A Rhetorical Analysis of a Mediocre Website

The purpose of a rhetorical analysis is to select a piece of work and determine if the piece properly conveys its’ purpose. For this particular rhetorical analysis I have chosen to examine the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition’s website. After carefully studying the website and its’ needs, the next step would be to visit the site establish a more in depth understanding of the organization and to create a digital publication based on my gained knowledge from the site visit as well as notes from the analysis. Based on my observations of the website alone the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition does a mediocre job of providing immigrants with resources, informing allies of how they can help, and soliciting donors.

When first accessing the website, one sees the landing page. Above the fold the only noticeable features are the banner, navigation bar, search bar, page title, upcoming events, and the about title. From above the fold, it is evident the author of the page is the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition because there is huge emphasis on the banner and organization inside. The banner alone takes up majority of the space from above the fold leaving the audience to scroll down to see more information. If one were to find more information on who exactly is apart of the MIRC they would have to go to the navigation bar, select “Join MIRC” and then choose “Board Members”.  After browsing this particular page one finds all the potential authors. The problem with this is it only dates the 2017-2018 board so stating these members as the authors is not necessarily reliable.

Going back to the landing page when one scrolls below the fold they see what the organization aims to do. While reading the about section of this page it also allows the reader to note the purpose of the website; which is to providing immigrants with resources, informing allies of how they can help, and soliciting donors. Also, from the about section and the immigration news section one learns both the primary and secondary audience. Because one knows the organization wants to provide immigrants with resources from reading the about section the primary audience would be immigrants. Right below the about MIRC section is the immigrant news which can be a tool used to keep up with new updates regarding immigration.  This particular section is very close to the footer and beneath the main focus point of the page so one could identify that secondary audience are those who may support the cause.

Unfortunately the bottom of the one column web page does not have navigation in the footer so one has to scroll back to the top of the page if they would like to access the navigation bar. When accessing the navigation bar one has the option to visit the “Resources”, “Get Involved”, “Join MIRC”, “Donate”, and “Past Events”. By selecting the resources page those who have immigrant status can find extra information. However this page just provides a link toresources instead of listing the resources as soon as the page is accessed. This is another indicator that the primary audience is those of immigrant status because it is the first tab next to the homepage indicating the level of importance. Next on the navigation bar is the “Get Involved” page. Within this page there are just lists of other organizations that one may volunteer at if they would like to help immigrants this is also an indicator of their secondary audience. After the “Join MIRC” page on the navigation menu there is the “Donate” page. This page states once again the mission of MIRC. From knowing their mission and the nature of donation pages one can infer that the genre of this website is non-profit. The last page on the navigation bar is the “Past Events” page. Within this page the reader is able to see all the previous events MIRC has hosted in the 2017-2018 year. This is the second time the website has mentioned this particular time frame meaning one can infer from the context the last time the whole website was updated was the 2017-2018 year.

After analyzing the website there are many recommendations I would give the MIRC as to how they can significantly improve. First, the banner on all pages is entirely too big, it takes up most of the space above the fold. The space of above the fold is the most critical because it is what one wants the user to see. Since the website is information based the focus should be on the information not the banner. Secondly in the footer there should be a navigation bar. It is quite tedious after reading to the end of each page to have to scroll back up to the top of the page in order to access another web page within the site. Another option instead of putting a navigation bar in the bottom is to at least have a button that the reader can press that scrolls to the top of the page for them. Also within the website there should be more media, whether that be pictures, videos or audio. These visual forms of communication help to really drive the message the MIRC has home. Another recommendation that is important to implement is specifically for the Resources page. This page is the only page that does not have information listed but it only displays links to other resource pages within the site. The page needs to have both so the audience does not get confused on how to find information but to also have a way to access other resources without leaving the page. The last recommendation I would give is to provide an update to the website content. It is evident the last time the page has been updated was in the 2017-2018 year this is very out of date especially when immigration is such a hot topic and new developments within this topic are constantly appearing. In order to fully convey its purpose the MIRC needs to apply all of these changes but until then the website only does a bare minimum of informing its’ audience.

Works Cited: http://marylandimmigrantrightscoalition.org/

Rhetorical Analysis: Catholic Charities

Upon analyzing Catholic Charities website (www.catholiccharities-md.org), Catholic Charities is a non-profit organization that provides care and services to people living in Maryland. Their values include “to love, to serve, to teach, and to work for justice.” In addition to their mission statement, the purpose of Catholic Charities is to persuade people into donating or volunteering for the organization. The authors of the Catholic Charities website have credibility with this kind of work. The author includes links to news articles and current events and includes images to capture the audience’s attention. The author of the website uses rhetoric to be able to have the website stand out to their audiences, inform the audience of the organization’s purpose, and help convey the genre and context to reach relevance in today’s society.

The primary audience that Catholic Charities strives to appeal to would be the donors and volunteers. When you first come to the website, the first thing you will see is their mission statement on the right side of the screen and a blue bar that goes across the page. The first two words that are read on the blue bar are “Donate” and “Volunteer.” Underneath of the blue bar is a graphic with a button that says, “Stand With Us.” Pressing the button leads you to a page that says, “Turn compassion into action” and on the right side of the screen there and three buttons with three different colors. The first button is green and has the word “GIVE.” Green could be associated with money and in this case, it is a good choice for the author to use the color to receive donations. The second button is blue and has the word “VOLUNTEER” which is another important aspect for Catholic Charities. Lastly, the third button is orange and has the words, “LEARN MORE” which takes you back to the homepage. This was a purposeful choice that the author made because when on the “Stand With Us” page, the navigation bar is not accessible, which means that the only options that a person could do is to either give or volunteer.

