Environmental Concerns through Web Communications

“Environmental Concerns through WebCommunication”

Dr. Charu lata Singh (Associate Professor, HOD) Kota Mallikarjun

Vivekananda School of Journalism and Mass Communication,VIPS(Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,

Delhi)

Abstract : Human society hasadapted to the technologies, butmany species on the earth are notable to survive because of thechanges in technology. It is alsovery quickly moving away from thenature. In the last millennium,every individual would be aware ofa bird which is common in hislocality. The new millennium hasgiven us many new technologies,which help astronauts in spacestations through social networkingtools like twitter. But, the lastdecade also has made human societymostly in urban areas to getisolated from the sparrows.Definitely, there will bedifferent opinions to a question“whether technology has madehumans move away from naturalworld and environment in the eraof ever changing technology”.Technology also has the hugepotential to reverse the trend andplay an important role inpreservation of environment and

planet earth. New media is makingenvironmental activism morepopular among the peopleinterested in the greener issues.Hence generating great deal ofawareness for the realization ofone of the main goals of theMillennium Developmental Goals(MGD) which have to be achieved by2015 i.e. Ensuring EnvironmentalSustainability. Online media orthe Web medium is the one whichcan be nearer to manypeople ,through the tools like e-mail, social networking, websites,mobile applications etc.The message can be repeated inmuch better form than any anotherform of traditional medium as ithas a viral effect. SocialNetworking is one of the populartools for the messages toenvironmentalists to masses spreadacross the world.

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Keywords: Environment,technology, web-communication,environmental issues, concerns.

IIntroduction Technology and Nature are bothrequired for the comfort of theHuman society. Human society hasadapted to the technologies, butmany species on the earth are notable to survive because of thechanges in technology. Humansociety is leaving no stoneunturned to get closer to atechnological world. It is alsovery quickly moving away from thenature. In the last millennium,every individual would be aware ofbird which is common in hislocality. The new millennium hasgiven us many new technologies,which help astronauts in spacestations through social networkingtools like twitter. But, the lastdecade also has made human societymostly in urban areas to getisolated from the sparrows.SPARROW, a bird which used to be acommon bird has become a virtualtweeting bird. The sparrows arenow giving appearance inglobalised world connected by newcommunication technologies.

Definitely, there will bedifferent opinions to a question“whether technology has madehumans move away from naturalworld and environment in the eraof ever changing technology”.

As Technology is improving thehuman interest to live together

with nature and other species isfacing many problems. Technologycan be one of the majorcontributors for the degradationof the nature. Technology also hasthe huge potential to reverse thetrend and play an important rolein preservation of environment andplanet earth. Initiatives like Earth hourstarted in Australia in the year2007, is a global event to createclimate change debate andawareness. The success of theinitiatives like Earth Hour is notonly the result of mediacommunications viz. print andbroadcasting. The new media /cyber media has also played animportant role in the successfulEarth Hour campaign from last 3years.

Mobile and Internet have become apopular medium in sending theenvironmental messages through outthe world. Internet is also one ofthe major revenue generators forthe environmental groups. Newmedia is making environmentalactivism more popular among thepeople interested in the greenerissues. Hence generating greatdeal of awareness for therealization of one of the maingoals of the MillenniumDevelopmental Goals (MGD) whichhave to be achieved by 2015 i.e.Ensuring EnvironmentalSustainability.Some of the targets, which need tobe achieved by 2015, are :

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Integrate the principles ofsustainable development intocountry policies &programmes; reverse loss ofenvironmental resources.

Reducing Bio-diversity loss,achieving by 2010. Asignificant reduction inrate of loss.

Reduce by half theproportion of people withoutsustainable access to safedrinking water.

Achieve significantimprovement in lives of atleast 100 million slumdwellers by 2020.

(Source: website www.healthy-india.org}. Technology only itself is notsufficient for rapid changes whichare mentioned above. People’ssupport in carrying out theseworks is very essential in ademocratic society like India.

Media also plays an essential partin fight for greener planet. Theearly years of this decade saw amajor step to change the reportingthe environmental issues in India.An initiative by BBC to train 100rural Indian reporters about thecoverage of environmental issues,collecting environmental data havechanged the style of reporting inIndia on greener issues.

Online media or the Cyber mediumis the one which can be nearer tomany people ,through the toolslike e-mail, social networking,websites, mobile applications etc.

The message can be repeated inmuch better form than any anotherform of traditional medium as ithas a viral effect. The cybermedia is a big resource for thescientific community to gatherinformation, share information.Social Networking is one of thepopular tools for the messages toenvironmentalists to masses spreadacross the world.

There are online campaigns by theUnited Nations which lay emphasison the “One Billion OnlineCommunity for the One BillionHungry Poor in the World.” Thereare many ways of helping the less-privileged and the environment byspending a few seconds for thecauses.

