Web-site Analysis, asos.com

I have chosen to do an analysis of a fashion retail web-site, asos.com

a.) How is your chosen site structured?

Given the capitalist priority of the site, I would imagine that lots of money and time has been invested into the structure of the site in order to maximize that amount that potential customers would buy on the site and to increase the chances of them doing so. The web-site is therefore a remediation of the more traditional way of buying clothes, which has been renewed from initially simply one shot of the item with a price, to now a much more sophisticated way of displaying the product with multiple shots and other more interactive features such as 360 degree views of some items. For example, the cat walk feature where you can see the item on a model on the cat walk, a zooming in feature to look closer at the garment, and a range of different shots of the items. Therefore, showing that more sophisticated methods are being used to re package the same information in a way which will increase the chances of you buying it.

It is divided off into at first broadly, men’s, women’s, children’s, designer, and then more specifically, down to the type of clothing, and then it is possible to filter by colour, style, price, brand, celebritiy it’s in the style of, or brand. You can also order the clothes by price, therefore providing a greater sense of interactivity on the site, as it is non-linear as you can interupt the section you're looking at to browse another and tailor the structure of the site to suit your specific requirements. I would argue for a techno-deterministic of such new media cultures in that this is making the online shopping experience resemble the IRL shopping experience a lot more, removing some of the early "cons" of this type of shopping (that you don't really know what you're getting), therefore allowing the outside world to come to you, saving you time and effort, which has changed the way in which we look at shopping. For instance, I'll often see a item in a shop and mull it over for a few days, before deciding to buy it from the companies web-site.

The hypertext of this web-site therefore is prioritised with directing me to other items I’m likely to be interested in. For example, when you click on an item you like there is a section of “Other Customers also Brought” directing me to complimentary items. In this way, rather than the hypertext being used in order to help me find new fashion items which would help me express myself in what I wear, I would argue that the purpose of such hypertext is to simply cause me to spend as much money on this web-site as possible. In addition, I am able to “Bookmark and share” the item with friends, which again implies to me that it is being made as simple as possible for me to buy this item, as well as encourage my friends to view it, and as a result the web-site as a whole and buy something. There is therefore a hierarchy of hypertexts, which the author of the web-site directs me to as they sees fit, in a way which maximises their profits. (Bolter p. 35)

Interestingly, the web-site does not use hypertext in a way which will direct me to other fashion retailers who will sell clothes which are able to help me express myself; all the links are internal rather than external. (Lister P. 23) This again suggests to me that the priority is on profit, and this is done by selling a concept alongside with the clothes, which I will discus more in the next section.

b.) What is it about on a cultural level?

On a cultural level I think that this web-site is concerned with the fashion conscious. I think it promotes the ideology that you are able to express who you really are and your personality through your clothing. For example, the features section includes a Top 10 of the newest up and coming trends, a phrase which is a bit of a buzz word on the site. Everything is either “in” or “out” or the “latest trend”. For example, “I’m working the colour block trend to the max by wearing these over coloured tights.” Asos Top 10

In addition, I think another main cultural message of the web-site is rather contradictory to the first, whilst it seems as if individuality through your clothing is encouraged, the title itself (ASOS, As Seen On Stars) suggests an aspirational message. You are encouraged to buy clothes in the style of Victoria Beckham or Agyness Deyn in order to replicate their styles for yourself, selling the types of lifestyles associated with these celebrities along side a handbag or a pair of shoes, hardly the definition of individualism and creating a sense of self. I would argue that this is part of the way in which the Internet is encouraging the Massclusivity trend in that it allows you to feel as if you are part of the exclusivity of this celebrity culture, however in fact this same opportunity is offered to the masses on a web-site everyone can use. Raising the question of whether people are buying into a lie, these clothes really won't make you anything like the celebrities that originally wear them, so why do so many people buy and wear them?