The secondary audience that Catholic Charities could appeal to would be advocates, immigrants/refuges, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and people who would need poverty relief or housing and shelter. The website’s secondary audience is a wide range because of the amount of services that they do offer. “Advocate” is the third word on the blue navigation bar on the homepage. The tab takes you to a page that informs the audience on Catholic Charities advocacy and public policy. The page also includes advocacy alerts, workshops, and information on how to contact the organization. Next to the “Advocate” button on the navigation bar is the word, “Find Help.” The tab leads you to a page that has a list of services that Catholic Charities has to offer. On the top of the page, it has a tagline that reads, “Find The Help You Need From One of Our 80 Programs.” The author purposely choose to put the tagline on the top and bottom of the page to show audiences that the organization does offer a wide range of services to appeal to anyone who needs help.

Catholic Charities’ medium is a website. The author most likely chose a website platform because it would be easily accessible to anyone who could access a phone or a computer. The primary reason for why the author chose a website would be to easily collect donations and to have volunteers contact the organization without having to find a location to go to. A secondary reason for the website is to provide people with resources. These resources include help with immigration, poverty relief, housing and shelter, community and neighborhood based services, and 80 other services. The historical convention for this website is that with the ongoing issues on immigration and refuges within the United States, people need to be able to find resources without fear of “being caught.” They want to be discreet with their actions for providing themselves with a better life.

Overall, Catholic Charities website is easy to navigate through. The tabs are straight forward and takes you to where you need to go. The website can be word heavy, however, it compensates with images and color. The website sticks to the same color scheme, most likely to ensure people that they are still on the same website. This would also help with people who have disabilities. The website also has credibility because it provides information and updates on government actions. The website is also well organized and keeps everything condensed into six tabs. The website could improve on adding auditory aids or add an option for different languages. This would satisfy a bigger range of audience and possibly bring more traffic to the website.

An Analysis of the Esperanza Center Website By Meg Biemesderfer

The following paper is a rhetorical analysis of the Catholic Charities’ Esperanza Center Webpage. To begin, some context is needed. The Esperanza Center is a charitable organization that aids immigrants, who need to learn English, find homes, jobs, and adjust to the US, as well as get legal help. There is an increasing prejudice against and fear of immigrants today and it has become even more important as can be seen by the population Esperanza serves and how it has grown over the years. This page of the Catholic Charities website is meant to gain volunteers and workers to provide these services for low cost or for free. It also directs those in need of the services to the center in Spanish. It was originally created in the early 1960s by a determined community activist, Nancy Conrad, who had returned to Baltimore from Latin America where she was serving with the Young Christian Workers with newfound inspiration to help immigrants and Spanish speakers in the U.S. Her endeavor was supported by the Catholic Church, and later adopted in 1980s by Catholic Charities the Esperanza Center has been through several names and locations as it grew to accommodate the growing need for it.

 

 

The Esperanza Center’s page portion of the Catholic Charities Website puts emphasis on the Catholic Charities Logo, being nearly as big as the images placed in close proximity to the topmost part of the screen. It draws the eye and ensure the reader knows who runs the site, and instantly defines a possible bias in favor of Catholics. This logo gives legitimacy to the website, and in turn to the Esperanza Center, with Catholic Charities being a well known and well established charitabl     e Non-Profit organization that has operated for decades. It is clear from this logo, the company’s reputation, and from the layout of the navigation bar that the site targets religious people with money as it’s primary audience. The logo includes below it the words “Inspired by the Gospel Mandates” and “Cherishing the Divine Within All” (“Esperanza Center.”), which respectively is the tagline of the Baltimore Catholic Charities Branch and the Catholic Charities overall. The Navigation bar gives further insight, with Donate coming first, followed by Volunteer and Advocate. It is clear that those with time and/or funds to spend on Catholic Charities, in this case the Esperanza Center in particular, are the Primary Audience the webpage is created for. All over the website there are Volunteer and Donate Buttons, practically on every section of the website. Its purpose is clearly to gain the resources needed to run the Center and better help immigrants. The name of the Center is also highly emphasized, the words Esperanza Center appear all over the website, in various colors and sizes, as well as in images to ensure the name is prominent and easily remembered. The most important information, such as name, location, and contact options of the represented Esperanza Center are all placed above the fold and in close proximity to each other, in text that draws emphasis to them in English and Spanish.  This use of both languages points to the secondary audience, though the site seems to be shifting them more towards a primary audience role: immigrants. It is clear that they are currently secondary as the bulk of the website is geared towards recruiting volunteers and donors and is in English. However, there are videos and important text in Spanish and intent stated that more will be offered in Spanish. There are also various links that lead services and their contact information that Esperanza offers and options to get the information in Spanish.

 

As you continue past the Navigation bar it is notable that important text is emphasized by color, bolding, capitalization, or a combination of the three. Urgent messages are in red, important parts that aren’t as vital as well as text links in blue, and addresses and bolded. Other important information or things that the site wants attention drawn to are caps locked and written in black as you continue down below the fold. Back above the fold, on the right side, a rotating box of images showing various immigrants utilizing the offered services as well as the building that houses Esperanza center is shown prominently. The dots under the rotating picture box indicates the option to shift the images, and hovering over them produces arrows on either side of the images that also indicate an option for lateral movement. And past this on the far right is a scroll bar, notifying users that there is more to the website than the initial view. As the consumer scrolls down through the site, they will notice that the linguistics were carefully planned with clear and simple language with text of a fair size and non-seriffed font, lending to easier reading. There are also prominent translations in Spanish for more vital or useful information being provided. Though it is not yet in place, there is intent stated to translate more of the website into Spanish in the near future, which makes it more accessible to the large Spanish speaking immigrant population. There doesn’t seem to be any option for text to voice on this site, and there isn’t much Spanish. The midsection of the page contains button in green for upcoming events, and below it are tabs with more in depth information about the Esperanza Center and its’ history, its’ goals, and its’ services. Each has a plus sign next to them in black and white signifying that more information can be accessed by clicking it and less can be seen by clicking the minus sign that appears once you’ve clicked the plus sign. Most of the options are written in English; though one is in Spanish and provides a phone number to call for information on education for both adults and children, presumably also given in Spanish. For the most part this list of services are meant to garner pro-bono workers and volunteers to provide the services, rather than to explain them to immigrants.