These can look very minutecontributions and very smallinitiatives but they create lot ofawareness about the some of themain issues which the world isfacing in the 21st century. Thiscentury will also see manytechnologies coming up, but thiscentury will witness climate ofearth which can be unsustainableto many species. “Message is the Medium” is one ofthe most important theory in studyof mass communication theories inthe last century and 21st century.Digitalized Media is apt whileapplying Marshall McLuhan’stheory. The study “Environmental Concerns through Web

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Communication” is an attempt toknow how medium works as message. II TheoreticalViewpoint Very few publications containedthe content which is very muchuseful for the content analysisand understanding the topic indepth. The review of literaturehelped to understand both themedium of cyber media and alsopsychology of the content user.Even, UN which initiates so manyenvironmental campaigns throughonline or cyber medium has nopublication on the topic of studywhich can be helpful for onlinecampaigns on environmental issues.--- “The Hindu Survey of IndianEnvironment 2009”, is a collectionof 15 essays written by peoplefrom various fields on theenvironmental issues. The mainissues focused in the publicationare climate change, water, naturalenvironment and wildlife etc.

In an article, on the issue ofclimate change; Pankaj Sekhsariadiscussed about cyber media onenvironmental issues. The articleis titled “Citizen Scientistsmonitor climate change” . Thewriter also mentions about anothersuch initiative through onlinemedium which is called Earth dive.It is a partnership of UNEP-WCMCand marine biologists from allover the world, it has unique database (global dive log) into whichdivers (and snorkelers) log

sightings of key indicator speciesand human-induced pressures.

--Another source for understandingthe problem of climate change andchallenges for India and SouthAsia are UNEP publications. GEO-4,a publication of UNEP gives a lotof data regarding environment andfor sustaining a common future. Onthe progress towards achievingMDG’s, the publication says in thearea of overall reduction ofpoverty reduction, there has beena remarkable progress in theregion of Asia & Pacific.

The report says that South Asiamade significant progress inproviding safe sources of drinkingwater, and India has significantlycontributed in the positive trend.The report also worries about manyenvironmental aspects in Asia andPacific.

---The next literature review isfrom the content from the HarvardUniversity’s Human Right’sJournal. The Human Right’s Journalconsists an essay on the“Networked Activism” by MollyBeutz Land. The review is ofHarvard Human Rights Journal andthe Survey of Indian Environmentsays about the power about thegroup activism and importance ofthe cyber medium in theEnvironmental Activism.

Where as the Geo- 4, a publicationof UNEP clearly mentions theimportant problem and challenges

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for the society on environmentalfront in the 21st century.

III ResearchMethodology

The Research Method selected tofurther the study was ‘ContentAnalysis’ . Content analysis ofselected websites was the rightmethod to study “How Cyber Mediacovered the Environmental issues?

The content analysis of the cybermedia on environmental issuesconsists of study of 10 websites.The coding of the websites wasdone for easy data representation. The selection of websites was insuch a way that both Indianwebsites and foreign websites getrepresented with given equalprominence. The study includesboth the qualitative andquantitative aspects of thewebsites in the content analysis .The list of the websites whichhave been studied in the contentanalysis are given below withtheir codes which are used in thisresearch study.Website Address Code

Name http://www.earthhour.in/home.aspx

SMPL 1

http://www.connect2earth.org/

SMPL 2

http://www.connect2earth.org/

SMPL 3

http://www.saveourtigers.com/

SMPL 4

http://www.care2.com/ SMPL 5

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/

SMPL 6

http://green.in.msn.com/ SMPL 7http://green.ndtv.com/Default.aspx

SMPL 8

http://www.ejfoundation.org/

SMPL 9

http://www.350.org/ SMPL 10

The above websites contains widerange of diversified informationrelated to the environmentalissues. The content analysis ofthe 10 websites (from 15th

March,2010 to 30th March ,2010)covered the study of the reportedstories more importantly textualcontent of the website. Theemphasis was on the qualitativepriorities like interpretation andsubjective meaning on theenvironmental issues.

The quantitative part of theanalysis includes the frequency ofthe topics on environmentpublished online. It also includesprominence/ space or time given tovarious environmental themes likeclimate change, mobilization,petitions etc.

Usage of the Social Networkingsites like Facebook, Twitter for15 days. The study includes thetotal numbers of fans, followers.It also includes the number ofresponses they received andpostings in their socialnetworking sites.

