The following are some potential competitors of Asé Lingít: Sealaska: http://www.Sealasakaheritage.org Central Council Tlingit Haida Indian tribes of Alaska: http://www.Ccthita.org First Americans, Native American Indian Studies for Grade Schoolers: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/kmartin/School/ Arctic Studies Center: http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/ Every culture- Tlingit: http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Tlingit.html Sealaska Heritage Institute This site is the biggest competition that Asé Lingít faces. Their advantage: They are already a well established site and the non-profit organization is backed by a very profitable company called the Sealaska Corporation, that pretty much runs the business activities of southeast Alaska. The Heritage Institute’s website includes many of the same features that Asé Lingít will include and some of the sections will be hard to rival—particularly the language/ immersion section is an aspect of the website that will be hard to rival because it is so established and provides the user with many connections. Their disadvantage: An edge that Asé has over the Heritage Institute website is that each cultural activity that the Sealaska Heritage Institute mentions is in an effort to advertise one of their programs so that they can further and strengthen. As a result of this, they place less emphasis on presenting the cultural information—at least in a way that is easily read and understood by site viewers. Asé Lingít is not an institute trying to promote itself, therefore the content will be all about the culture and not about self-promotion. Also, people outside the direct Tlingit community who do not really know about Sealaska, do not feel like as welcomed as a site user since the Sealaska Heritage Institute site targets its shareholders and those involved within Tlingit native culture and community. In contrast, Asé Lingít welcomes anyone who wants to learn about the culture. Central Council: Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) Their advantage: This site has a cool ‘Tribal News’ and ‘Hot Topics’ section. I am considering including a similar feature on Asé Lingít, or simply referencing, or providing a link to CCTHITA. Their disadvantage: This website is mostly focused on talking about its organization and what it does for Tlingit and Haida people. It does not have an ‘Up and coming events’ section that will be included withing the ‘Tlingit’s today’ section on Asé Lingít. First Americans, Native American Indian Studies for Grade Schoolers Their advantage: This website has some really cool features that are targeted at a little kid audience. It features activities and colorful histories of 5 Native American cultures—one of which is the Tlingit. This website is simplistic which helps to make the information clear for the reader. Overall, the ideas this site has for structuring the website and presenting the information is very appealing. Their disadvantage: Many of the features of this website have not been maintained and the links have been lost, so the usability is not of the best quality. As it is written with more of a focus on children, it does not provide the same high level of content and information that Asé Lingít will. Arctic Studies Center Their advantage: It includes a paragraph on Tlingit history and Tlingits today and is a quick way to gain an understanding of who the Tlingit’s are. Their disadvantage: The website is not very comprehensive when it comes to the Tlingit culture and it is focused on providing limited information on many topics and people of the Arctic region. Note: There are a few other random sites, like this one, that will have a sizeable article or a paragraph that talks about the culture, usually the history, and quickly educates the reader with a basic understanding of who are the Tlingit people. Every culture- Tlingit Their advantage: This is a very comprehensive website. In fact, when I wanted a quick reference for a Tlingit fact or tradition that escaped my mind, I would reference this website. Therefore, if someone just wants to acquire a quick understanding of the Tlingit people this is the site to go to. Their disadvantage: This website does not effectively present the information to the reader. Instead, it includes all the information in a steady stream of text aiming to tell the reader the general knowledge they need to be able to have an understanding of the culture, but not make them feel engaged. This site is written similarly to a textbook, and is not stimulating. Asé Lingít’s overall advantages: In all, the sites described above are similar to Asé Lingít, and therefore come into competition with the novelty and use of the website. Each of the above websites have qualities that make them appealing websites, and there are aspects about each that I think I may adapt to enhance Asé Lingít, for example, I am going to incorporate into the ‘Tlingit’s today’ section a feature like CCTHITA’s ‘Tribal News’ and ‘Hot topics sections. Asé Lingít is written in a different voice than many of the other sites it is in competition with because it has a different goal or mission than many of the other websites. The voice in which Asé is written in, is targeted at a more broad audience, which is an intended purpose of Asé. Our goal is to engage site viewers who come from within the culture, as well as though that who do not know anything about the culture. Asé Lingít is also written for people in a way to help them to understand, and to not just tell them the facts. Along this same idea, Asé also wants people to come away from the website with a continuing interest for the culture. Therefore the website will be structured to be engaging and stimulating to a general site viewers base, not just share holders, or Tlingits. |