Having said this, I think that this similarly can be seen as being part of the way in which you can try out different selves online, as mentioned by Lister et al. in reference to Sherry Turkle. They talk about the “computer programming’s potential as a therapeutic ‘working through’ of personal concerns, we see instead an ‘identity workshop’.” (Lister et al. p. 248) I think that this can be applied to ASOS.com in that you are able to look at a range of different identities you can create for yourself via the clothes you wear, seeing what is out there, allowing you to make an informed decision about the perception of yourself you can put out buy wearing a particular style of clothing. Therefore allowing you to experiment in a safer environment, for instance if you did not have the confidence to walk into a shop and try on similar items, you are able to virtually do it sitting in front of your computer.

c.) What is the appeal for you as a user?

As a user the appeal of asos.com for me is straight forward, they offer a wide range of fashionable clothes which are usually reasonably priced, and saves me the trouble of marching around the shops.

In addition, the fact that they replicate styles which are seen on celebrities, and are popular amongst the high-priced designers means that you’re able to buy into more fashionable items, which usually you would need to have an extremely large bank balance to get a hold of and are rarely available on the high street.

I think that asos.com is part of the movement which is making fashion more attainable for all, as well as using the web as a tool in which to do this, breaking down the things which would have before made designer clothing exclusively for those who could afford it. In this way it is giving out the message that the images you see in magazines of celebrities dressed well and looking fabulous are achievable for everyone, providing a link between this life style and yourself via online mediums. Something which the internet is proving to achieve in lots of other areas than fashion.

Bolter D. (2001) Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print

Trendwatching.com http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/MASSCLUSIVITY.htm

6.1 Communities of Practice

6.1 Think of a CofP to which you belong (or have belonged) explain in your seminar forum how your example fits into Wenger's model:

One Community of Practice which I believed I was a member of was whilst I was working as a receptionist for a company called Codian based in Langely which made video conferencing software.

This company was divided into different sections based on function, however also being a fairly modern company you were encouraged to feel like a valued member of the team through various social functions and a “common room” with a pool table and a Wii in allowed people to socialize more freely.

The CofP I believe I was a member of involved me as the receptionist, the Office Manager Emma, the ex-receptionist who’d got a promotion, Anita and Jake, I’m not quite sure how he came to fit into it, possibly because he worked in accounts and his desk was next to Emma and Anita’s…

A reason that I believe it was a CofP is that as Jake wasn’t really involved by his official job description, he was still undoubtedly a member. This therefore follows that “The membership involves whoever participates in and contributes to the practice.” (p. 4, Wenger). Also, it was “defined by knowledge rather than by task” (p. 4, Wenger) in that rather us working together on one task only, it would be more ongoing and we would gain knowledge about each other and the different ways in which we’d go about getting things done.

The joint enterprise of the CofP I believe was organizing the smooth running of the office on a daily basis. For example, we tended to do tasks together, like collecting the food delivery on a Thursday morning and office related other tasks of a similar nature.

We had mutual engagement in that we were all responsible for the same thing, and if something were to have gone wrong we would be jointly responsible (excluding Jake as he tended to help out off his own back, his official role being in accounts).

The shared repertoire of communal resources would have been the things we tended to do, almost unwritten rules of how we “did things”. For example, we would normally help ourselves to left over food we’d order in for conferences, and we’d usually have a game of Mario Kart on the Wii after a particularly taxing task.

I would suggest that our relationship to the official organisation was “Unrecognised” in that we did not have an official role, rather relationships were created as I would spend lots of time with Anita, in that she helped me take over from her and knew a lot about my job, and Emma was my superior. Jake had a good relationship with both Emma and Anita and this is how we came to work together for a lot of tasks. I think a challenge of this type of relationship was that as we all had different official responsibilities, sometimes there would be a mis-match between tasks which “officially” were our responsibility, and those we would do together. Therefore we’d have to individually prioritise and this could mean that sometimes tasks which were part of our job description had to be pushed back.

5.3 Jezebel

5.3 Find some well read blogs outside of the New Media Cultures community that impress you and analyse how the author respondents use the blog as a forum to represent themselves and share ideas.