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The data collected is thentabulated for data analysis andfor drawing out the inferences.The ten websites are:

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IV Data Analysis andinferences

Primary data has been studied asper the tables given below:Table No. 1 is giving a briefinsight about the websitesstudied under the content analysisfor the topic under study. Table No.1

CodeNumber

Brief details about thewebsite as a part of thecontent analysis

SMPL 1 Earth Hour is aninitiative started inSydney, Australia in theyear 2007.About 2.2million homes andbusinessmen turned offtheir lights off for one-hour to make their standagainst Climate Change.Earth Hour was firstobserved in India inMarch, 2009. Hundred ofmillions of people tookpart in the third editionof the Earth Hour. Over

400 cities in 88 countriesofficially switched off topledge their support forthe planet Earth. EarthHour 2009 has beenregarded as the world’slargest global climateinitiative.Earth Hour 2010 has beenmore popular than previousedition of Earth Hour2009, which has takenplace on Saturday 27th

March at 8.30 PM to 9.30PM. The present contentanalysis is the study ofthe Indian website ofEarth Hour 2010, aninitiative organized byWWF.

SMPL 2 Connect2Earth is greenonline community, whereone can tell the world whythey care about theEnvironment & why itshould be protected.On this website, any onecan say what they thinkand add their voice to theexisting debates on theenvironment. Any one canupload their films, imagesor words, they can alsocomment on other’sentries. They can alsovote for what catchestheir eyes, There is somuch to learn, connect &share.Connect 2Earth isbasically a discussioncommunity

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CodeNumber

Brief details about thewebsite as part of thecontent analysis

SMPL3

The website is the homepageof the Earthwatchinstitute. The instituteengages people worldwide inscientific field researchand education to promotethe understanding andaction necessary for asustainable development.

Sustainable developmentresearch is conducted byleading scientists in abroad range of disciplines,from habitat management tohealthcare.

Earthwatch is a diversecommunity of scientists,educators, students,business people, andresolute explorers who worktogether to get the fullestbenefits from scientificexpeditions.

Earthwatch supports morethan 130 scientists eachyear and builds network ofhundred of students andteachers.

SMPL4

The website is the homepageof the recent campaignlaunched by WWF in India tosave tigers. This campaignwas launched recently

Mobile services provider“Aircel” have partnered WWF–India to help ‘Save OurTigers’.

Recently NDTV have alsobecome the media partnerfor the campaign.

SMPL5

The website care2 is thelargest online communityfor healthy and greenliving. The website wasstarted in 1998. Thewebsite provides powerfultools to make a differencein the human life, humancommunity and the world.

The website says that it isdriven by passionate peoplewho want to restore thebalance the world’sbalance. The website has 50employees, 11 millionmembers, 400 non-profitpartners and hundreds ofresponsible advertisers.

SMPL6

The website is the Indianpage of the internationalnon-profit organizationGreenpeace. Greenpeace hasa presence in 40 countriesworld wide. Greenpeace doesnot accept donations fromgovernments or corporationsbut relies on contributionsfrom individual supportersand foundation grants.

Since its earliest days,Greenpeace has been linkedto the seas and its shipsare incredibly valuable,

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not only in actions to savethe whales and protect themarine environment, but forall campaign work..

SMPL7

The webpage is part of theMSN India home page. MSNGreen has lot of content onthe green living. Thewebsite has partnered withNGOs for the fewapplications and data.

Web pages contain multimediacontent along with textualcontent. The webpage is justassociated with MSN India,but not with the MSN worldwide homepage

SMPL8

The webpage is the part ofNDTV home page. NDTV Greenwebpage is dedicated to theenvironmental initiative byNDTV. NDTV and Toyota havepartnered to startenvironmental campaign knownas ‘Greenathon’.

The webpage also containsspecial children page. NDTV-Greenathon is a initiativeto solar powering ofvillages across Indiathrough TERI’s lighting abillion lives initiative.

SMPL9

The website is the homepageof the Environmental JusticeFoundation. EJF is aregistered charity from the

year 2000. The foundationempowers people who sufferfrom environmental abusesand to find peaceful ways ofpreventing them.

The foundation provided filmand advocacy training toindividuals and grassroots.Organizations in the globalsouth and enabling them todocument expose and createlong-term solutions toenvironmental abuses.

EJF has a team ofcampaigners and film-makersbased in London and workinternationally withpartners in Brazil, Vietnam.Mali, Sierra Leone,Uzbekistan, Mauritius &Indonesia.

SMPL10

The homepage of 350.org isan international campaigndedicated to buildingmovements to unite the worldaround solutions to theclimate change crisis.

The main focus is on thenumber 350, as a parts permillion, the levelscientists have identifiedas the safe upper limit forcarbon-di-oxide in ouratmosphere.

TABLE NO. 1 is a brief descriptionof the websites and their working,management details, location

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details etc. All the details givenin description column of thewebsite is mostly taken directlyfrom the website itself of thesample during the study.

The TABLE NO. 2 has listed thebroad environmental issues whichare covered by the websites.

