, but they are formed with such a design that it does not become messy. The subtle coloring is also helping to make the whole thing look easy on the eyes. Navigation is clearly the key point in all this and every single element provides a link to a cause they are working on and will give the user more ways to access their selected topic. There are for example two ways (direct links) to adopt an animal only of the front page. The design mainly stays the same throughout the entire site, but if you click further into the site the pages is much larger and you will have to scroll to take a look at the entire page. The elements at the top always stays the same, while the content below changes.

Chandler, Daniel Semiotics: The Basics. 2nd ed. Routledge: 2007.

Cranny-Francis, Anne Multimedia: Texts and Contexts. Sage: 2005.

The Bear Planet. ”Giant Panda”. The Bear Planet for all species of Bears. http://www.bearplanet.org/pandabear.shtml (accessed march 31, 2009).

World Wildlife Fund. ”Frequently Asked Questions”. World Wildlife Fund, 2008. http://www.panda.org/faq/response.cfm?hdnQuestionId=26920021711545

World Wildlife Fund. ”Earth Hour”. World Wildlife Fund. http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help/greenliving/climate_forests_oceans/what_you_can_do/earth_hour/ (accessed march 31, 2009).

World Wildlife Fund. ”WWFindex”. World Wildlife Fund. http://www.worldwildlife.org/wwfindex.html (accessed march 31, 2009).

World Wildlife Fund. ”Who we are”. World Wildlife Fund. http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/index.html (accessed march 31, 2009).

World Wildlife Fund. ”What we do”. World Wildlife Fund.http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/index.html (accessed march 31, 2009).

World Wildlife Fund. ”Places”. World Wildlife Fund. http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/index.html (accessed march 31, 2009).

Semiotic Analysis of a Website
The Dumbest Generation

The Dumbest Generation: How The Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans And Jeopardizes Our Future * (*Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30) is a book written by Emory University professor, Mark Bauerlein (Bauerlein, M, 2007). The youth of today mainly reads on the Internet, and are used to skimming through the pages. They only focus on key words and bullet points and easily get distracted by links popping up on the site. Bauerlein argues that kids also transfer that way of reading (or skimming) to books. In his opinion kids only use the Internet for pop-culture and for gossiping with friends. (Drutman, L., 2008) They suffer from a loss of knowledge and do not know the history and politics they are supposed to know. In a nutshell Bauerlein claims that the digital age has made kids stupid.

The Web site supporting the book is www.thegreatesgeneration.com. It is designed to make a broader audience aware of it. Like all other commercials (if you want to call it that) it is built up of various signs and codes so that it can reach out to its potential customer – or consumers. To understand the Site – and how it works – better, it can be wise to take use of semiotic analysis.

To analyze the site, it is easiest dividing it into three parts, or divisions. The header – at the top left, the menu- below the header, and then the main division, on the right side of the menu, carrying the main content. If we start by looking at the Welcome page- in the main division, we can separate it into three parts. At the bottom you will find the Web page’s main picture – the cover of the book. The background is colored white, and the main-title The dumbest Generation is written in big upper-case letters. The words The and Generation is colored black, while the word Dumbest has slightly bigger letters and is colored red. Placed between Generation and Dumbest there are three robots raising the American flag towards the left. Under the Generation more typing appears in lower-case lettering: How The Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future*. This writing is colored red. Below this, at the bottom of the cover, a label which represents the alternative title appears. When it comes to the design – the entire site bases itself on the cover of the book, especially when it comes to the colors. The text is mainly red and black, and just as the cover it has a clear white background.

