Saturday, December 10, 2011

Group 1--slcgov.com

For the virtual walkabout, we studied http://slcgov.com/, Salt Lake City's official website. This website displays information in a a very clean-looking manner. The colors are muted and everything looks very organized. It is in no way meant to be a flashy website, but rather a source of information. As a result, there is little lasting impact on the viewer. Very few elements of the site are interactive; the extent of interactivity is the drop-down menus that emphasize the organized nature of the site.

The website emphasizes a community-feel and features performing arts events, seasonal happenings, and public transportation. There is also a sense of being environmentally friendly from the banner informing the viewer about the efforts to clean up Red Butte Creek from an oil spill. It also makes the city seem people-friendly, regardless of the physical ability of the person. It says, "The city's commitment is to create promote, and maintain an accessible community." This includes "wheelchair use...visual, cognitive, or hearing disabilities, as well as those with activity, manual, or mobility impairments." It is also clear from the website that there is much to do in Salt Lake City. We have Hogle Zoo, performing arts, restaurants, shopping centers, and sports events, all of which can invite tourists.


Slcgov.com makes Salt Lake City seem like a wonderful place to live and/or visit. Alongside the events posted on the website are resources for residents and business owners in the city.
It features programs that are beneficial to residents and is a one-location stop for things such as paying water bills, parking fines, etc. If I was visiting the website without ever having seen Salt Lake City, I would think it a resident-oriented city that was clean, organized, and safe simply because of the website design and the various links and articles featured.


This website provides a more holistic view of the city than simply walking around it does, for it displays the many events, programs, etc. in the city that are impossible to know about by observing the geography of the city. For example, a new parking program is being implemented that will replace the old meter system. The website gives a feel for what officials of the city are doing to improve the city and make it a more desirable place to be.

As this is a website, anyone with access to a computer can see the website. And, as the section of the website on libraries shows, that is nearly everyone in the city. Regardless, the website is obviously targeted to people already familiar with the city and namely residents. It is not flashy like a tourist website would be, even though it does have a "Visitors" section. The events and programs posted are mostly for residents' knowledge.

The website doesn't seem to differentiate between social classes so there isn't really a dividing line that would make it more accessible to one echelon than another. It is likely geared toward the middle-class of Salt Lake City. The information does seem to be family oriented as well, but that is not a specific social class of the city.

The website conveys a community and family atmosphere within the city, but it certainly doesn't exclude anyone. It seems that everyone is invited to live or visit Salt Lake and participate in the events that occur here. It does seem to lack the snow sport focus many other SLC websites have, so it might be trying to highlight what else there is to do in Salt Lake.

As this website is more of a resource for information than an advertisement, the message is one of cleanliness, organization, and community rather than anything flashy or exciting. One certainly gets a sense of the family atmosphere and of a city concerned for the well-being and happiness of its residents.

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