site designer: David Sloan at
Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada
site established: 27 September
1999
number of hits: no counter
(10,667 hits as of 14/02/00 – CCCC’s figures)
All websites embody the notion of ‘community’
to some degree – the very existence of a site in the public space of the
Internet relies on the idea that there is a like-minded group of people online
who will support that site, and interact because of the site, or through it.
This supposition is perhaps most clear in websites that appear to mimic forms
of print media. Anderson (1981) described how the novel and the newspaper
allowed individuals to transcend space and think of themselves as one of a
multitude, all of whom are simultaneously existing in measured time. This
method of imagining community would extend to the weekly or monthly print
periodical, such as the magazine. As Miller (2000) points out, until about
1998, the primary methods of expression encountered on the Internet were
text-based, simply because the average household computer did not have the
technology to support sites with a heavy mixed-media content without an
excessively slow downloading process. So it was a practical as well as an
aesthetic measure for early Internet developers to create websites that reminded
web surfers of a familiar text-based format. Newspapers naturally developed
structures analogous to their own in designing online news sites; it was
perhaps inevitable that online magazines would follow closely on this
development, carving out as many specialty sites as there are specialty print
magazines at a newsagents.
Structuring Internet publications requires
first imaging the potential community to which the published product should
appeal, and then creating a product that includes and excludes the correct
information to meet the expectations of that community. The online magazine
allows readers to imagine themselves as one person among many with similar
connections or interests, existing simultaneously in time. Like a newspaper or
magazine, websites are by definition current and contemporary. Carrying old
news, or not updating a site regularly, makes the site obsolete, just as a
newspaper or magazine must update both its articles and format on a regular
basis to escape obsolescence. Miller notes that this temporality is critical to
public perception of a website, particularly where adolescents are involved.
“The problem for teenage sites is that for them, as for so much of the web,
status is based around a concept of ‘cool’ where cool is the place to be at an
given time…Cool as a semantic term does not easily divulge its network of
connections and evocations, but clearly it is a place where one has to keep on
running to stay still on the site of cool.” For this reason as much as because
of its technological novelty, the Internet is often publicly associated with
youth culture. Magazines on the Internet, like Salon.com and Suck.com have
established themselves as cool ‘alternatives’ to mainstream publications. With
such associations, it is unsurprising that initiatives that hope to target a
youthful demographic should try to use either the medium of the Internet or the
formatting of an online magazine.
Iamnext.com is an adolescent-targeting initiative, in what can be defined as an online magazine format. Whether or not iamnext can be likened to a magazine format is certainly contestable. In a personal correspondence, David Sloan, the site’s primary designer, wrote the following to me:
…iamnext was designed from scratch. It has not been copied from any examples. The creation process was long and arduous. It involved many people and took a lot of time. In fact it is more accurately described as a work in progress…Any resemblances or parallels you wish to find in secular sources are free to interpretation of your opinion.
Certainly, I have found nothing like iamnext on the Internet in terms of identical content. It is, as its creators intended, unique in its blend of youth appeal and religious language and symbol. However, the freedom of interpretation that Sloan permits allows the frequent web surfer to find obvious parallels in the construction of the site that in no way detract from the site’s distinctive content. These analogous elements are used for many reasons: to make the site easier to navigate and use, to create a sense of the familiar, to identify the site with a format in vogue among a certain demographic group. The similarities in structure that I mention below are, of course, only based on my own observations, and on the insight to the creative process that correspondence with Sloan has afforded me.
Site design
and content
The introductory sequence to iamnext, as seen in fig.5, is visually striking. Upon first entering the site, a black screen appears, with a short animated title sequence. Simple white text moves across the black screen, encircled in brown. The test reads, “Life is change; Change is life; Good or Bad; Take control; NOW”. The a white flash appears on the screen, replaced by the iamnext logo, with a subtitle below reading “In life today, your biggest decision is NEXT”. This introductory sequence is not typical of online magazines, and is a deliberate strategy on the part of the site designers. Sloan writes, “So much of what is on the Internet is busy, bright and confusing - we want to visitors to recognize they are in a different place. The smooth shapes and relatively uncluttered screens, with warm colours are all a part of attempting to create an atmosphere of relaxation. A relaxed atmosphere lends to the actual absorption of content by a visitor, as their attention is much easier focused and not competed for by things like banner ads and the like”.
Upon entering the iamnext homepage, it is clear that this principle has been applied to its design as well. The difference that this construction affords is best seen in comparison with another magazine-style site targeting adolescents. In the US, Seventeen magazine is archetypical of print media aimed at teenagers; the seventeen online website reflects the structure and content of its print counterpart very well. seventeen online is, as Sloan describes, “busy, bright and confusing”, especially when contrasted with the more straightforward design and cool colour scheme of iamnext. But this comparison also affords the web surfer an opportunity to discern the similarities between the sites, many of which are shared simply by default of the conventions surrounding presentation in online magazines. Both use sidebar menus and offer search facilities (as do countless other genres of website); both present their topics in a similar manner, akin to content presentations in print magazines, with a title, photo and description of the article. These elements let the surfer know that he or she is visiting a magazine site. Surfers likewise know that they are visiting a site targeting adolescents because of several content and visual cues: the logos used in the creation of both titles are done in a popular retro-graphic associated with youth culture; there is some overlap in topics between the two sites as well, though the discussion that follows each topic varies considerably between each site. One of the key topics shared by the two sites are ‘fashion & beauty’ (in iamnext), or ‘beauty & fashion’ (in seventeen online). But where seventeen online gives uncritical reportage of recent fashion trends, with the occasional commercial plug for beauty suppliers (“Get your hair out of your eyes! Hold back your tresses with one of the many nifty new hair accessories from Bumble and bumble”), iamnext offers fashion and beauty advice liberally mixed with articles about personality and self-esteem, (“Image - An in-depth search of the motivating factors shaping our self-esteem”). Other topics that appear to address the same issues in both sites, but which are approached from equally different perspectives, include ‘entertainment’, ‘advice’ and sections about ‘real life’, dealing with issues like violence in schools. Another important feature that both sites share is the premise of virtual community. iamnext describes itself as “a virtual community by you and for you”, while seventeen online offers “i-17: Seventeen’s Online interactive community”. Both offer access to their respective virtual communities through chat rooms, opinion polls and message boards. Using chatrooms to create an on-line community takes Anderson’s ‘imagined’ community of print readers to the logical technological conclusion: a magazine that not only imagines community but also allows readers to enact it.
