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The Girl Effect

Link to The Girl Effect
Hello, Alicia! (:

Concept
You have a powerful website in the making!  I like how you incorporate "The Girl Effect" video while also including your own perspective and stance on the issue of girls' rights.  The objectives of the website are laid out clearly on your home page: to encourage the reader to learn, promote, and interact.  Your website does just this by offering history and statistics and then giving specific ways for the reader to get involved.  The two separate navigation bars on the left of the website is genius. 

Audience Definition
You are targeting Latin American girls and young people interested in girls' rights in Latin America.  I think offering a translation mechanism is a great idea.  Also, I suggest that you use your Latin American girls audience in order to appeal to young people in America interested in girls' rights.  For example, you can add a "Personal Anecdotes" page; on this page, you can offer personal perspectives and personal stories about right oppression.  The girls in Latin America will relate directly with these stories, and the girls in America will get a glimpse of the reality in Latin America and will be more likely to act.

Project Plan
In overall, your Business Plan and your project are great!  You have put a lot of effort into your website, and it is really coming along.  Navigation is relatively easy, but avoid cluttering the website with tables and statistics.  I especially like the "Latest News!" and the "What do YOU think" pages.  The news page keeps the reader updated and shows current events involving girls' rights in Latin America, and the discussion board allows the reader to contribute to the topic and for readers to interact.  The discussion forum is a great way for the girls in Latin America and for those in America to connect with each other, which will essentially make the "girl effect" even stronger and more powerful.   

Clarity of Writing
You have completed a lot of good writing; just be careful to avoid clutter.  Consider moving some of the information from your home page to a separate page, like an Introduction page.  Also, make your home page simpler by including just the key phrases and sentences with the color-coded words. 

Random Suggestions
  • For your presentation, you had a lot of pictures, and on the home page, you have a picture with a caption.  You can expand this idea by making a "Pictures" page and writing captions for the pictures you included in your presentation.  Visual features are always important, and showing pictures of the girls will make the website much more personal to the reader.  You can also call the page "Meet the Girls" and list the names of the girls with their pictures.
  • Another suggestion is setting up a "Penpal" page in order to connect with your two audiences.  Anyone interested in penpaling with the other audience (any Latin American girl who wants to penpal with an American girl, and vice versa) about girls' rights can contact you, and then you can help them get in touch with each other.  This would be a very personal and unique feature for your site. 
  • I suggest that you make a "Contact" page on your website.  Then your reader can easily contact you with any questions or feedback.
  • Some of your pages are very long, and adding a Table of Contents and subheadings for each page will make navigation easier.

Copyright 2009 by Susie Choi