PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

55was revived, the web site was redesigned. It is the primary tool with which theorganization disseminates information, accepts applications, and displays images ofservice. The site plays an important role for the organization, and much time and energywere invested in its creation. In fact, in 2003, the Peace Corps web site received anomination for the prestigious Webby Award. The organization was nominated for the“Best Practices” Award, which recognizes a single web site as a model of excellence. 108These awards are generally not given to non-profit or government organizations becausein years past, such organizations did not worry about design. But today, organizationssuch as the Peace Corps recognize that their sites can contain all needed information,reducing the cost of printed recruitment brochures and eliminating the need to staff tollfreenumbers. The Peace Corps now conducts the majority of its business online.The Peace Corps web site serves as a gateway into the volumes of informationaccessed through the main page. The web space is divided into three main parts. Themain focus of the site is an image on the right hand side of the screen. This changes witheach entry to the site but always contains the picture of a volunteer and an in-countryimage. This part of the page leads directly to the application and more information. Thissection of the site also contains resource links for current volunteers, returned volunteers,family and friends of volunteers, donors, and information about graduate school. Thebottom part of the page is devoted to quick links, which is a series of 50 different optionsthat essentially repeat all of the above options with the addition of new links to itemssuch as a kids’ page, which leads to a series of games and stories about the Peace Corps.The most intriguing part of the web site is the menu on the left hand side of thepage. One of the menu options is labeled “About the Peace Corps;” it contains an