Department of Communication

University of Washington

Write a 500-word essay comparing any two political websites, either a pair of websites from political parties or a pair of websites from issue-specific political groups. Increasingly, the websites of political parties are a key interface between citizens and political leaders. These are four of the most high profile political parties in the country, and you may compare any two of these parties:

Democratic Party

Green Party

Reform Party

Republican Party

Alternatively, you can compare the websites of two high profile, issue-specific groups, often called political action committees. You may compare the websites of any two of these groups:

American Civil Liberties Union

Christian Coalition

National Organization for Women

Sierra Club

There are a number of online resources about how to critique websites, including an excellent one at the University of British Columbia, and in class we will discuss some of the things that political websites do and should do. As you critique these websites, you must address two questions. First, how do these organizations use their websites establish their credibility, and what are their common techniques of persuasion? Second, what forms of interactivity do these organizations offer, and how effective or disappointing is the interactivity? You are encouraged to develop your own critique of the websites, especially if you can apply ideas and authors that have been introduced in class.

The Essay. WRITE YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS. Your topic sentence should be one sentence. In the beginning of your essay, compare and contrast the content and structure of the websites you have chosen. In the middle of your essay, write about how the strengths and weaknesses of political information technologies, with specific reference to your case studies – different media privilege some kinds of content and meanings over others, so how do new media effect political learning? At the end of your essay, write about the how the design of your pair of websites provides capacity or constraints on people who visit these websites looking for political information.

Assignment Goal. The first goal of this assignment is to build informational literacy about political life and communication technologies. The second goal of this essay is to allow you to practice reviewing websites. The third goal of this assignment is to let you develop your writing style.

Assignment Grading. This assignment is due on E-submit by midnight on Friday October 22^nd, and is worth 20 points. To get a good grade in this assignment, you must a) have perfect grammar and spelling, b) show that you explored the website thoroughly by thoughtfully addressing the two questions, and c) develop your own original critique of the website’s capacities and constraints. Be sure to review the guidelines for grading and labeling your essays. For example, if Ted Coopman submits his assignment, it would be labeled “coopmant_website.doc”.