The shared features of both websites are simply markers to let the web surfer know that he or she has entered a site geared towards adolescents, but the methods of presentation differentiate the intent behind each site from the first, as do the remaining features of each homepage. Where seventeen online is flagrantly commercial and ‘frivolous’ in a way typically associated with teenagers, offering sex surveys, articles about teen heartthrob actors and horoscopes, iamnext is presented as a more ‘serious’ page in both style and content. As mentioned above, the page design is consciously sedate compared to other sites for adolescents. One of its five major sections is titled ‘Spirituality’. Its ‘Hot Links’ side tool bar offers a ‘Spiritual IQ’, links to the virtual community and a section called ‘Real Hope’. It is in the ’Real Hope’ and ‘Spirituality’ sections, and through the other linked articles on internal pages, that iamnext becomes most overtly differentiated from the typical ‘online teen magazine’ format, and reveals its evangelistic intent.
Most of the articles found on the internal
pages of iamnext are short, simply
written (often by the site’s audience) and designed to impart a basic value
system that is not necessarily rooted in religious belief. The overt focus is
on building positive character traits, like self-esteem, confidence, and
understanding. The language in these sections is careful, and though religion
is mentioned it is not generally out of keeping with the norms of secular
society. In the school violence sections found in both iamnext and seventeen online, all quotes from
parents of children involved in school violence mention prayer. Seventeen online printed the following
quote from the parents of Eric Harris, one of the boys responsible for the
Columbine High School shootings:
“We want to express our heartfelt sympathy to
the families of all the victims and to all the community for this senseless
tragedy. Please say prayers (for) everyone touched by these terrible events.”
The mention of prayer in the context of tragedy
is ubiquitous in North American media, but is generally perceived as part of
the language of grief rather than advocacy for religious belief. However, iamnext
offers a hypertext link in the course of its lengthy quote from the parents of
Jason Lang, a Canadian boy shot and killed in his high school:
"Jesus Christ said we need to love even our enemies and the people we don't like. Jesus led our family to forgive this young man. We hurt deeply over the action he took but if the world is ever going to change we all need to let the love of Jesus into our hearts and then no one will have to die needlessly.”
Clicking on “let the love of Jesus into our
hearts” brings the viewer to the ‘Real Hope’ subdivision of the ‘Spirituality’
section, in which the evangelical message is spelled out more explicitly. The
Lang’s story of forgiveness frames the witnessing found in this section.
‘Spirituality’ is subdivided into three parts: ‘Real Questions’, ‘Real Hope’
and ‘Never-ending Hope’. As the surfer travels from the from ‘Real Questions’
to ‘Never-ending Hope’, there is a linguistic transition from supportive but
secular language to overtly evangelical speech. In ‘Real Questions’, the
gateway to an evangelistic message is prepared by appealing to the ‘post-modern’
virtue of open mindedness while addressing adolescent insecurity:
“Why am I here? Where am I going? How can I
feel better about myself? How can I change the things about me that I hate?
Sound like familiar questions? Got more? Ask away. (Or read what other people
have said)…If you're honest you spend a lot of time looking in all sorts of
places for the answers. Now, chances are you pride yourself on being
open-minded. Well here's a challenge...try Jesus. That's right. Jesus. Open
minded remember?”
The linking pages use the analogy of building a
house to establish the need for using the Bible as a life plan, and uses a
quote from Jeremiah 29:11-12[1]
to support the view of Christianity as a life plan. The next section, ‘Real
Hope’, uses biblical quotes and some explanation to support four statements of
faith or “spiritual truths”. A prayer that pledges acceptance of Jesus as
personal saviour completes this section. The third section, ‘Never-ending
Hope’, retains the simple writing style of the first two sections, but is
clearly intended for the more ‘advanced’ surfer with some previous knowledge of
Christianity. This section introduces the Holy Spirit as the power behind a
Christian life, and differentiates between a believing Christian who is not
Christ-centred, and a complete Christian. The language of the internal pages in
the iamnext site is always simple, as befits an outreach program to a
diverse audience. A marked change occurs with the introduction of evangelical
intent to the pages, though – the use of biblical quotes and methods of
phrasing that are particularly associated with the evangelical movement
increase rapidly in frequency.
Iamnext, like most magazine-style websites, uses a series of internal links rather than external links to connect the surfer to related information. By maintaining a self-contained cycle of information, the selected content is separated from conflicting viewpoints, and a sense of protected community can be established within the site. Unlike the other evangelical sites examined above, iamnext does not attempt to link itself into a previously-existing online networks. Instead, it aspires to the creation of a network within its own space. The site is a community in a way that seventeen online is not, by virtue of the fact that iamnext allows web surfers to become contributors to the site through articles, not simply through posting boards or chat rooms. The site becomes a community that is actively built by its members, but not merely one where people with similar interests congregate and express themselves. Although the site supports self-expression through its forums of exchange, the objective of the site is educational – teaching the Christian worldview in a primarily text-based format, through its language.
[1] Jeremiah 29:11-12 "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hopeful future."