 

Under the services and about us tabs, there is a video in Spanish with an option for subtitles in dozens of languages in the middle row of the page. This video explains some basic rights and legal tips for immigrants, various services that the center offers, and how to access them. There isn’t much sound on the site beyond the video. The video is an affordance for those who speak other languages or are hearing impaired in some way. This allows for another means of communication, but it should have an option for translation on site or for text to speech. There is a lot of gesturing, facial expression, and body language in the video, as well as friendly interaction and explanation from both a male and a female. There is a scroll bar on the site’s right side to indicate the option to scroll down.  The images above the options directly below the video are gestural and are not the most common but common enough to help signify what the buttons do. The checked box for example is something seen on various sites to denote mail or email. Both the text and buttons use contrast to stand out from the colors of the buttons against the plain white background. The brightly colored and emphasized text contrast is used to great effect to pull the eye to the most relevant, beneficial, and important information or points for the company’s goals. Just below this, it is again made clear the website’s main goal of gaining donors and volunteers with far larger size than the buttons above them and opposite color patterning with buttons “Donate Now”, “Our Wishlist”, and “Volunteer Now” (“Esperanza Center.”). Finally at the bottom of the page, there are testimonials and more links to get involved in Catholic charities.

 

The Esperanza Center site is online, and thus is easy to access for anyone, be it via personal devices or free ones that can be utilized at libraries and other public spaces. This platform provides a direct route through which to donate or to sign up to volunteer. It is on Catholic Charities’ site, as one of their many projects, giving it a better chance of being noticed than it would have on its’ own. It has a mobile version as well, which contains more Spanish text on the homepage than the desktop site does. I am not entirely sure why. However, it is possible that it could be because people are likely to have a phone, or access to one, than a laptop or other personal computer, and so more people will be able to use it and find information on the Esperanza Center in an easy to consume manner. Note that the mobile site has a major flaw, in that the mission statement and logo of Catholic Charities covers about a third of the page once you scroll below the fold. This is annoying and unhelpful at best, and detrimental to user’s ability to read the text at worst. It is distracting and a poor design choice that limits the site’s usefulness.

 

The Esperanza Center has a good web page with a clear focus on Donors and Volunteers and a strong secondary focus on immigrants. It provides a streamlined way to research the Center and donate and volunteer for it. It also provides useful information and routes to information for Spanish speaking immigrants. It’s mobile site is useful, but has issues in regards to set up, with a large portion of the site being covered by the Catholic Charities’ Logo and mission statements rather than displaying the relevant information for which the site exists. The desktop site has its own issues, in the lack of text to voice capability and the fact that it does not apply a translation option. Overall, it is a focused and useful website in any form so long as you can get around the minor inconveniences.

 

Works Cited

“Esperanza Center.” Catholic Charities of Baltimore, www.catholiccharities-md.org/services/esperanza-center/.

 

 

 

 

 

I pledge on my honor that I have neither given nor received

unauthorized assistance on this assignment/exam.”

-Megan Biemesderfer

 

80 Years in the Making: Refugee Website Analysis

“Our World is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions.” ~Pope Francis~

Non-Profit organizations have been established since nearly 80 years ago and are still prominent in today’s world. Refugee organizations such as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service located in Baltimore, Maryland is constantly updating their website to target towards those who have a passion of giving back. The LIRS contains features that provide rhetorical messages including audience, purpose, context, author and genre to create a multimodal website.

The home page of the site begins with a view of the navigation bar which includes links to pages like “about us, our work, take action, resources, press room, blog and DONATE.” The donate button is bolded in bright orange (unlike the blue theme) on the top right corner. This indicates that the intended audience are people with money who can afford to donate. The website also provides a link that is called “our partners.” Our partners include the church partners that are affiliated with certain activities that the LIRS may provide. The donate button also serves a purpose for possible members of a church that works collaboratively with the LIRS. Members of the EvangelicalLutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod LCMS, and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELCA) could have a higher chance of donating because they are partnered with the LIRS.

Since the LIRS is a religious focused non-profit, it is important to recognize that refugees who are seeking help may want to work with a lutheran-influenced asylum. The website tailors their focus on those who are religious by inserting a “history” page (underneath the “about us” category,) explaining that the LIRS

has a religious “tone” to the organization as a whole. Refugees and Immigrants who follow a specific religion may favor the fact that it is a Lutheran non profit, for they understand how churches give back to the community and would prefer to be affiliated with this influence. The purpose is to target a group of refugees and with appropriate resources, use them to provide a religious influence on their daily lives.

The overall intention of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is to create a religious focused home for refugees and for those who would like to work for a religious focused refugee organization. The LIRS provides a link called “steps to host a refugee Sunday” which shows how your Lutheran church can get involved in service. With programs such as “Refugee Sunday, Faith on the Move, Be not afraid, No Temas, and ELCA Youth Gatherings,” lutheran churches are encouraged to get involved with helping immigrants through the LIRS. 

  

To target every time of demographic, the LIRS uses the internet web overall to capture their audience. They also use images on their website of the statue of liberty as their main theme and the flame in the statue of liberty as their logo to provide a feeling of full acceptance for the potential refugees. Like many non profit websites, the Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service website targets everybody. In this day of age, mostly everybody in the world has internet and technology, so for the LIRS to be using the web as their main source of interaction shows they are trying to reach a mass audience. In order to further reach a mass audience of all demographics, the website provides a tiled mosaic structure of a “digital storytelling campaign” to welcome fellow immigrants. The campaign consists of refugees who have previously gone through the LIRS proving the credibility and to shed a positive light on the program.

