By Sarah Rotman
The operative phrase in the URL of this site is ".com,"
as in, dot-commerce. I say this because the first impression a visitor
to this site gets is that they are trying to sell you something: Books,
Music, and More from Amazon.com; Viagra at $6 per dose; a phone with
extra-large buttons on sale for $69.95. The ads, in fact, take up
more space on the front page than the content, framing the links on
the top and left-hand sides. This effect cannot be underestimated,
because in my opinion, it undermines the credibility of the rest of
the site. Just as noticing that 80% of The Boston Globe is
taken up by print ads alerts the reader to possible biases in the
news coverage, so too does this site jeopardize the integrity and
validity of its content. Contrast this approach with SeniorNet.org,
which has ads that are clearly and tastefully marked "Advertisement.
Click for more details." to distinguish between commercial content
and educational content.
Beyond the front page, the rest of Seniors-Site hinges on its community.
The site provides a wide range of content, from advice on buying a
computer to identifying the symptoms of venereal disease. The question
becomes, especially after the initial barrage of commercial entreaties,
exactly who are the "experts" providing this content. The
site presents this information in a database of "Advisors,"
which provides name, occupation, and area of expertise. The forthright
disclosure of this information is a strength of the site, especially
considering the general tendency of the 60-75-year-old generation
to distrust anonymous sources on the web (according to the spokeswoman
for SeniorNet). The rest of the content not provided by "experts"
is generated by users, so again, the success of the site depends on
the participation of an informed, active community. There is a bulletin
board or forum for every section of the site, and people do seem to
post, although there is no mechanism to respond directly to someone
else's post, so instead of coherent threads there are only individual
opinions.
Future directions the site could take should focus on three areas:
1) hiring someone with good taste and visual sense to design the ads
and ensure they don't overshadow the content; 2) increase awareness
of the site and build the community of users and experts; and 3) design
better organized forums that enable conversations and threads as opposed
to isolated postings.