This post will serve to analyze and further research Whitefoord, Inc. The content of this post is gathered from Whitefoord.org. The structure of this post is from chapter two of Arola/Sheppard/Ball’s Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects.

  1. Audience

Who is the intended audience? There are many possible answers to this question. Whitefoord is a multi-faceted organization that targets many different audiences. Here are some of the audiences I came up with as I browsed the organization’s website:

Families & parents of children in need of healthcare and education services. Specifically, children between the ages of 6wks to 18yrs. (See their “about us” video: https://youtu.be/aQ31UusUywo)

  1. Families & parents of children that attend local elementary schools (in which they currently have, or plan to have in-school health services): Whitefoord Elementary School, Maynard Jackson High School, and King Middle School.
  2. People that currently utilize, or may utilize their health services offered at Whitefoord Family Medical Center.
  3. Potential volunteers that are interested in volunteering as a classroom aide, computer clubhouse volunteer, office aide, or enrichment teacher for extended day program,
  4. Potential donors to Whitefoord
  5. Young adults (25-45) that may want to volunteer or help fundraise as part of Whitefoord’s upcoming Young Professional program.
  6. Potential job applicants
  1. Purpose

Purposes of Whitefoord’s website

  1. To increase attendees for their programs available: Childhood development/pre-K program, Afterschool enrichment program, summer programs, Whitefoord computer clubhouse, and bike right program.
  2. To gain attention and increase volunteers for their volunteer opportunities available (already mentioned).
  3. To expand the population that uses the health & dental services.
  4. To solidify existing families/members/volunteers/donors opinion of Whitefoord as a family and health oriented organization; and to relay evidence that Whitefoord has a positive impact on the community, and a relationship with the Edgewood community.
3. Context 

What is the medium? The main “medium” of this is Whitefoord’s website, however it uses media within itself – videos, photos, written testimonies.

The videos within the site are helpful to explain the goals and missions of Whitefoord as an organization. They also help to form a connection with the intended audience(s). The two videos I found were (1) in the “medical and dental” menu and (2) in the “about us” menu. A majority of the photographs used on the website are of children, which is appropriate in context because the organizations mission is “to partner with families and the community to ensure that all are healthy and children have what they need to succeed in school.”

4. Author

For Whitefoord’s website, the author is implied. The website uses its “about us” menu to establish and support its credibility. “The Whitefoord Story” pages gives a brief background on when the Whitefoord Community Program was established, and it lists milestones/awards of the organization. The longevity of the organization combined with its numerous milestones serve as evidence that Whitefoord is a reliable and credible author.

For this SLC project, our group will be representing Whitefoord. We will be creating content and deliverables on the organization’s behalf. If we create new content for the deliverables, then we are the actual authors; however, since we are creating products on behalf of Whitefoord, Whitefoord is the implied author.

5. Genre

Websites are difficult to classify as a genre. When I think of genre in rhetorical means, I think more along the lines of templates or a specific document type. We will have to consider genre as we begin to work on deliverables. For example, we may have to develop a hard copy template (like a brochure or handout). Another example is creating a form that allows new applicants to be processed. Another thing to consider with genre is how to “segment the audience.” We will need to collaborate on how to address young professionals that are potential volunteer and fundraising candidates for Whitefoord.