TableNo. 2

CodeNumber

ProminentEnvironmental Issuesin the Website in theResearch

SMPL 1 Climate Change Environmental

Awareness Environmental

NetworkedActivism

OnlineMobilization forEnvironmentalIssues

EnvironmentalEducation

SMPL 2 EnvironmentalOnline Debates

SustainableLiving

Climate Change Lifestyle and

Economic Changes Politics & Policy Environmental

Education &Awareness

People’s Opinion Renewable Energy Natural Habitats

SMPL 3 Scientific FieldResearch

EnvironmentalEducation

SustainableDevelopment

HabitatManagement

Health Care Scientific

Expeditions Web based Virtual

Expeditions Environmental

NetworkedExpeditions

SMPL4

Environment Education Environmental Activism Conservation of Indian

Tigers Networked Awareness &

Mobilization Collecting Funds for

WWFSMPL5

Healthy & Green Living Health Policy Human Rights Women Rights Civil Rights Animal Welfare Global Warming Environment &Wildlife

10

Environmental Politics Online Activism Green Holidays Environmental

Education Online Donations

SMPL6

Oceans and AncientForest Protection

Climate Change Renewable Energy Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear Contamination Elimination of Toxic

Chemicals Against Release of

Genetically ModifiedOrganisms into Nature

SMPL7

Clean Technology Environmental Threats Green Living Copenhagen Summit Green Education Green News Articles

SMPL8

Solar Energy Online Activism &

Mobilization Environmental

Education for Kids Environmental News

ReportingSMPL9

Empowering People Long term solutions

to EnvironmentalAbuses

Climate Refugees Energy Usage

Monitoring &Conservation

Cotton Oceans Shrimps

Pesticides Wildlife Environmental

Training & AdvocacySMPL10

Climate Change Online Activism Climate Change

Education Carbon Emissions into

Atmosphere

The next important part of thedata collection is the content ofthe websites. It is very difficultto collect each and every word andarticle for a period of 2 weeks.The headlines of the stories addedin the studied websites give apicture about the prominence givento some specified topics in thecontent in the websites.

The headlines of the articlesadded during the study of thewebsites is taken as sample andfurther studied and evaluated inthe findings and conclusions part.The articles published from 15th

March. 2010 to 30th March 2010.Only Headlines of the articles areused for the primary datacollection

The Tabulation of the Headlinesforms the Table. No. Table No. 3

CodeNumber

Date Headlines in theWebsite

SMPL 1 Thurs. “Host City for COP16

11

Mar18,2010 

Fri.Mar19,2010

SatMar20,2010TueMar23,2010

Confirmed To SwitchOff For Earth Hour”“Leading LadiesOf The World ShowTheir Support –Media Release OnWiki”“Overnight Jordanbecame the 115thcountry/territoryto confirm itsinvolvement inEH2010”“Celebrity ChefTeams Up With WWFAustralia ToReduceEnvironmentalFootprint”“Earth HourTaking Off InTravel Sector”“Delhi pedals forthe planet”

“Mongolia SquaresUp For SuccessfulFirst Earth HourWith Country’sBiggest Icon”

SMPL 2 FriMar26,2010ThuMar25,2010

“Your tips tosustainableliving!”

“Can worms makemy housesustainable?”

SMPL 3 MonMar22,2010Wed

“EarthwatchAdvisory on theSeychelles” “Earthwatch Institutemoves world

Mar24,2010

headquarters toHarvard property inAllston”

SMPL 4 Mar15,2010to Mar30,2010

The Websitemaintainsarticles fromprominent dailiesin India but noexclusive content

SMPL 5 ThuMar25,2010TueMar30,2010TueMar30,2010MonMar22,2010ThuMar25,2010WedMar24,2010SunMar21,2010TueMar23,2010Thu

“Spiraling VetBills-Oldies clubneeds your help” “Tweet :scientists decodeSongbird’sgenome”

“Space Photos-Giant Crater ,Trojan Moon”

“Leucisticsparrow from NewJersey”

“ Girl, 9 StunsDoctors withmiraculousrecovery afterhalf brain isremoved aftersurgery”“Utah’s Navajosandstone yieldsa rare dinosaurfind”“Support FederalBird-SafeBuildings Act of2010”

“Tiger graveyards

12

Mar18,2010

of Ranthambore”

“Mutant All-Black PenguinFound”

SMPL6

Mon Mar29, 2010

“Can Michael Dellon his greenpromises”

SMPL7

Fri Mar26, 2010Fri Mar26, 2010Wed Mar24, 2010Mon Mar22, 2010Mon Mar22, 2010

Sat Mar20, 2010Thu Mar18, 2010Tue Mar16, 2010Mon Mar15, 2010

“BSES joins handswith WWF toobserve EarthHour”“UN to turn offlights for EarthHour Saturday”

“New Moore nomore : rising seaclaims island inBay of Bengal”“Girls andwater : Theinequality”