If we move onto the connotation-side of the site, we can start with the title of the book. The title of the book is, as previously mentioned, The Dumbest Generation. This title is probably a play on the well know term, invented by the journalist Tom Brokaw (CNN, 1999), The Greatest Generation – referring to the generation growing up during the great depression, later fighting in the Second World War. The reference to war goes even deeper with the image of the robots raising the American Flag. Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a famous historic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal and shows four American Soldiers – the greatest generation – raising the American flag (Bradley, J.H., 2009). At Iwo Jima the soldiers also raised the flag towards the right, while on the book cover the robots raise it towards the left. This may of course be of strictly design purposes, but maybe it is an image of the youth generation heading in the wrong direction. The previous signs of hope is now replaced and shown in a negative light. The robots, a metonymy for the generation of today, also holds a resemblance to the action figures, Transformers – alien robots. And if you look even deeper into pop-culture references, you will find that one of the tag lines for these toys is robots in disguise (Articlesbase, 2007). Is that what the youth of today are?

Below the main title you can find the alternative title Or Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30. Again we can find references to historic events. Don’t trust anyone over 30 was a well know slogan during the 60’s amongst the so called hippies (Stone, S.). The text is written on a label, an alternate version of the Parental advisory warning labels which you can find on audio and video recordings in the U.S. It is supposed to warn parents that the content may not be suitable for children. This is in the same way a warning angled towards the parents: don’t trust anyone under 30.

The text is mainly black apart from the word Dumbest which is colored red to draw attention to itself. The color red bears a number of different meanings, but in this case it is fair to assume that it first and foremost is used a signifier to a warning, but also aggression and perhaps energy.

If we move up to the animated text – part two of the main content. The text sort of drops in from nowhere and it contains a description of what the book is about. It switches between four different paragraphs and changes quickly. You really have to skim through it to understand what it is saying. Whether this is intentional or not, is hard to say. It could be in connection with one of the themes from the book that the youth generation of today cannot concentrate or read properly. Placed over this you will see yet another heading, a sub-heading, written in a grey bluish color 50 Million Minds Diverted, Distracted, Devoured. It is a simple sentence describing the book. The sentence is written in alliteration Million Minds and Diverted, Distracted and Devoured starts with the same letters. Again it emphasizes the message of the book, youths of today equals no good.

The menu placed at the left margin, contains eight links written in a light grey color – similar to the sub-heading. It is very subtle and does not steal much attention from the other elements. The links show the ways to various information about the book; reviews, articles, etc. They show that the book has been talked about and this may pique the interest of the visitor. In the menu you can also click on the home page, this is a page similar to the Welcome page, only this contains a bit more text and smaller pictures. This is probably again – to repeat what the book is about.

The target audience of the site is probably the same as the ones for the book. The simple design and use of pop-culture (the label and the transformers) and strong colors is exactly what Bauerline argued that the kids only paid attention to. The pop-culture references reaches out to the kids, while the historic references, reaches out to those over 30 – you can assume that that is the intention considering what Bauerlein states in the book.

To sum things up, the site is designed in the same simple style as the cover of the book. It is created to work as an advertisement on its behalf, and to emphasize the message of the book: Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30.

(Words: 1201)

Articlesbase, 2007, More Than Meets The Eye: The Future of Transformers. http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/more-than-meets-the-eye-the-future-of-transformers-201297.html

Bauerlein, M, 2007. http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/welcome.html

Bauerlein, M, 2007. http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/home.html

Bauerlein, M, 2007. http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/about.html

Bauerlein, M, 2008. http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i04/04b01001.htm

Bauerlein, M, 2007. http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/media.html

Bradley, J.H., 2009. http://www.iwojima.com/raising/raisingb.htm

Chandler, D., 2007. Semiotics: The Basics.

Chandler, D., 2009. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

Chandler, D., 2009. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem06.html

CNN, 1999. http://edition.cnn.com/books/news/9901/20/tom.brokaw/

Drutman, L., 2008. http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book5-2008jul05,0,3980465.story

Stone. S, Hippy Glossary. http://www.hipplanet.com/books/atoz/glossary.htm

Guide til UiB

Da var del 2 av “Guide to UiB assignment” ferdig – og godt er det.

Her er siden for de som er kjempeinteresserte.

Jeg er veldig for enkle sider, med lite dilldall, og det tror jeg at jeg fikk ganske godt frem. La inn et bilde slik at det ikke skulle bli alt for kjedelig. Jeg har så klart ikke rettigheter til å bruke noen av disse bildene, men tenkte at det gikk greit til sånne leksegreier. Jeg har ihvertfall ikke tid til å dra til byn klokken 2 om natten for å ta bilder av Universitet.