One blog I have recently stumbled upon is Jezebel. This blog is targeted at women and the tag line reads “Jezebel: Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women”. It very much reminds me of a magazine in the type of stories it blogs about and the informal tone it uses which I would say appeals to women, giving the impression that it is fun and light hearted.

One thing which I think is particularly interesting about this blog is that it has a regular post called “Reader Roundup” where there is a summary of the best and worst comments made on the blog of that day. This sort of acts as a way by which appropriate and inappropriate comments are deemed, and therefore gives a good indication of the “way things are done” in this blog.

Whilst I think that lots of the comments can be a bit bitchy on this blog, lots of the stories also have the same bitchy tone, for example, “Kate Bosworth Is Happy To Be Attacked By Appliqué" and "We're Just Not That Into This Month's Marie Claire". To me it seems as if that in order to be fit in with this blog you have to have strong opinions and not be afraid to tell people about them, especially when it comes to fashion and beauty. People tend to present themselves as having strong opinions, which I think often boarders on bitchy and often disagreements often immerge.

5.2 Girl With A One Track Mind

5.2 Do some online research into blogs as a new media genre: their origins, development etc. and share your findings in your entries. What forms of expression are they really good for?

A quick google of popular blogs quickly led me to the “Bloggies”, annual awards given out to popular blogs. From here one blog which particularly grabbed my attention was “Girl With a One Track Mind” , which won the award of Best British or Irish Web Blog in 2006 and 2007.

This blog originally was used by author Zie Margolis to discuss the ins and outs of her sex life, often in graphic detail. In her biography she says she wrote the blog because “A sexist double-standard about male vs. female sexuality still exists, and which chastises women if they express sexual wants and needs; I hoped my blog would provide a counter-balance to this old-fashioned attitude.” The blog was intensely popular, with 6 million visitors over the last four and a half years and averaging 150,000 a month.

I would argue that using a blog in order to update this old-fashioned view was incredibly effective, in that the sheer volume of views she had led people to see that female attitudes towards sex were vastly different to how everyone had assumed they were. And Zoe’s blog provided an outlet for this new more empowered attitude to become more mainstream, and for other women to not feel like they should be ashamed for sharing attitudes which would usually be considered to be more masculine with men when it comes to sex.

Other mediums would be extremely difficult to put this view across, as the anonymity of the Internet is what made Zoe feel like she were able to share these feelings online, and the anonymity meant that people were less afraid to admit they agreed with her. Zoe went to great lengths to ensure that no one would find out her identity, and although in the end she was “outed”, I cannot think of other mediums which would have allowed her to continue to share these stories for so long and in such an honest and open manner.

Moderation

When collaborative sites have moderation functions to prevent a ‘free for all’, does this defeat the purpose?

There are obviously pros and cons to moderation. In my opinion, I would say that although it can be seen to be limit how “free” the Internet and produser content can be, it is a necessary evil. If it weren’t for moderation many of the evils which have arisen on the Internet would go un-noticed, such as hacking, flaming or spam.

Whilst on the one hand it can be seen to limit the extent to which the Internet allows us to execute our right to free speech, one of the key advantages of the Internet, as well as being viewed as a way by which certain opinions and content which is deemed by one individual as inappropriate is not made free and open to the masses, a very subjective view point.

However, if looking at moderation based on the assumption that the moderator is able to decide precisely what is appropriate for all, which of course he/she is not, it serves an important function in protecting individuals from offensive or distasteful content. An example of this would be when flaming or spam starts in a produser content for example a forums. The moderator I would assume, as they are often selected as they have a thorough knowledge of how the particular forum or whatever the case may be, operates and the type of content which would be suitable, is able to judge whether the majority of the users would find the content of any value.

Although to some extent this of course defeats the purpose of collaborative sites, in that content is being mediated by the moderator and therefore selectivity is an issue, it is a necessary evil in order to protect users of any harmful content, and as far as I can see there isn’t a more logical alternative.

DIY News

Are those who want to make DIY news online, best thought of as part of an alternative culture (that also exists offline) or is it more diverse than that? Think of examples beyond Indymedia.