“Government toset up e-wastetreatmentfacilities:Ramesh”“Major firebreaks out inBangladesh’sSunder bans”“Haryana to plant50 million treesin 2010-11”

“ChinesedestroyingTibet’s culture,

environment:American scholar”“Govt panel saysVedanta violatingGuidelines”“ India to fightattempts tounseat Pachauri:Jairam”“Peruviancyclists take toroad in buff”“First phase ofHindon cleaning asuccess;migratory birdsflock back”“Hymns to natureat the GoldenTemple”

SMPL8

Mon Mar15, 2010to TueMar 30,2010

No Story filedfor 15 days

SMPL9

Fri Mar19, 2010

“EJF delivers ourboat to thecommunities ofSherbho Island,Sierra Leone”\“Success onendosulfan”

SMPL10

Tue Mar30, 2010

Mon Mar29, 2010Sat Mar27, 2010Fri Mar26, 2010

Thu Mar

“Fossil Fools Daycomes to theWasatchMountains”“Lights back on,but inspirationlingers”“350 BarcelonaLights up EarthHour”“Bill McKibben to

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25, 2010Wed Mar24, 2010Tue Mar23, 2010

Mon Mar22,2010

Fri Mar19, 2010Thu Mar18, 2010

Wed Mar17, 2010

Tue Mar16. 2010

the New YorkTimes: Let’s Getto Work!”“Racing to cleanenergy—China inthe lead?”“The OilAddiction Cure”“Climate CrisisNow: Droughtleaves 16 millionChinese withoutdrinking water”“Join 350 Vietnamby presenting inyour community”“Focus onIslands”“350ppm: TheEconomic Case”“Party Time?”“Web Thinking and350.org – LettingGo of Control”“Getting to workin Nigeria andPhilippines”“Working on anAround- the WorldSail”

The language plays an importantrole in the communication process.So the language options availablein the websites are also veryimportant. Most of the websiteshave just one language tocommunicate but there are a fewwebsites which have multi-lingualoptions. These language medium isas in the Table. No. 4

Table No.4CodeNumber

Language optionsavailable in Website

SMPL 1 English SMPL 2 English SMPL 3 EnglishSMPL 4 EnglishSMPL 5 English SMPL 6 EnglishSMPL 7 EnglishSMPL 8 English SMPL 9 English

Spanish Japanese

SMPL 10 English French Dutch Portuguese Spanish Japanese Italian Polish Nederland’s Danish & 6 more

languages

The multimedia content is veryimportant in the website content.Audio-Visual content is not onlyfor seeking the attention of theviewer/reader. Audio-Visualcontent also helps browsers tounderstand many things which aredifficult. Audio-Visual content ishelpful for convincing peoplerather than textual content. Thenext important data is multimediadata which is given below: Table No. 5CodeNumber

Details about theMultimedia content in the

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WebsiteSMPL 1 150 photographs in

the photo gallerysection

6 videos in thevideo gallerysection

Photographs aremostly of Earth Hour2010 & 2009respectively

SMPL 2 All discussions havea video or more tosupport thediscussion

SMPL 3 4 photo galleries onvariousenvironmental themes

3 videos in thevideo gallery onenvironmental issues

8 YouTube videos onthe site

SMPL 4 3 photo albums 6 videos 606 photos & 14

videos by Fans ofthe site

Tiger Drawings byGalli Schoolstudents from Delhi

SMPL 5 Over 2, 536, 806

photos are sharedonline by members ofthe website

Options to uploadand share photo bythe members

SMPL 6 32 Slide shows onenvironmental issues

3 Audio files 25 videos on various

environmental issues Hundreds of photos

SMPL 7 40 slide shows onvariousenvironmental themes

24 green videos onvariousenvironmental newsin home page

SMPL 8 163 total videos arethere in NDTV Green

130 images in NDTVGreen

SMPL 9 19 total films inthe 6 main themes ofthe website

7 good quality photoalbums

In total there are19 photo albums with294 images onenvironmental issues

SMPL10

180 photos in the350 photo gallery

2 videos forpromotion of theorganization

25 videos for Asiaby 350

37 videos for Africa 26 videos for

Australia 23 videos for Europe 40 videos for North

America 10 videos for

Middle-East andLatin America

25 videos on futureGlobal scenario

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Design and layout is an importantpart of any website. Aestheticsplay an important role in thepopularity of the website. Regularupdating of the website is verymuch required for the onlinemedia. Updating of the newsstories and blogs are important,but more important is updating themultimedia content in the websiteon a regular basis. It is notpossible to completely analyze theentire website design or layout.So, home page is taken as the unitto measure and understand thedesign and layout of the homepage.