 

The LIRS does a good job with site exploration. Since there is no sound on the page or any type of video’s generalizing the LIRS, this forces viewers to explore their website a bit more and view other criteria other than the home page to get a feel for the site.  Unlike other refugee sites such as the HIAS, the LIRS does not have a video testimony or audio media. Since viewers are forced to actually read the site a bit more, the LIRS provides postings to get viewers updated with recent news about refugees occurring in the United States. This further emphasizes how important refugee asylums are. The news postings include current events regarding the President of the United States, and LIRS updates. 

Since viewers are forced to explore the page to get more details, people who view this website would most likely access this on their computer, or their phones. The overall layout of the website creates an aesthetically pleasing appearance where viewers read from left to right. The overall facts that readers need to know are dead center, in large text, with no other distractions or information surrounding it. This is done purposefully so people can scroll and analyze the page with ease. 

The previous author of the LIRS (who was president Linda Hartke, 2017) established the site’s credibility by saying that the non profit has been around for 80 plus years. This allows the readers to gain a sense of comfort since it has been established for a long time. With a quick google search, people who view the website could also see awards that the LIRS have received. The site provides an announcement that president, Linda Hartke has won the Maryland International Business Leadership award back in 2017. However, what the site does not mention is that in 2018, Hartke was soon fired as the LIRS CEO due to her “financial irregularities” and “harassment” during her time. This has caused her reputation to soon backfire. 

   

Overall, the site establishes it’s credibility by providing viewers a history page which states that the non-profit has been around since 1939. The LIRS also establishes their credibility by providing a “Loans Customer Portal” button at the top right corner, indicating that the organization has money to give out loans for potential refugees. The LIRS site categorizes as a non-profit refugee website that protects and helps refugees while being welcomed to the community. It is also categorized as a refugee site due to it’s options for asylum seekers as well as the common theme of “donations, ways to get involved, and our work” found on the main header navigation bars of each site. For example, a website called “Refugees International” looks almost identical to the LIRS website with its header options. Refugeesinternational.org creates news postings in a centered alignment as well, just like the Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services site however the only difference is that Refugee International categorizes their news as “The Latest from RI.” 

       vs. 

Overall, the Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services website is a well organized, aesthetically pleasing site with an abundance of information.  The site provides positive multimodal tactics to grab viewers into providing or receiving help in many ways. The dark blue and light blue color scheme approach of the site comes off as a non-threatening way to getting involved with the LIRS. The overall alignment makes it easy to read and perfect for people with a slim vocabulary. Although the site is easy to navigate and skim, the creator of the site could have provided some auditory and more visual modes to then grab an even larger demographic. People who are blind could use the audio and people who have reading disabilities need the videos to grasp as much information as they can.

 

 

 

 

References: 

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.

“Refugees International.” Refugees International, www.refugeesinternational.org/.

Corcoran, Ann. “Lutherans Announce Departure of CEO Hartke amid Claims of Financial Irregularities, Poor Management.” Refugee Resettlement Watch, 14 Feb. 2018, refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/lutherans-announce-departure-of-ceo-hartke-amid-claims-of-financial-irregularities-poor-management/.

 

 

 

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Rhetorical Analysis

The website I chose was the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. The website’s audience is primarily for those who can donate, volunteers, activists, and many more that fall in that line of work. When you first enter the website, there is a button that leads you to the inspirational stories from various refugees. Adding this element in, helps when trying to convince others to donate to a good cause. The button also happens to be under the horizontal menu where the word “donate” is much bigger than the other words and is in its own orange bubble. The secondary audience are refugees and possibly even students and teachers. The reason I say students and teachers is because it can be used as an instructional method like how we are currently using it now. Considering the fact that the audience is most likely people who donate and activists, I believe the author of this website appeals to the audience’s values and opinions.

The purpose of this website is primarily to get people to support the cause. LIRS wants people to be well informed about the political climate surrounding this issue of immigration and they want people to know that they stand with the refugees and want to help them out in any way that they can. When you enter the site, there is a saying that states, “Welcome to LIRS. Asylum Seeker. Immigrant. Refugee. HUMAN.” The word “human” is in an all blue bubble and it stands out to the person reading this quote. The author clearly wants us to remember that these are people’s lives and that they shouldn’t be treated any less than others because at the end of the day, they are human just like us. The website kind of has two purposes. Like mentioned before, the first is to get people to support mainly through donations but the second purpose for those who cannot donate, is for them to learn about the cause and spread the word. The more who hear about the cause, the better.

When it comes to the context, the medium that all this information is found on is on the Web. We can find almost anything on the web because of how easily accessible it is to us. The author chose this medium because it is easy but also because the people who they are targeting to donate and support most likely have access to the internet and it just makes the process of donating much easier. Word travels fast on the internet so there is no better way to get the word across than through the internet. The context of one particular story on this page also fits in perfectly with the political climate we are in today and the “crisis” at the border. LIRS does a great job on focusing on the current stance of Trump and his supporters and debunking what they believe to be “facts”. When you scroll down and click the section that reads “Fact Checking the Presidential Address on Immigration”, there they have a bunch of myths stated by Trump and his party and then they have the actual facts. In this day and age, we are in, because word travels fast especially on the internet, it is important that what we are spreading around is the truth. The format of this particular piece makes it easy to read on a phone, tablet, laptop, etc.

