The Revolution of Everyday Life
“Just in time for the holidays, we take a closer look at the inextricably bound subjects of excess and scarcity in the land of plenty.”
The site I chose to write about is ClamorMagazine.com, the digital component to the print version of a publication by the same name. Since its establishment on the Net, I have to admit that the changes to the site, although impressive, have lost some of its appeal from its original intent on promoting awareness of social issues and contributor information to a more commercial and “big business” feel.
Clamor has grown to “indi status” with its full-color cover magazine, mocking the commercial multi-million dollar venture Glamour Magazine, focusing on social issues both at home and abroad. Unfortunately, their Web site does little justice to its captivating covers of its print version or the powerful content within its pages (although some of its articles are posted online as an archive … and a tease to entice future subscribers).
The site focuses on social issues and does a good job from a journalistic perspective. Like most publication sites, this one provides a familiar layout comparative to other independent weeklies or magazines such as LA Weekly for example. Because both the magazine and the Web site utilizes a combination of visual images and textual rhetoric, audiences with visual disabilities would find it difficult to navigate the site (that also brings up an interesting metaphor: the site and magazine is for the opening of the eyes, to get a different glimpse of social issues from different perspectives).
I like the site because it offers so much to its reader base such as an interactive blog bulletin board where discussions on the issues discussed in its print counterpart are expanded to this virtual community where others can get involved and add their two cents. Clamor’s content depends on contributors from around the globe and their site provides a venue for those on the Net to get information on how to submit materials; therefore, its audience is composed of those interested in issues of “social justice” and who want to not only hear different viewpoints on these issues but also want the opportunity to voice theirs as well.
Ironically, for a publication that opposes an irresponsible “corporate America,” its site almost gives off a sense of that corporate America with its professional layout, colorful icons, and neatly packed content focused at raising money for the publication in order to continue its work.
The site I chose to write about is ClamorMagazine.com, the digital component to the print version of a publication by the same name. Since its establishment on the Net, I have to admit that the changes to the site, although impressive, have lost some of its appeal from its original intent on promoting awareness of social issues and contributor information to a more commercial and “big business” feel.
Clamor has grown to “indi status” with its full-color cover magazine, mocking the commercial multi-million dollar venture Glamour Magazine, focusing on social issues both at home and abroad. Unfortunately, their Web site does little justice to its captivating covers of its print version or the powerful content within its pages (although some of its articles are posted online as an archive … and a tease to entice future subscribers).
The site focuses on social issues and does a good job from a journalistic perspective. Like most publication sites, this one provides a familiar layout comparative to other independent weeklies or magazines such as LA Weekly for example. Because both the magazine and the Web site utilizes a combination of visual images and textual rhetoric, audiences with visual disabilities would find it difficult to navigate the site (that also brings up an interesting metaphor: the site and magazine is for the opening of the eyes, to get a different glimpse of social issues from different perspectives).
I like the site because it offers so much to its reader base such as an interactive blog bulletin board where discussions on the issues discussed in its print counterpart are expanded to this virtual community where others can get involved and add their two cents. Clamor’s content depends on contributors from around the globe and their site provides a venue for those on the Net to get information on how to submit materials; therefore, its audience is composed of those interested in issues of “social justice” and who want to not only hear different viewpoints on these issues but also want the opportunity to voice theirs as well.
Ironically, for a publication that opposes an irresponsible “corporate America,” its site almost gives off a sense of that corporate America with its professional layout, colorful icons, and neatly packed content focused at raising money for the publication in order to continue its work.
posted by Gary at 12:02 PM
1 Comments:
This is a carefully thought-out response to a complex site. It's great that you are able to compare the "look and feel" of the web edition of Clamor with the print versions, and in some ways to find limitations in the web version. It's often the case that electronic media get privileged over print, but at times print has affordances and qualities that are hard to replicate on the screen.
You also make excellent points about the potential for contradiction in a site that appears to advocate a counter-culture, anti-corporate position (and I don't see any reason to doubt the sincerity of Clamor's editorial staff) but at the same time models itself after commercial publications and corporate web sites. For me, it raises the question of "radical design"; do we equate conventionally "good" web design with conservative, even capitalist ideology? The idea that the "eye-opening" stories might leave out the visually impaired is a powerful insight, too.
The blog for Clamor is another modality to provide for real interaction--beyond the fake interaction of simply clicking a link. It's an important dimension to a site that seems to be concerned with building community. More and more sites like this, which are connected with the new social movements, are having to negotiate the need to sell products (like the books available on this site) while maintaining their ethos as resistant to capitalist models of production and exchange.
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