Design and Layout details aretabulated in the Table . No . 6:

Table No. 6CodeNumber

Design & Layout details ofthe Website

SPLM 1 Background color isBlack

Background pictureis an Urban buildingwith switched offlights

Graphical andNavigational contentvery easy to use

Social Networkingbuttons for easynavigation areprovided at thebottom of thewebpage

Countdown timer forthe Earth hour 2010

Logos of Earth hour2010 & WWF gets

prominence at thetop

Indian flag placedat the countdowntimer.

Online game which isof switching off thelight at the toppart of the website

Graffiti Board,Resources, LCDscreen, Video areprominently used toeasily navigate intothe inside WebPagesof the Website

SPLM 2 Background colorchanges from blue towhite from top tobottom in homepage

2 column layoutwhere the rightcolumn is wider andleft column isshorter in width

1 big image on theright column is thefocus of the webpageand 3 more smallimage form the leftcolumn

Main separatingpanels are in bluecolor , where as thepanels in the leftcolumn are in greencolor

Rectangularpromotional Ad isplaced at the bottomof the Right sidedcolumn

Social Networking

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buttons are placedon top and bottompart of the webpage

Internal searchengine is providedin the top of thewebpage

Bookmark options areprovided

SPLM 3 Background color iswhite

Blue and Brown colorare used for thepanels

Main panel consistsof 5 categories andinternal searchengine

Main compositionconsists of onelarger imageoccupying space ofthe almost entirewebpage

Below the largerimage there are 5columns , in which 4columns have smallimages below theirname panels

Other importantboxes placed on thewebpage smaller insize are of thefinding friends andmembership &donations

Connect columnconnects to socialnetworking options

SPLM 4 Background color isBlack

Background screen

has images of tigerfootings

Webpage consists of3 rows in total

The middle rowconsists of theslideshow on tigers

The top row is ofthe image of aresting tiger, logosof the website andmain sponsor

The bottom row isdivided into 3columns

First column is forincreasing activismof the viewer

Second column is forthe counting updaterof number of peopleof people pledgedfor the cause oftigers

Last column is forthe resources on theissue

White color is thebackground for thecentral page sectionof the webpage whichincludes all 3 rows

Footer includes thesocial networkingbuttons for easynetworking

Facebook and Blogbuttons are providedon the top part ofthe beside thescroll at the cornerof the webpage

SPLM 5 Background color is

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white 3 column layout 3 colors green,

orange and blue areused in the entirewebpage

All columns arefurther divided intosmall boxes in thewebpage

The right column isless wider andcentral and leftside columns arewider columns

Advertisements areplaces in both leftand right sidecolumns

The size of theimages used is veryless when comparedto the entirewebpage , but thereare many images inthe entire webpage

Footer containscomplete overview ofthe contents of thewebsite

Corner of the footerhas a beautifulmotif and jumpingfrog as attraction

Slide show is thefocus of the webpageat the top of thecentral column

SPLM 6 3-column layout Masthead contains

logo of theorganization andimage of a vessel

A video occupies thetop space in thecentral column

Right side columncontains boxes whichgive navigation toinside WebPages ofthe Website

Left column containssocial networkingbuttons and visualcontent of picturesand online contactoptions

Centre columnconsists of newsarticles below themain video

SPLM 7 Background colorchanges from shadeof green to shade ofwhite from top tobottom in thewebpage

2 column layoutstructure, whereright side column istwice as the widthof the left column

Banner contains asmall logo of theorganization andsearch engine of thesame organization

Mast head consistsof the panel forlinks to insidewebpage contents ofthe website

Slide show on thetop of the maincolumn is the focusof the webpage

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The main column isfurther divided into4 boxes with bothtextual content andpictorial content

Sizes of the imagesin the boxes is aresmall when comparedto the slideshowimage

The side column hasvideo content withvarious options ofdisplay of videoscontent and linkedto rss feed

There are 3 anothersquare boxes belowthe videos box withtextual content andopinion poll

Footer containsimages of thepartner NGO andlinks to their siteswhen clicked on theNGO logos

SPLM 8 Background color iswhite

Color used fordesigning are shadesof green

3 column layoutstructure

Last column is foradvertisements

Mast head isdesigned with logoof the campaign ingreen shadebackground and themain panel is alsohaving shades of

green Video content

dominates thewebpage

Middle column had 2boxes , one for thetextual content ofthe campaign andanother with a mapshowing the viewer’sgreen ideas

Main column consistsof 4 boxes, one forthe main video, 2nd

box is for thevideos slide show,3rd box is for thetweets, comments &the last one issharing the greenidea with thewebpage

SPLM 9 The Mast headconsists of the logoof the organizationin the background ofa deprivation image

Background color ofthe webpage is white

3 column layoutstructure

Last column consistsof circular buttonswhich are forproviding funds tothe organization

Middle columnconsists of one mainstory in textualcontent and 2 videosand bottom of thecolumn there aresocial networking