The author of this website is Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Amongst the leadership, there are many respected leaders. They come of ass very credible and they know what they are talking about and you can see that hey are very passionate about their work. There are any people on the list of their leadership, and you can see that LIRS takes time in working with everyone to accomplish their goals with getting information out about the “crisis’ and what they do to help those who find themselves seeking asylum. Along with their work, the overall genre of the LIRS is informational. The whole goal of this website is to let others know all about the work they do and what it is they can do moving forward to continue to help those in need.

 

The interface of this website is very easy to navigate through and the colors they chose seem to come through well. It is well known that blue is a calming color and the websites overall theme most places where you see color is blue. Even the font on the different titles and the links are blue. On the home page there are seven sections that are separated by color blocks and it all seems to flow as you continue to scroll down. Like mentioned before, it starts out with the quote on the left-hand side and then there is the button for the stories of the refugees on the right-hand side. When you continue to scroll there is a little bit of a background on what exactly the LIRS is and then there is a button to learn more about their work (which also takes you to the same page if you click on “About Us” on the menu bar at the top). Just under the background info is some stats about what the organization has done so far.

Overall, I feel that they did a great job with making the website easy to use and they get straight to the point. If anyone was ever confused about what exactly it is that the organization does, there is no doubt once you enter the site. There are multiple buttons that will lead you to the various pages about what they do, what they provide, and even where to donate. The only thing that I would say the could maybe do is add a little background info on the people who are in charge but besides that, the LIRS website is a good one.

How the LIRS uses Rhetoric to Induce Change as a Nonprofit with their Website

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing service for immigrants and refugees facing persecution. Motivated by their faith, they have developed service programs, organizations, and influenced public policy (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019); all of which can be found on their website, www.lirs.org. While the organization’s goal is to serve, the website’s authors communicate using rhetoric to reach their intended audiences, inform them of the organization’s purpose, the genre of the organization, and the context in terms of how it is relevant today. Using rhetoric successfully will allow the LIRS to effectively induce change from their website.

The audience LIRS is trying to reach varies, as it provides multiple opportunities to engage with the organization for different types of people. Donors and volunteers are the primary audiences of the website. This is shown through the buttons on the navigation bar, as the last but brightest button is “DONATE.”

The color and style the button is presented with deviates from the format of the navigation bar. Along the navigation bar, the buttons link to different pages on the website that give insight as to what the organization’s mission and purpose is, how someone can help, donate, and “take action” (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019). The secondary audiences are the refugees and immigrants that have been helped or are seeking help. The reason they are secondary and not primary is because there are more opportunities provided on the website to donate and volunteer than there are to help the refugees and immigrants directly from online. This could be because LIRS assumes that most do not have access to the internet. When the home page is opened, there is a large graphic that reads “Read the stories” and “Share your story,” and provides inspirational accounts of refugee experiences from those they are aiding.

The overall intention of trying to reach these audiences is to persuade viewers to give to their organization whether it be in the form of time and energy, personal accounts, or money. An additional purpose is to inform the public of the power of their faith, as they are a religious-affiliated organization. A portion of the website is dedicated to religious writing, in the form of downloadable prayers or readable sessions about the Lutheran faith. While the site does not directly educate on what the religion is by definition, it provides perspectives and online sessions to read religious texts written by the authors of the website.

Broadly defined, the LIRS website is a nonprofit service organization. Beneath a more specific lens, it is a religious-affiliated organization that focuses on aiding immigrants, refugees, and other asylum-seekers. Key features that tell the audience it belongs to the nonprofit genre of websites are its spatial, linguistic, and visual modes. This multimodal text uses a spatial organization with a one-column style of text and linguistics in English and the option to read in Spanish.

It is not meant to be complicated or require deep analysis to find its purpose and resources, and is made easy-to-read to pertain to both English and non-english speakers based on the context of its website is a nonprofit service to immigrants and refugees from other countries. The spacing and format of the website also reflect other nonprofit websites, with features such as large, contrasting colors and letters as well as large graphics that requires one to scroll throughout the page to read more (but not dense) content. The options on the navigation bar are listed left-to-right for simplicity, and the use of calm, cool colors against a vast amount of whitespace provides a more calm and friendly tone set by the site, despite the context of the topic to be more demanding.

In a heating political climate in which “immigration” is now a household and sensitive topic, this website exists within the context that it is relevant to today’s current issues of immigration to the U.S. It even includes a newsletter that details these issues. 

Several years ago, when the internet was recently invented, this website would not have existed because online media was incredibly new as well as an untouched frontier. In this present context, one can simply use a search engine to find a site like LIRS’s to learn more about the issue. The medium is online to provide this convenience, ease, and efficiency for both the LIRS and their audience. The social and cultural connotations of the text are that while immigration is a hot topic that demands attention in the media, it is also often seen as a threat to inhabitants of the U.S., depending on how the information is presented.

Beneath the “ABOUT US” tab of the navigation bar, there is a link to a page titled “OUR LEADERSHIP.” This page of the LIRS website gives the names of the Executive Committee of LIRS, At-Large Members, and Staff Leaders (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019).

There are no direct names of the author(s) or creator(s) of the website, therefore one can assume that the names that comprise the lists of LIRS’ leadership page played key roles in the development of the website. In essence, the website is a portfolio of the work done by the LIRS, which is compiled by the different experiences and works accomplished by all members. Therefore, the author of the website is the organization as a whole.

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service organization has successfully applied rhetoric to their multimodal website, www.lirs.org. They were able to communicate the need and desire for change to the public, and reach their audience based on the accounts of experiences from refugees, volunteers, and donors. They have made known their purpose of persuading the audience to give through the literal written text asking to give, as well as giving clear options to do so throughout the website. They have made known to their audience that they are of a nonprofit genre through the formatting of the website as well as the content of the text communicated. The context of the website also communicates the relevance of their message, motivating the audience as well as permitting them to take the required action now. While there was no clear name given, the author of the website can be concluded as the organization itself, glorifying its purpose rather than the faces behind it. These are all factors that have allowed LIRS to induce change through their website.