I think that DIY news is an interesting concept, in that it is left for what would previously be considered the reader to now create the news, or fill the void on their own terms. I think this links back to the concept of the ‘produser’ as the notion of “news” is now what one wants to make it, rather than what happens to be shown on the 10 o’clock news. In this way, news can be tailored to suit the individual’s needs to a greater extent in that I can exclusively read about “news” which I would consider to be most relevant to me and my personal tastes and interests.

For example, if I had more interest in news exclusively about technology, I am able to filter this news out of all of the events which have recently occurred. An example of this for me would be that as I have an interest in graphic design, I can keep up to date with trends and techniques in this field by using the website http://psd.tutsplus.com/ I agree that in this way myself and other members of my generation are able to create our own media networks in order to fulfill the needs of our DIY news.

I think this again links back to the idea that via the Internet we are able to reduce the “only gay in the village” syndrome, as for me certainly, as I know very few people with an interest in this field IRL, I am able to view this web-site and see others who are equally as interested in it, leading to less of a feeling of being isolated in my liking for this topic. In this way I believe that creating DIY news online is part of an alternative culture, as it is more niche than the tastes of the mass culture, and the ideologies that go along with it are more fitting to your own beliefs.

Online Distribution

Of late there has been a trend for bands to initially ‘get noticed’ exclusively via online mediums. Obviously this has a number of advantages for the consumer, as they are for the first time able to dictate to the industry rather than the other way around.

To take the Arctic Monkeys as an example of this new type of marketing, the band initially began to be noticed after handing out CDs at gigs. From here, they placed tracks free for download on their web-site where fans were able to recommend to others and discuss their favourite tracks. The band very much made a name for themselves ‘underground’, until eventually there was enough of a buzz around the official release of their album that it was highly anticipated, and Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history, selling in excess of 360,000 copies in its first week and outselling the rest of the top 20 combined.

I think that one of the advantages of this extremely organic method of promotion is that is isn’t seen as an intrusion in so much as an e-mail from a band you’re assumed to be interested in based on other bands you listen to would be. In this form, marketing can be very pushy, and nowadays I definitely think that this is to the bands detriment. On the other hand, a recommendation through an e-mail to look at a band’s myspace, because that person genuinely thinks the band are good, is much more likely to get my attention as it’s a far more honest and open way of promotion. In this way I think that the Arctic Monkey’s success was also down to the fact that they were plain and simply good. You cannot force an online buzz to happen around something which no one believes in, it’s too forced and not likely to gain any momentum. On the other hand if that band were genuinely making good records, a buzz naturally occurs which takes off off it’s own back.

Shultz

From reading Lister this week something which seems to be a prominent topic is the idea that online communication is able to generate democracy. For example, in the case of web journalism, Shultz suggested that the ability to leave a comment about a news piece on your favourite newspaper’s web site marked a change from passive consumption of mass media, to more active participation. (p. 177) Shultz argued that this gives us the opportunity to speak back to the media and have a more participatory role in debate.

However, in a study conducted by Shultz he found that journalists paid little attention to reader online forums, so the ability to comment on news pieces merely created the illusion of being able to participate. I would argue that whilst this may mean that the readers opinions and responses weren’t being used by the journalists themselves, this does not necessarily mean that they are completely redundant and it is not worth contributing at all. Rather, the ability to comment and leave a response means that people are becoming used to more actively consuming the news and offering an opinion about it, rather than not forming an opinion on it at all.

In addition, web journalism does mean that the public are able to gain unadulterated access to documents which previously they would have only seen through the media, in a more condensed and edited form. Therefore giving them the ‘real deal’ without having to wade their way through the changes made by journalists which would inevitably involve a change in the slant of the document in varying degrees.

Sense of Community

Blanchard suggests that when participants experience a feeling of community, they are more likely to increase or maintain their participation in the virtual communities. This seems logical as I would expect the same to occur in real life communities. Within Blanchards article there are two lists of characteristics which make up a sense of community in real life communities and in virtual communities, whilst there are subtle differences, I would overall say that there is a strong similarity between the two.