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options The first column

consists of onemultimediapresentation withtext and graphicscreating activism onenvironmental issues

Below thepresentation sectionlatest news sectioncontains 5 newsstories with a smallimage beside them

SPLM10

Background color iswhite

Colors used in theentire website aremostly shades ofblack and blue asthe logo of theorganization

Slide show ofactivities of theorganization formsthe focus of thewebpage

Beside the slideshow in the 2nd

column there istextual content boxfor visitors to givetheir email address

Below the 2 boxes ,there is arectangular shapedbox which isportioned into 3columns

The row is full ofinteractive elementsand details aboutthe activities

The bottom part ofthe webpage isdivided below into 2columns where maincolumn is on theright side with allnews and relatedpictures are given

The entire newscontent column iswith shades of bluebackground.

The other column isfilled with smallboxes with links tosocial networking ,multimedia contentetc

Interactivity is very essential inany website. Interactivity isessential for success of a websiteor online campaigns. The role ofthe interactive elements in thewebsites is further tabulated inthe table below.

Table. No. 7CodeNumber

Brief details about theInteractive elements inthe website

SMPL 1 Mailing of thestories, photos ,videos of the Earthhour to the website

Regular interactionbetween email of thewebsite

Game called Switchoff lights

Graffiti Board hasoptions for the

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viewers to posttheir message anddesign them andsharing on socialnetworking

Important elementsof the website aredownloadable contentlike Widgets ofOrkut and Facebook,Bookmarks, Folders,Logos, Posters,Badges, Twibbon, andT-shirt transfers

SMPL2 Discussion forumswhere visitors canpost their views ,photos and videos

Visitors can start anew discussion

They can also linkmultimedia contentto the relateddiscussion in theirpost

They can alsoparticipate otherdiscussions

Bookmark optionprovided through addthis service

Social networkingoptions like Buzz intown, Orkut, Facebook, My Space , Youtube are linked tothe website

SMPL 3 Links to socialnetworking optionslike Facebook,YouTube, Twitter

Share photos, ideas,and resources

Checking whichfriends of theviewer areassociated with theorganization

SMPL 4 Taking Pledge in thesupport “save ourTigers”

Face book andTwitter form theSocial Networkingoptions to interact

Sharing optionsprovided by theSocial Twist

Tiger image formedafter pledging forthe cause with thepeople all who havepledged

SMPL 5 Separate loginaccount into thewebsite

Polls , E cards,Blogs to interactwith the visitorsfrom the website

Separate pages forthe registered users, these pagesincludes contentlike messages,friends, petitionsites, groups of theregistered member

Pages for pets andshopping are alsohelpful which helpsmore interactionwith more than 13million community ofthe website

Job finders (green

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jobs) , volunteeringoptions, clicks todonate,

Butterfly creditsfor registered users, these credits canbe used further fordonations

SMPL 6 Sign up options withemail for interestedvisitors is provided

Social Networkingand RSS feed optionswith widgetsavailable

SMPL 7 Slide showsavailable in thewebpage

Opinion polls alsoavailable

No Widgets or SocialNetworking options

SMPL 8 Twitter Widgets,NDTV Social arethere in theavailable

Widgets to the homepage of NDTV alsoavailable

Slide shoes ofvideos and imagesare available in thepage

SMPL 9 Slide showsavailable in thephotos section ofthe webpage

Bookmark optionprovided through Addthis provider

Facebook Widget Signup options Buttons for

navigation intoinner pages

SMPL10

Slide shows getprominence

Widgets forFacebook, Twitter,Flicker and You Tube

Interactivity is much furtherstudied by having 9 specificparameters among the 10 samplewebsites for a betterunderstanding on theinteractivity. The interactiveelements studied are ActionButton, Guided Tour, and Paging,Pull down Button, Slideshow,stepping, wizard, enlarged clickarea and font enlarger. Theinteractive elements details aretabulated in the below table. TableNo8

CodeNumber

ActionButton

GuidedTour

Paging

PulldownButton

Slideshow

SMPL1

yes

no no yes No

SMPL2

yes

no yes yes No

SMPL3

yes

no no yes Yes

SMPL4

yes

no no no Yes

SMPL5

yes

no yes no Yes

SMPL6

yes

no yes no Yes

SMPL no no no no Yes

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7SMPL8 ye

sno yes no Yes

SMPL9 yes

no no yes Yes

SMPL10

yes

no yes yes Yes

Table No 8(b)

InteractiveElement

Numberof- Yes

Numberof- No

ActionButton

9 1

Guided Tour 0 10Paging 5 5Pull downButton

5 5

Slideshow 8 2Stepping 6 4Wizard 7 3EnlargeClick Area

1 9

FontEnlarger

1 9

Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These are theplaces where they get huge fanfollowing for issues. Gettingpublic support is very importantin the entire process. Signingpetitions online requires socialnetworking for making more andmore people to support for thecauses.