VIDEO ANALYSIS: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aAoW1iJK3V3iBWZ2ylANBD41IxSo28ZU

Citation

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 9 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.

Refugee Rescue

Asylum seekers are all around us. They eat, breathe, and function just like us, so why do we feel the need to kick them out? We have lost perspective as to who these people are and what they have to offer. These ‘illegals’ have faces, names, hopes, dreams and aspirations just like anyone else. It’s time we acknowledge for who they are as members of the human race. Meriam-Webster dictionary defines asylum as “a place of retreat and security” also known as a shelter (Definition of ASYLUM). According to Homeland Security, approximately 84,989 refugees and asylees come to the United States looking for a permanent home (Refugees and Asylees | Homeland Security).  Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is a perfect example of trying to find a better home for refugees and asylum seekers. It’s designed to help asylum seekers and anyone who is wiling to help refugees escape life threatening situations. Below is a rhetorical analysis of the Lutheran Immigration Refugee Service website. It will discuss the author, purpose, audience, genre and context of the LIRS website.

From the first view of the website one can tell that LIRS is a non-profit organization. The way one can tell is because of the column layout and the large text. The first thing that draws my attention is the DONATE button in the top right. With no need to scroll up and down, the Donate button is clickable and takes the user to payment options. This shows the primary audience are donators who are willing to help. The secondary audience are refugees and asylum seekers looking for a home. This can be proven by the navigation pane describing different tabs one can click.

click donate button to get to the payment page

The website does not have a clear designer or in this instance an author. From my perspective, the author of this website is someone that is from the LIRS executive board. This includes the board of directors, or executive committee. The board chair, Rev. Michael Rinehart, and vice chair, Mrs. Linda Stoterau. A board treasurer, secretary and executive member at large are also included in the author. These authors establish personal credability by showing the number of volunteers and how many people have had their lives changed due to LIRS right on the homepage. The author comes across as someone who wants the reader to have the most knowledge so more and more people donate. The author has a reputation to maintain because they are part of the board of directors.

As stated above, the genre of the LIRS website is a non profit. This can be stated because of the layout of the site, and the content it displays. Also, this organization does not use its donations to its personal use and are helping the refugees. Most non-profits have a navigation pane and a one column layout. The site does a good job of displaying images to draw in the website visitor to gain an emotional attachment to the user. Key features include the donate button on the top, take action section, and the images throughout the site. The video below does a good job of drawing the user in emotionally.

The context of LIRS is a website. The author chose this because with technology now a days, its very simple to get the website on your mobile device. Also, its very simple to follow these accounts on every social media aspect. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram within your pockets. The different fonts, sizes and colors help grab the attention of the user.  This website is easy to navigate and uses a sans serif font. The color scheme makes the website easy to read and professional where any donor would want in a website.

Finally, the purpose is to collect donations and raise money for their non-profit organization. This is because the DONATE button and that stands out first but then also the take action. In the take action button drop down menu there are ways to volunteer, advocate, give and host an event. LIRS mission and vision is also stated in this website underneath the about us menu. It also describes the key values this organization likes to follow.

I believe the LIRS website is a good website. It touches upon each aspect and most importantly, it’s simple and straight to the point. It can easily be navigated and no one has to question where to go so they can donate, or even the about us page. This website has the opportunity to draw in donators, researchers and even people who want to help physically.

 

Works Cited

Definition of ASYLUM. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asylum.    Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, https://www.lirs.org/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.

Refugees and Asylees | Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/refugees-asylees. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

 

LIRS- Analysis in Depth

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), was founded by Lutheran churches in 1939 in service to uprooted people during World War II. LIRS is a non-profit organization which outlines their goals in its mission statement: “As a witness to God’s love for all people, we stand with and advocate for migrants and refugees, transforming communities through ministries of service and justice.” Their sole objective is to help protect and save all migrants and refugees from dangerous situations in their home countries. In order to determine if this website is effective or ineffective on promoting LIRS and what they believe in, a complete analysis on the audience, purpose, context, author and genre was performed. This website is ineffective in promoting what LIRS is since it seems they have a heavier focus on donations.

The initial or the primary audience for this website is their donors and volunteers. When you look at the navigation bar, the “DONATE” tab pops out since it is a completely different color than all the other tabs which are blue. The donate tab is a burnt orange color. This guides the donors and volunteers eye directly to this button. When you scroll down, looking through the rest of the front webpage, there is another section where you can click and be redirected to the donation page. When taking a look at the “TAKE ACTION”, there are various ways that they offer to be a part of the organization. Under this tab, there is information about being an advocate, hosting an event, becoming a volunteer, and ways on how to give. Under the tab, for how to give, there are various pages dedicated for donors on they can donate.

Give tab under “Take Action”

The secondary audience is immigrants and refugees. For this audience, there are two areas where this audience is thought about and which it is supposed to be directed for. They are both on the navigation bar, but the first place that they could look would be “OUR WORK” tab on the navigation bar where there is information on what the organization does and how refugees and immigrants benefit from them. The other area is through the “RESOURCES” tab, also on the navigation bar. On this tab are different pages on just general resources that LIRS offers, including “REFUGEE SUNDAY”, an event that any church, school, or community can hold with former refugees and can pray for refugees’ safety, care and dignity. In addition, at the top right corner above the navigation bar is a link for “Loans Customer Portal”, where a refugee can receive a loan, another great resource. It is known that the donors and volunteers are the primary audience because there is a bigger focus in the website to donate and how to do that as well as the ways available to volunteer. If the primary audience was the refugees then there would be a bigger focus on the resources and what the organization can offer, which the website does not do.

