Group 6 Blog Post: The Medium is the Message

For our walkabout, we explored the website for the Downtown Salt Lake City Alliance. It's a website designed to inform people about the great things Salt Lake City has to offer both tourists and residents. The Alliance's mission statement is, "The mission of the Downtown Alliance is to build a dynamic and diverse community that is the regional center for culture, commerce, and entertainment."

This medium makes it easy for a visitor to the website to interact with the information. There are lots of helpful menus and everything is neatly organized. There is a poll near the bottom of the homepage which allows residents to express their opinions. Today's poll is about whether or not dogs should be allowed at the Farmers Market in Pioneer Park.

The website conveys many messages about Salt Lake City. There is specific information about upcoming events, concerts, and conventions open to the public. Some examples would be the Old World Christmas Market and the Holiday Window Wonderland. There is also information organized into five sections: Live, Eat, Work, Shop, and Play. There are links to the Downtown Blog and a Downtown Essentials Guide. Visitors to the site can sign up to receive Downtown E-News.

The website clearly means for its visitors to interpret Salt Lake City as a youthful, creative,and thriving metropolis. They accomplish this through the use of bright, happy colors, pretty photographs of the city's financial district, and an appealing logo. They portray the city as a successful hub of culture and sophistication.

Everyone who has access to the internet has access to this medium. Those who don't own computers can access the website using a computer at the downtown library. People of all social classes can benefit from this information. The website makes it clear that there are fun events for people of all ages and incomes to enjoy. It gives information about all sorts of restaurants, everything from fine dining to casual food courts. There are lists of jobs and lists of fun places to shop. It provides locations of churches of all denominations and statistics about housing in the city.

This sleek website conveys a particular message about the meaning of Salt Lake City and that message is that it is a place where everyone can get together and enjoy the best of what Utah has to offer, that the city is friendly and welcomes everybody from all walks of life.