Topic for Research and Website Creation and Eiola-Johnson 61-85

I am thinking about writing about Pro Anorexic and Pro Bulimic websites. These websites have been banned in several countries in efforts to prevent the promotion of self destructive weight loss habits. Though many websites have been banned, there are countless videos that promote "Thinspiration".

These videos are created by people who are pro anorexic and pro bulimic. The videos can be found on http://www.youtube.com/. They display images of emaciated women and portray them as desirable and beautiful.


There are also support groups and inner communities that can be found on http://www.myspace.com/.

Many of these people do not display their faces in their pictures. http://groups.xanga.com/groups/group.aspx?id=2242654

Who uses the site? Xanga.com http://www.xanga.com/A_Secret_Disaster/643350552/i-see-the-way-you-go-and-say-youre-right-again-say-youre-right-again-heed-my-lecture.html The users are people who want to blog and vent their emotions on a public online diary. Xanga.com has web groups that people join in reference to their specific interest. What do they want from the site?They can leave each other feedback and comment each other's websites. This specific blog was written by a girl who may be a teenager and is promoting her eating disorder and posts up pictures of thin women who she admires.



I think this is an interesting topic. It connects to our class because some web sites on cyberspace should be banned or censored but their not. An additional way to connect it to our class could be discussing freedom of speech. Although these websites are immorally wrong, technically do they have the right to display what they want? JB

I agree with the last comment. Although I really like your topic and I agree with you that these websites should not be allowed on the internet, it is a freedom of speech issue at the same time and it is therefore not against the law for them to be up there. I think you should maybe take a survey to see how other people feel about having these websites on the internet and if people feel that there should be any restrictions to them. LN


I had no idea that something like this existed!! This is a great way for you to educate people such as myself that did not know that was going on. Freedom of speech vs. Morality, If these women are covering their faces in shame they are obviously not proud or "pro" it if they feel the need to hide, Are there men also involved in this "thinspiration"? If you make a site dedicated to the anit-thinspiration movement it will educate people. DC


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Eiola- Johnson
In this sections, Johnson discusses the Structure of a Website. The purpose for structures are to provide helpful ways to navigate trhough websites and provide assistance in interpreting the contents within a website. There are two different types of structure explored within the text. The Macrostructure and the Microstructure (refers to the layout of webpages). This section of the text explores the Macrostructure. A macrostructure of a website refers to the relations between the different web pages of a website.

Eiola- Johnson draws an example with a story about a girl named Leslie. She uses a website of a local bar to view the calander of events in reference to a band that she is interested in. She wants to know if that band is playing at the bar. While exploring on the website she finds links on the website for a group known as “Spam Daggers”. Upon viewing the web pages, she sees a list of dates that go as far back as the year 1994. She doesn’t successes in her search for her information so instead she just views the calander of events in search for what bands are playing.
The author then explores the ESPN website . He implies that the website for ESPN is used by users for a variety of purposes. Each user is different and they have their own reasons for using the website. The website for ESPN has a “hub and poke” structure. This means a user can click on links to move outside from the main webpage. There are other structural devices that are discussed by the author.