The assassination of JFK is an event that is universally imbedded within cultural discourse. It is not an event that is confined to American political history. Rather the assassination and the system of information that delivers and deliberates what the public may access is as cultural as it is historical.

[This concept is expored in my analysis of the coverage of the JFK assassination on the World Wide Web. The above is from the main page.]

McAdams introduces his site with a simple header, black and white still of Lee Harvey Oswald and an interesting choice of quote from Jackie Kennedy.

Beneath this is an informal explanation of the aims of the site. McAdams’ words deceptively declare Kennedy’s assassination demand the attention of all historically, culturally minded Americans. If not in exposing the truth (that there was a conspiracy involved with not only with the assassination of JFK but in the deliberate misinformation that surrounds the subject) McAdams’ does hope to dismiss some of the lies. It seems as though McAdams is addressing the troubled American citizen who may not be an expert in the field. However, delving deeper into the site one finds a distinctly scholarly exposition.

McAdams’ does not explicitly address a multiplicity of users. There is no bold distinction between interested browsers and scholarly researchers. In the attempt to construct a sophisticated, site that aims to democratise (or at the least deprive certain theories primacy) information McAdams has privileged the scholarly approach.

Put simply the assassination of JFK is general knowledge yet the reasoning as to why, how and who remain specialised. Kennedy’s assassination is a embedded in popular culture that thus perpetuates the question “who killed JFK?” In addressing this question, supplying evidence contextualised in favour of a particular historical standpoint (the lone gunman theory), McAdams presents specialised knowledge that can be incorporated into the corpus of information.

[ Introduction I Type of Site I Coverage I Authority I Organisation I Design I Orientation I Mobility I Primary I Interpretive I Knowledge Construct I Rhetorical I Writable I Overview ]