It’s amazing how real life can get in the way of scholarship. As I have been reading this week’s material, I’ve also been caught up in the multilayered world of my two teenagers. When I’m reading our assignments, I’m often thinking about them in the back of my mind. Ultimately, both my 11th and 9th graders will be the consumers of an educational system trying to incorporate multimedia into its curriculum. That being said, I am late posting because of homecoming. My world yesterday was consumed with flowers, hair appointments, transportation arrangements…it was almost as bad as a wedding – just on a tinier scale.
Sara Horton’s book begins with some excellent ideas about content; what to include and what to leave out. She describes some excellent ways to think about page layout. I was particularly impressed by the comparison of dull, busy, and balanced pages using a graphic illustration on page 110. I liked the way I could quickly get an idea of what she meant by looking at the picture. However, not far after that point the ideas of what to include, who my audience might be, how to organize material, etc…became bogged down in technical stuff I would hope has been resolved by prepackaged software by now.
Her book was copyrighted in 2000, which isn’t that long ago; but means that she must have started writing it way before that. My impression of web work is that there have been leaps and bounds in the industry which will allow most of us to bypass certain steps. I’m not sure that I will need to scrutinize my images so closely, or know how many colors my computer is capable of producing on the screen. Discussions of topics like copyright considerations are much more useful. I am appreciative though for examples of why things are the way they are.
I am certainly more interested in content. There is a whole workforce of people out there who can help me actually get a web page running. If I can’t figure out how to create something myself by using software designed for an end user like me – which I’m sure there are many; then I’ll be able to hire someone who can help me, and leave me in charge of what actually gets said. The proliferation of such products as Dreamweaver and its like is evidence that use of the web is increasing every day. Will these things be used for History though?
Of course they will. Using the web as a teaching tool does not mean that the print world disappears. We would be wrong to eliminate instruction of how to use traditional research methods (the dusty library), and equally wrong to reject electronic media. Including online sources in conjunction with traditional ones is really what is necessary. Overall, the Horton’s book and the articles assigned for this week give us guidelines to think about what we want to convey, and how we might want to spread the word to a population which has decided to embrace electronic media completely. Resistance is futile.
I think I was quite hasty in my statements about paying for web creation and maintenance. I currently do pay for these services for my job, but have also attended seminars on how the stuff is supposed to work. It is important to know how it works, but I truly hope that prepackaged software designed for end users has progressed to the point where it is getting as easy to use as things like wordprocessing software.
Comment by Michelle — October 1, 2006 @ 9:07 pm
Your points on the age of Horton are well taken. Much of the book remains useful because it presents an argument that seeks to balance the importance of content with technology, something that will always be necassary to create a successful project. However, it is interesting she has not updated it since. Six years is nearly half the life of the internet as we know it. The proliferation of broadband, let alone the technologies it has made feasible, requires addressing. But the guidlines you mention are still useful even today.
Comment by Ken — October 3, 2006 @ 7:10 pm