I first learned about elderly social isolation from one of my English tutors, and I was struck by how common yet invisible this issue is. Many older adults experience deep loneliness, but people rarely talk about it. Because of this, I chose elderly social isolation as my advocacy topic. My stance is that small, everyday actions from families and communities can meaningfully reduce isolation and improve older adults’ well-being. My primary audience is Boston community members and university students who may not yet recognize this issue as urgent or relevant to their own lives.

To prepare for the project, I began by researching materials related to social isolation. I identified around four key sources, read them carefully, and extracted usable concepts, statistics, and definitions. I then planned an interview with a friend who had volunteered with Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (LBFE), a nonprofit that supports older adults. His experience interacting with seniors and his outsider perspective allowed me to move beyond purely academic materials and hear about social isolation in a more personal, concrete way. After organizing these materials, I drafted an outline for the website, deciding what each page would do rhetorically before I started building it. Finally, I refined the design—adjusting fonts, colors, and layout, and adding navigation buttons—to create a more coherent and inviting experience for visitors.

To reach my audience, I intentionally combined several multimodal genres, including photographs, charts, a flowchart, tables, and audio recordings. On the Home page, I used photographs of older adults alongside the phrase “No Elder Should Live in Silence.” The images immediately signal that the site is about aging, while the slogan clearly frames the problem as preventable and invites emotional engagement. I chose a primarily green color scheme to convey care, support, and calmness, which aligns with the site’s mission.

On the “What Can We Do” page, I introduced a flowchart to visually represent how risk factors, social isolation, and health impacts are connected. This genre turns complex relationships into a simple pathway, helping readers quickly see why early intervention matters. The Call to Action page then expands on the flowchart with detailed explanations of concrete actions families and communities can take, translating abstract concern into realistic steps.

The Data page uses tables to present statistics about health risks associated with social isolation, along with data sources and demographics. Tables allow readers to grasp key numbers at a glance without reading long research reports. I highlighted especially important figures in red to guide the viewer’s attention and emphasize the seriousness of the issue. On the Interview page, I combined audio clips of my conversation with DongDai and written summaries of the main points and my takeaways. The audio adds authenticity and a human voice, while the text helps readers quickly understand the content and see how his experiences connect to the research.

Through these rhetorical and multimodal choices, my website aims not only to inform but also to move my audience to care about the older adults around them and to recognize that even small actions—listening, visiting, and including seniors in daily life—can help prevent social isolation.