The websites’ overall purpose and motive is to show and explain what Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services is and what they do as an organization. By doing this it is their hope to receive donations and get people wanting to volunteer. Again, there are lots of pages where you can be directed to the donation page, as well as when you scroll down, there is a section which is a little pow wow to give, which is essentially just another way of saying “please donate”. In a more personal way, this website also utilizes using blog posts, which discuss news or interesting facts about what is happening to immigrants and refugees in their home countries. This gives a visual aspect to better understand what these people are going through and why it is so important to help them. Some of these blog posts are even about what life is like after they are able to come to the America. As an example, one of the posts which is on the main page is called, “My America… Is a Place Where All People Can be Free”. This pulls on the need to be a part of this organization, as well as giving faith and trust into the refugees.

The context of LIRS website is the internet. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has decided that the internet is a good outlet to display their organization because nearly everyone is on it and it is especially easy to access for donors and volunteers. Their website can be accessed through a laptop, phone, tablet, and other devices that have access to the internet. Since donations are available online it also makes it easy to do so, which makes donors lives more easy if they are considering donating their money or time for those who can’t offer money. When looking through the entire website, there is a focus of using white and navy blue. There is also a gradience throughout the website of using different shades of blue as well, and the use of burnt orange for the donate tab on top for the navigation bar. There are a few pictures of immigrants and refugees but not many unless they are the cover images for the page that you have clicked on. This can be an issue when you are trying to show what these people are going through, and is hard to know exactly you are donating your money for, if there is no images of it.

The author of this website is yet to be determined but the website is produced by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. This organization is made up of many board members, which includes an executive committee, at-large members, and staff leadership. The entire board is composed of 17 members who have an in depth knowledge for immigrants and refugees. Due to the authors part, this website does feel like it is searching more for money and donations, than trying to convince people to become a part of helping and solving this issue of refugees. There needs to be a bigger focus on helping these endangered human beings who are scared to live in the countries that they do. However, LIRS has a reputation for helping these people, which is dwindling due to how the author is representing the website. To better show their concern for the immigrants and refugees, the author should  show more images and videos of them, and volunteers assisting them in any of the ways that the website says that you can help. It gives a visual call of action.

The genre of this website and the text on it would be non- profit. It is non-profit because they are assisting refugees and immigrants to escape from their dangerous home countries. It is also non-profit from the way that the entire website is formatted, and a heavy concentration on donors and volunteers, which is one of the tiers for a non profit website. Non profit websites are also easy to navigate and have simple layouts. Each of the pages has a photo on top of a refugee, immigrant, volunteer, or leader to give visual of what that page is about. The fonts on this website mostly consist of san serif, due to the fact that if there are people with disabilities, like dyslexia, they will have an easier time reading and comprehending the website.

In this rhetorical analysis, the audience, purpose, author, context, and genre were closely looked at and discussed in relation to the LIRS website. also represented was visuals to the website to show what is being discussed for a better understanding. the Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Services has created a well formulated website where information is easy to find, but the meaning has been lost in the creation of it all.

Citation:

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.

Appealing to Those with Money

When viewing the LIRS website, the first thing that sticks out are the two graphics under the menu. The large text and strong contrast causes you to be drawn into their claim that all people are human and the stories they want to share. Ultimately the main purpose of this site is to raise money. There is a donate button that sits right in the main menu at the top of every page. Not only is it in the menu at the top of the page, but it is the one link that has a bright orange button which makes it stick out drastically from all of the other links in the menu. It is very clear that this is a nonprofit website because of the big donate button at the top of every page. They do deserve credit though, they did go with design more unique that some of the nonprofit websites we viewed in class.

By choosing a website the organization has created a central hub for their online presence. So much of our lives are spent online that it makes sense that the organization would want to be where their audience is and once the website is established, they can point all of their other online presence to their website. All social media, emails, and just about anything else can direct people to their website for a more complete picture of the organization and ways the audience can participate. While the use of websites is on the newer side compared to other means of publication such as print materials, they have become standard and expected for every organization. People rely on them to learn about the organization, instead of searching for brochures or people who are part of the organization they turn right to the website. Since the website is their first place to turn, people expect the website to be good. If the site navigation is not easy to use, or if they can not find the information they are looking for, the viewer will just turn away and look into a different organization with a better website.

Full Page of Text lirs.com

Viewers could look at this site from their phones, but I would think that most of the views comes from either laptop or desktop computers. This site had a lot of text to read and most people don’t want to read as much on their phone as they would on their computer. Viewers who are visiting the site for the first might look around the site on their phone but I would guess that they would try to find an actual computer if they wanted to spend time reading the contents.

Right from the front page it is apparent that this website is aimed an audience that values viewing people as people. The site is appealing to these values right from the homepage where the one of the first thing you read is “Asylum Seeker. Immigrant. Refugee. Human.” The organization is saying how people are people and we need to help each other out. They also use images that have a lot of meaning behind them such as the image of the Statue of Liberty used in header on Missions and Vision page. Using an image like this not only is familiar to people, but the Statue of Liberty is associated with feelings of freedom, empowerment, and unity of the country. This helps the author appeal to the audience because when the viewer if reading through the website and then sees that image it is going to lead the viewer to think about the mission of the organization associated with all of those good feelings evoked by the Statue of Liberty.

Home Page: lirs.com

The site also brings attention to what the organization is doing, through the traditional pages like About Us and Our Work, but it also included press releases and a blog. The blog can give a more personal connection to the organization or making the website feel like it is active and not just a stationary text. This site also wants to reach asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees and provide them with assistance. Specifically through the site, they want to help provide loans to these people. In the upper right corner of every page as well as part of the normal menu is a link to the loan portal for people applying for loans and managing the loans they have received.