For instance, McMillan and Chavis (1986) suggest that feelings of being supported by others in the community and also supporting them are important, whilst in virtual communities numerous researchers have suggests that exchange of support among members consists a sense of community, for example Bavm, 1995, 1997, Greer, 2000, Preece, 1999, Rheingold, 1993. To me this indicates that there are universal characteristics which create a sense of community, whether this be online or offline. This again reflects the idea that online communication is as worthwhile as offline communication, as feelings created by online communication are equally as “real” as those created offline, as mentioned in a blog last week.

In realtion to an online community I used to use before it shut down due to lack of funding, I would agree that a sense of support was one of the reasons why I felt a sense of community towards this forum. Whilst there were inevitably the few people who'd always attempt to generate controversy, in general and with the users who I mainly had discussions with, there was a strong sense of community in that you would often see the same people posting, and would get an idea of their personalities and who they were from the posts they made and the things they would say and do. As you would always expect to hear from the same people this meant that there was an element on consistency, which I think drew me back to the forum for about a year.

Benefits of CMC

Reading from Anita Blanchard this week has suggested that rather than CMC having negative affects as suggested by the case of Stewart I blooged about last week, rather, there are a plethora of negative effects of such communication. For example, she suggests that CMC groups help replace the relationships which people lose as a result of becoming more isolated from their neighbours. It is a common belief that due to moral panics about who you could be talking to, and “Do you know who your neighbours really are?” that these relationships have deteriorated. She therefore argues that communication online helps replace these feelings on interaction.

In addition, becoming more connected with people online and through virtual communities you have actively chosen to be a member of and contribute to, rather than having your choice of community dictated to you as a result of your geographical location, you reap the benefits of social relationships with like minded others. This, I would assume, would give you the advantage of feeling more of a sense of community in this context , rather than in a real life context where these decisions are made for you.

An interesting finding was that some researchers have shown that participation in virtual communities can increase participation in face-to-face communities, therefore the benefits are not strictly limited to online communication only and can be carried over to improve face-to-face social skills. However, I would argue that this is not the case 100% of the time as shown by the case of Stewart, and I would assume many more like it.

Hangbag.com

Handbag.com is a forum primarily for women. The web-site consist of fashion, beauty, entertainment, health, relationships and celebrity news with a discussion forums for each of these areas. It is mainly used by younger females, under 40, who I would assume typically have an interest in fashion and like to be up to date. Typical discussions involve people sharing their opinions about a particular trend for people asking for advice about a specific item or outfit.

In general I’d say the tone of the forum is very friendly, with honest advice being given and sensitive topics being dealt with in an appropriate manner, it seems like everyone is just trying to help one another in the best way they can. There are few disagreements and even if someone does disagree they will not express their opinion in a dismissive or deprecating way. For example, one user, BibbityBob in a thread asking for advice about whether a dress suits another user replied saying,

“I bought this about a week ago and returned it - it was just on the too short side for me (and that's unusual ) but I thought that the cut out at the back made it look cheap and the fit wasn't all that great. Just my opinion though! If you're happy with the length there's no reason why you shouldn't keep it.”

Here although she doesn’t like the dress she still makes the post positive by saying that as long as she felt comfortable in it, it was nice.

People tend to present themselves as ‘savvy shoppers’, often talking about the latest bargains they have found and recommending places to get fashion bargains, for example, robbysgirl posts saying that she’s brought,

"A waistcoat from Karen Millen reduced from £99 to £9.95!! also a Karen Millen embroided cardigan from ebay for £18”

I would say that the content of the site definitely influences the kind of communication which takes place as the majority of it seems to be recommendations, which is what the site is mainly prioritises itself with in terms of exchanging recommended brands of make up or styles of clothing etc.

Pseudonyms and identity experimentation.

On page 167 Lister argues that having a pseudonym for yourself online serves as something which we are able to hide behind whilst experimenting with different identities as because they are not linked with our real name and therefore the real us, we are more free to take on a different persona whilst this name is representing us. I would have to disagree with this point as the name I always pick for myself when doing anything online is KayleyA. By choosing my real name to represent me online I am therefore not masquerading as anything and not creating a different identity for myself to experiment with.