Når det gjelder guide til UiB skulle det vise seg å bli noe vanskelig. Mest fordi at omtrent alle sidene man kunne linke til var av Sydneshaugen o.l. Universitetet er ganske stort og består av flere steder. Jeg laget derfor bare et forslag til en (link)oversikt og linket bare til et par sider.

For å lage (kode) siden brukte jeg w3schools for å hjelpe meg. En ganske grei side.

Regine og facebook

Det er nå 13 dager siden jeg opprettet min facebook-konto, og jeg er fult klar over at jeg er en av de siste i Norge (i hvert fall på min alder) som har gjort dette. Jeg har i lang tid fått klager av venner og bekjente om at jeg ikke har facebook, men jeg har rett og slett ikke helt sett vitsen. Grunnene jeg har fått fra dem er at jeg kan se på bilder… fra fester og sånn – noe som for meg virket like interessant som å se på bilder av steiner.

Hadde noen, derimot, fortalt meg om alle de gøye gruppene jeg kunne joine, hadde jeg registrert meg mye raskere. Med I Secretly Want To Punch Slow Walking People In The Back Of The Head har jeg funnet ut at jeg ikke er den eneste.

Det er også mange grupper for oss som liker britisk komedie:

the MOON from Mighty Boosh appreciation society – fuck yea

Noel Fielding and Russell Brand: Goth Detective Agency

I love Black Books and Dylan Moran is a god

Simon Amstell makes me weep with happiness and love

The Dylan Moran is a Drunken Genius Society

The Mod Wolves

Black Books, Mighty Boosh og Never mind the Buzzcocks ftw!

For oss som er mer opptatt av religion og politikk har man også Verden hadde vært et bedre sted om Janove Ottesen var Gud, , If Jesus came back as a crack addict from London, he would be Pete Doherty og 1,000,000 For Obama To Grow An Afro! Tihi.

Grunnen til at jeg til slutt valgte å opprette en facebook-konto var fordi at Huin105 skulle ha en gruppe der, en slags bli-bedre-kjent-gruppe. Noe jeg synes er en helt greit måte for universitet å bruke facebook på (selv om det bare er lærerene som faktisk bruker den).

Blogg og gøye Internetting

Denne bloggen er opprettet i forbindelse med faget Huin105 på uib. Jeg har aldri blogget før, men kanskje jeg nå kommer til å begynne med det… eller kanskje ikke.

Jeg leser egentlig ikke så veldig mange blogger, men er av og til innom noen av mine venners blogger (Tubablag, Yngsun). Ellers besøker jeg mange kjekke Internettsider som f.eks. Filmbyen.no, Cracked, imdb, Comingsoon, How it should have ended – sider som alle er kjekke for meg som liker film.

Når man snakker om gøye Internetting, så har jeg endelig fått invite til Spotify. Et ganske så genialt program som lar deg, lovlig, høre på den musikken du vil høre på gratis – utenom Metallica (men det er ganske kjedelig anyway, so no loss there). Wikipedia forklarer det kanskje bedre enn meg:

Spotify is a Sweden-based proprietary music streaming program, which allows listening to specific music without delay via browsing artists, albums or created playlists.

Meg og Tom Waits har, i det siste, tilbrakt mye fin kvalitetstid sammen. Noe last.fmen min sa at jeg trengte.

Det eneste negative man egentlig kan si om Spotify er at det av og til dukker opp urovekkende Lady Gaga-klipp, lyden kunne også vært et hakk bedre, men det er gratis (<3)… så man skal ikke klage for mye.

Og til slutt får vi avslutte med å si at wordpress tydeligvis ikke liker at linker skal åpne seg i ny faner:)

…juhu.

Bildeting:

Hei

Huin105 sa at jeg måtte opprette en blogg. På wordpress.com må man betale for å forandre på CSS-koden og det er ganske irriterende.