Question of the Week 12/5

This semester, I have learned that there are many forms of Web writing --more than I had previously thought. I learned that, for example, writing for blogs or writing for a newspaper's web site are two approaches to web writing with different characteristcs and a different way of being written.

Another thing I learned, which I think is one of the most significant difference between Web writing and other forms of writing is that Web writing is very simplistic. You can't use complicated words or descriptions and you aren't writing in paragraph form, so your sentences are often shorter, sometimes even fragments. In Web writing, it is important to group the information so it is easy to read on the page, with the use of headings or lists, and making breaks between paragraphs. In other forms of writing, paragraphs are several sentences long. In web writing, any paragraph over two sentences can seem lengthy.

Question of the Week 11/21

In “10 Tips for Writing the Living Web,” Mark Bernstein says, “Some parts of the web are finished, unchanging creations – as polished and as fixed as books or posters. But many parts change all the time.”
In this class, you’ve been studying and producing both kinds of writing. Which type of writing do you feel more comfortable with producing — the more fixed and unchanged types of Web pages such as some of the pages for your group Web project or portfolio, or the “living web” exemplified by your blog?

I feel more comfortable with producing changing, "living Web" that can be updated constantly. I think this is because since so many people can potentially view your content online, putting up permanent information is a little overwhelming. I feel better knowing that if I make a mistake or change my mind, say, in a blog, and make a new post to correct myself or update my thoughts.

Question of the Week 11/14

I think the creative content online will allow more people to be able to express their creativity than are able to express it in more traditional outlets such as television, video and magazines. However, I think even though people are able to express their creativity, the more traditonal outlets still have a larger audience and people will have more exposure in these outlets.

I think as time goes on the people who publish on the Web will be competetion for traditional outlets, and some Web writers are more popular than writers for traditional outlets, but this is not the majority case. In the future, as more and more people begin to express themselves online, they will be more professional and experts in their fields. But right now, since the Web is still relatively new and non-traditional, it does not yet seriously threaten outlets like television magazines, publishing houses and video.

Question of the Week 11/07

I think that other forms of media are changing to be more like the Web because since the Web is becomming so popular and people are becomming more and more used to Web writing, they don't have the attention spans to be able to sit down and read a longer article in a newspaper or magazine. People want everything they read to be scannable like Web writing, and so magazines have increasingly made sub-headlines to articles. Book chapters now have sub-headings breaking down and categorizing information.

However, as popular as the Web becomes, there are some things in other forms of media that haven't yet changed to be more like the Web. We may see a series of shorter newspaper articles, for example, but a headlining story will most likely be a full article written in newspaper form, not broken down into categories written so that it can be scanned through.

Newspaper articles may have simpler language to make it easier to read, but I think magazines still experiment with language and use different words, because they have more specified audiences who editors know what language they understand. Varied language in magazines is what keeps the articles interesting and keeps people drawn in.

Although some writing may change to be more like Web writing, other forms of media writing ultimately still have a distinct way they are written.

Question of the Week 10/31

In “Web 2.0 for Designers,” Richard McManus and Joshua Porter say:

In Web 1.0, a small number of writers created Web pages for a large number of readers. As a result, people could get information by going directly to the source: Adobe.com for graphic design issues, Microsoft.com for Windows issues, and CNN.com for news. Over time, however, more and more people started writing content in addition to reading it. This had an interesting effect—suddenly there was too much information to keep up with! We did not have enough time for everyone who wanted our attention and visiting all sites with relevant content simply wasn’t possible. As personal publishing caught on and went mainstream, it became apparent that the Web 1.0 paradigm had to change.

I have experienced the effect being described in this quote. It is difficult to keep up with all the variety and quantity of information available on the Web, the thing to do is not try to keep up with every little new thing. You have to understand that there is so much out there that it is nearly impossible to see everything. You need to figure out what is important for you to know and keep up with that. I find a source of information that I like, and keep up with their changes and deal with other information that is similar to what I already know.

The Web should change to allow people to manage and control information by being well organized and allowing people to find what they are looking for easily. Web writing will change to accomodate the many different audiences and Web design will need to change to allow the different audiences to access it easily. Perhaps a change in seach engines would be helpful in helping target information to specific needs.

Question of the Week 10/24

There are a good amount of blogs related to interests of mine. This is probably because I have general interests and the specifics are covered by the many differnet blogs about the topics. For example, music and books. There are many different kinds of music and books and I am not tied down to being interested in just a few, so there will be a lot of blogs about this.

Basically they are giving reviews and opinions of different kinds of music and books, and for the most part, I agree with what I have read in the blogs for the content that I am familiar with.

Question of the Week 10/17

I think the term "currency of the Internet" is used to explain how if your site can draw a lot of attention, you will attract more people. Thinking in terms of currency, you can "buy" people's interest with your site because it is attention-grabbing.

I am trying to draw attention to my site by making it interesting to look at, with color and pictures. I think these are items that initially catch people's attention. In order to keep their attention, however, you need to provide easy to find and relevant information and use a language style that fits your audience.