Whilst perhaps this means that I do not feel the need to experiment with different personas in order to improve myself, being perfectly content with how I am in real life at the moment, I believe it also represents a degree of honesty and having no barriers to hide behind. In comparison to someone who perhaps chooses an ambiguous name for themselves, for example, someone on a forum I post on is called, ElkY, their real name being Bertrand, to me this suggests that they need something to hide behind and suggests an air of dishonesty. By withholding their name I believe it subconsciously causes me to assume that their posts will lack validity.

The story of Stewart

Within Sherry Turkle’s Who am we? She discussed the case study of Stewart, a socially awkward Physics graduate in America who has developed a strong social anxiety. He has had problems with his heart since his childhood and, as a result of living a live “on a small compass” (Who am we? Page 5), he has very few friends, his life revolving around work. However, the identity he created for himself on a MUD was the complete antithesis to this, a confident character named Achelles who had lots of friends and was successful with women.

Whilst this could again be seen as experimenting with different identities, I would argue that in the case of Stewart it was more of an escape. He admits that his online persona was too removed from his offline self for him to be able to apply any of it to his real life, and the improvements were too exaggerated for him to achieve in his awkward, shy offline life. This leads me to the conclusion that whilst experimenting with different selves can has positive effects, as you are able to “test” personalities to see if they work and then apply these to your offline life, this is not the case 100% of the time. In the case of Stewart it is hard to see any benefits that this online MUD had created for him as to me he seems to have spend an awful lot of time creating a rich identity online, which has offered him few benefits when he could’ve spent this time more productively trying to overcome his social anxiety in real life.

Online and offline relationships

Within Lister page 170 a study by Andrea Barker is outlined. She asked couples who met online questions about their relationship finding that often their relationship was every bit as strong as “normal” and couples who had initially met in real life. She also reported similarities in the patterns of early relationship formation. For example, they cited perceiving someone as having a good sense of humour as one of the initial attractions to them as well as perceiving them to have lots in common with them. However, there were also specifically online traits which played a role in attraction, for example the style in which they wrote their responses and the time they took to reply.

Whilst this study indicates that there are few differences between online and offline relationships, I would argue that fundamentally there are subtle differences which can be significant in the end. Particularly in romantic relationships, there are intangible things which can make two people work or not, and these are impossible to gauge online, let alone through the time it takes them to respond to a message. I would agree that initially meeting on a forum about a common interest would result in you having something in common, the things which you really need to form a longer relationship, let alone a marriage as in Andrea’s study, are impossible to gauge via exclusively online communication. Ultimately I would say that online relationships should be handled with caution given the numerous stories of people meeting online and then being taken from their families, as with the case of the Cleethorpes schoolgirl who was taken to France by someone whom she met on the Internet. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/7843907.stm)

The merging of online and offline

One interesting point I found through reading Lister this week is that our online and offline lives are becoming less separate from each other. On page 168 he suggests that cyberspace is not completely separate from our current social reality; rather it is part of it. There is an extremely complex interplay between our real lives and our online lives and the barrier between the two is very blurred. The upset caused by the story of Mr. Bungle, the therapist who masqueraded as a female online who turned out to be male offline, is evidence of this.

Sherry Turkle seems to reinforce this point (page 10, Who Am We?) as she warns that by dismissing events which happen online as unimportant as they aren’t real life, we are therefore not learning from them and the experience is worthless as it will not be applied to the real world. Therefore if not applied to the real world, experimenting with different online identities is a useless method of self-transformation.

I would have to agree, as although something may have only happened online, and not have any effect on my offline life, this does not mean that it does not cause the same amount of worry or stress as something offline would. Whilst it is tempting to say that it isn’t “real” and therefore shouldn’t matter however, experience has taught me that it is difficult to dismiss something merely because it is online and not in real life. The immediate example that springs to mind is the drama which I have seen created through someone changing their relationship status on Facebook.