Face book and Twitter have beenhelpful in this initiative foronline mobilization. Even Orkut,My Space, Flickr, YouTube are alsowidely used in the Online

Activism. Data of the Face bookand Twitter is collected toanalyze the impact. These socialnetworking impacts are tabulatedbelow

Table No. 9CodeNo.

FacebookFansPosts

TwittersFollowers

SMPL 1 7500

150 1958

SMPL 2 4050

6 -

SMPL 3 4300

17 800

SMPL 4 213,821

1 5916

SMPL 5 39,500

43 3450

SMPL 6 13,871

26 2237

SMPL 7 -

-

-

SMPL 8 -

-

-

SMPL 9 855 14 -SMPL10

80,798

3 14, 950

The posts of the owner of thewebsite are only taken as data forthe study. The posts posted by thefans, comments have been excluded.The comments, tweets, posts of thefans ran up to many thousands fora 15 day period. These comments,

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posts, tweets are not so easy totabulate the data.

Feedback and opinion polls arealso very important to know aboutthe people opinion. Which are veryessential for the understandinghow the readers are reacting tothe content in the websites? Thefeedback and opinion polls data istabulated below Table No. 10CodeNumber

FeedbackOptions/ContactDetails

OpinionPolls

SMPL 1 Contact Details NoneSMPL 2 Contact /

Feedback viaEmail

None

SMPL 3 Contact Details NoneSMPL 4 None NoneSMPL 5 Contact /

FeedbackAvailable

ManyPolls

SMPL 6 Contact Details NoneSMPL 7 Feedback Green

PollSMPL 8 Feedback to NDTV

ConvergenceNone

SMPL 9 Contact Details NoneSMPL 10 Contact via

OnlineNone

Every website has something whichis exclusive. The exclusivecontent can wary depending uponthe topic which are reported andfocused by the website. Briefdetails about the special featuresin each of the website aretabulated below.

TableNo. 11

CodeNumber

Special Features

SMPL 1 Graffiti Board ,where the visitorscan post theirmessages andopinions and theycan share it insocial networking

SMPL 2 Discussion forumsare the main conceptand important forthe whole website

SMPL 3 Blogs & FieldReports of theexpeditions carriedout by theorganizationsmembers.

SMPL 4 Tiger’s Feet (paws)impression is usedfor slideshow in themain page. Tiger’spaw is widely usedas bullets in thewebsite.

SMPL 5 Jumping Frog at thefooter

Butterfly creditsand Butterfly Theme

Community poweredNews

Online Petitions SMPL 6 Environmental e-

cards Reports on Various

Environmental Issues Animations on

Environmental Issues

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SMPL 7 Cool Tools tomeasure CarbonFootprint.

Coverage onCopenhagen Summit

Green Celebrity Clean Technology

News ContentSMPL 8 NDTV Green Anthem

Sharing the GreenIdea

Kids in Action forEnvironment

Green leaf is usedas the bullets inplace of dots

Eco Glossary forKids

SMPL 9 Reports and Films onCotton productionabuses

Reports on PirateFishing

Reports on ShrimpSMPL10

Many languageoptions to choosefrom

The science of 350 Understanding 350 350 music

The tabulated data itself revealmany findings. These findings arevery essential to understand thepopularity and success of variousenvironmental websites. Thesetabulated data also gives usopportunity to understand theattitudes, values and motivationsof the websites as mentioned inthe research methodology. Readingin between the lines is theobjective of the content analysis.

The cyber media is focusedpresently on English as thelanguage medium. The role ofIndian vernacular languages isalso having huge potential forcreating awareness on theenvironmental issues. VConclusion

Cyber media is playing animportant role in communicatingand building awareness onenvironmental issues. The contentof the cyber media onenvironmental issues isencouraging and interesting.Innovation and Research remain themost important strength of theonline medium. Cyber media has ahuge potential to reach nearer andnearer to the ones who preserve orexploit the nature and the planet.

The rate at which informationtechnology and mobile technologiesare penetrating into the humanexistence, the flow of greenideas, green campaigns, greenthinking and green actions willhave to infiltrate into theindividual psyche through webmedia.

References:Climate in Peril, United NationsEnvironmental ProgrammePublication, 2005

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Derne, Steve “Globalization on theGround” Sage Publications IndiaPrivate Limited, 2008

Global Environment Outlook, UnitedNations Environmental ProgrammePublication, 2007

Land, Molly Beutz “NetworkedActivism” Harvard Human RightsJournal/ Vol.22, 2007

Mukherjee, Bhaskar “Link analysisof Indian Political parties’Websites: a temporal comparison”Annals of Library and InformationStudies, Banaras Hindu University,2009

Survey of Indian Environment, theHindu, 2009

.

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