Blog Page lirs.org

Nowhere on the site does it really seem to talk about the author of the site. It can be assumed that the organization would be the ones behind the website because it is a site about them, and then in the footer of the site it indicated that LIRS holds the copyright privileges.  In navigation to the page titled “Our Leadership” under the About menu, a list of the leadership team is related. It it broken down into the representation members and the staff leadership. Currently they are seeking a new President and CEO, so at the current moment they are being led by interim President and CEO Pat Nichols. Even though they are being let by Pat Nichols, I wouldn’t consider him the author of the site. I believe that the site is a representation of the organization as a whole and was comprised by a few representatives of the organization to make sure that it accurately represented the entire organization.

Footer lirs.com

Overall I thought the site did a really good job at presenting information and trying to get people to take action. I do think that they could have benefited from using some video or at least something moving. Additionally something with sound. I was not able to easily find any spots where the website used any sound. One question that was raised for myself was the name of the organization. The URL, the logo, and many places on the site it refers to it as LIRS, in the footer it shows that it stands for Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services. LIRS seemed a little odd to be, like I wanted to know what it stood for the entire time I was looking around until I found it in the footer.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services website: A Rhetorical Analysis

For this rhetorical analysis, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) website will be the focus. LIRS is an organization that assists refugees and immigrants in the United States. For the website, the author, purpose, context, audience, and genre will be reviewed from the information gathered on the website. The structure and organization of the website will be analyzed also within these categories. LIRS is an easy to navigate webpage that is chalk full of valuable information about refugees and immigration, while it also fundraises and gathers volunteers, all in one website.

When the LIRS home page is accessed, it presents the most educational information about their organization, the work they do, as well as their volunteers and how one can donate.

The website is set-up in a user friendly manner. The navigation bar is located at the top and is organized logically for the user, as can be seen below.

The navigation bar is the source of all the different main pages, subpages, and information. The website is comprised of several authors and contributors, which are those from their leadership group and their organization. Some of these individuals are outlined in the below picture, which can be found on their website.

The organization establishes credibility through their background and history, as well as the stories they share about the people they have assisted. This information is presented on LIRS homepage, which can be seen below. First, the stories of the people LIRS have assisted are presented.

Then, the “About LIRS” page provides their mission statement and more information about their work.

While the website does present a bias, it is a trustworthy source. The reputation is that of non-profit work and the website helps to support that reputation. The home page presents the stories of immigrants, the about portion of LIRS, stating their mission statement, which is ““For almost 80 years, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has been a champion for refugees and migrants from around the globe.  Our history reflects American Lutherans’ deep immigrant roots and passionate commitment to welcoming newcomers, especially those who are most in need. Through the Long Welcome, we help ensure that refugees and migrants are protected, embraced, and empowered in a world of just and welcoming communities,” (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019).

The purpose of this website is to gain donations, educate the general population about their organization, as well as provide information and resources for those that are in need. The above image can be found on the main page of LIRS, while a separate donation page can also be found on the navigation bar at the top of the website. That donation page can be seen below.

The website also helps to connect people, whether it is volunteers to refugees or those who wish to donate. The reader can conclude this information from their “About LIRS” page, their impact page, their page asking individuals to sign up for their newsletter, and their donation page. Their impact can be seen in the below image, which is a continuation of their about page.

The medium of this resource is a website and it is used to reach the maximum amount of people, both with purpose of finding the website and general browsing. The website uses video within its site which is another mode that is utilized. A website is free to access and is accessible by anyone who has access to an electronic device. It provides the most information to the maximum amount of people. Although, a downside is that some refugees or immigrants may not access to technology. This organization is shown through a website, but it does have physical locations in Baltimore, as well as an office in D.C. The internet did not exist when the organization was created in 1939 so this outlet is relatively new and constantly changing (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019).

At the beginning of LIRS, it was operated out of Lutheran Churches (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2019). At that time, newsprint, pamphlets, and word of mouth were important in connecting people. The website uses videos, pictures, and links to other resources within the site. Readers can watch videos, click links, read the information presented, and browse the entire website. One of those videos can be seen below, which is on the website’s volunteer page.

The intended audience would be those who are willing to donate to the organization, hence the large and orange donate button on the right hand side of the website, which distinguishes it from the rest of the navigation bar. The primary audience is also those who are immigrants and refugees that are looking for assistance. The secondary audience would be people that are looking to get involved and help, such as our class. The secondary audience also are those who just come across the website as they browse the internet. The people who want to donate to this type of organization and help volunteer are human rights activists that support non-profit organizations. The author and website appeal to these values and opinions by outlining the humanitarian work the organization does everyday. These values are outlined in the “About Us” page.

 

The genre of this website is a non-profit informational website. It is used as a resource for people to be involved in the organization, whether that is through volunteering or donating, as well as those who need information that are refugees or immigrants. In comparison to the other two websites provided (Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition and Catholic Charities), the texts are very similar in set-up, context, genre, and audience. They all hope to achieve the same goal. The image below invites everyone who visits the site to join their newsletter to stay connected and involved with LIRS.

The website is uses mostly blue tones and white as its color scheme. Pictures of refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, as well as people who work in the organization are presented on the site. People can access the website on their tablet, phone, computer, or laptop at any time they chose. The main page is organized in an interesting fashion because even though there are several things on the home page, they take up the entire screen to help the viewer distinguish the different categories.

Regardless of what sub page you visit, the footer is always there as well as the navigation bar for easy access. This is the footer of the website, which has their address, as well as the “fine print” details of the website and organization.

In this rhetorical analysis, the author, context, genre, purpose, and audience were reviewed and identified in detail in regards to the LIRS website. As these items were identified linguistically, a visual guide to the website was also presented for an enhanced understanding. This spatial organization allowed for the material to connect with the reader on a deeper level. The website is easy to navigate and is pleasing to the eye. The Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Services has created a powerful website to garner attention for their work, educate the masses, and call for fundraising and donations.

Works Cited:

 

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.