To Know One Another

Mariann Daniel
Feb 28, 2008

It seems to me that the beginning of "Togetherness" focuses its reader on the aspect of knowing one another on the internet. The easiest way to give a face to a website is to make sure that you show personality and character within it. The reason people go on the websites to begin with are to connect with other people--humans they may have never met before--no matter the reason. The "Togetherness" essay also focuses on fame and what is being famous on the internet. Being famous on the internet does not have to consist of being known by millions of people, but a mere few hundred will do. And then those few hundred will pass on knowledge of your site to a few more and before you know it, your site may become just as famous as a celebrity. This is supported by Metcalfe's Law. The thing seems to be that you just need to keep your site personalized to actually connect with people. If it were not personalized, or if it were not helpful in some way, fulfilling a person's want, people would just no care about it.

The web connects people that normally would have limited time to connect in the real world, or would not connect at all. The "Togetherness" example is that of the Emily Dickinson Society meeting every first Tuesday, however, it states, if that meeting is missed, you are done for a month. On the internet people can meet daily to discuss what they like and what they do not like in reference to Emily Dickinson. There are other websites to, like dating website, that connet people together who otherwise would never have met. I have a friend who lives twenty minutes for his now girlfriend--they met on a dating site and would have never met otherwise. The point is, the internet connects people who had not other reason to connect before and would not have known about each other had it not been for that one site that linked them both.

I also like the point in the "Togetherness" essay that we, as individuals, choose to occupy--to explore and possibly set up residence--on the internet. We choose to find people who share our interests and we choose to become friends with such people. However if it were not for the initial web designer we could have come in contact with these new but interesting people we could call friends.

Togetherness Reading

I found this article very fascinating, and it made me think about a lot of his points. The web allows us to be so unique yet so anonomous, and allows someone not only to be him or herself, but also find others with similar interests and connect in such a way that through these connections, we learn more about our interests and more about others. Becoming "famous" on the internet is such a true statement as well, and even more attractive is the fact that internet fame can be acheived by anyone (look at youtube and the number of people who have had their fifteen minute of fame.......anyone remember Chris Cocker and his Brittany Spears rant......or the video of the bridezilla cutting off all of her hair during a breakdown, etc.) As the article stated, "on the web, the community is defined by interest, not geography."

I think there are both positive and negative aspects concerning web groups and real world groups. Real world groups give people the chance to know the people in the group -- so their answers reflect who they are as a person and you get to intimately know those in your group, thereby, making them a more reliable source for feedback and dependability. With web groups, there is no guarentee that feedback and responses will come because of how easy it is to break a group or move on to a different group. The advantage of web groups is because there is a kind of freedom in involving yourself in a web group. There is no membership criteria except for an interest, and because you are anytomous, there is no holding back because you are able to say anything (no boundaries to what you can or cannot say or shyness). You are more comfortable stating your point and are not afraid to say what you want to. In the real world groups, others might intimidate you into silence, so a good point might go unsaid. Web groups are not only cheaper in most cases, but they are also easier to find. Search engines can bring up hundreds of groups, bullenteins, and discussion tables in a matter of seconds, while real world groups, like book clubs, may take a while to find and may not fit into your schedule.

The last point I want to discuss is how great community is on the web when it comes to commerce. The mass of products available to consumers today has a more difficult job of making sure that product is exceptional because of the web communities that can ruin its reputation. I love the reviews that people post on different websites as to what the pros and cons were of certain projects. And the great thing about that is that in reviews, I get a number of different reviews on a number of different features. Every person is different, so I get a wide variety of views on different parts of the product instead of reviews on exactly the same thing. For example, I looked over many review sites before i bought a digital camera. Some people talked about the size and durability aspects, others discussed the quality of the photos, others talked about the different features, some even posted pics on the site. These reviews were so different yet each one was helpful, and those reviews played a major role when buying my digital camera. By having these web groups, we are able to connect people who were just as interested in a product as we were and giving them a unique, individual review of the product instead of a general, mass-marketed overview of the product.

"Togetherness"

I enjoyed reading this article because he used good examples about almost everything he talked about. Sometimes when reading lengthy articles like these gets confusing because books or concepts are mentioned that I've never heard of. The beginning of the article was interesting because he used 9/11 which is a very powerful. He talked about the online lists but he made me think about Facebook because it served the same purpose during 9/11. I remember last year when the Virginia Tech shooting happened, people were instantly forming groups to find out if their loved ones survived the shooting. I remember my Communications teacher talking about an article she read about how Facebook was helping people group together during a time of crisis. Groups like these help provide access points, and allows for no barriers and endless boundaries. He talks about how the internet and web groups help make people smarter, and I'm not sure if I agree with him. It does give us information quickly, but i dont necessarily think that we become smarter. Whats important is that the Internet allows for every individual to have a voice. Sometimes it isn't easy to voice your opinions, but with the internet at its point today, anyone can say what they feel.
I thought he was exaggerating some when he talked about marketing demographics. It seemed like he believed that they were only stereotypes, but then contradicts himself and agrees that the people inside of his bracket probably would act accordingly. I do agree with him saying that it shows that humans are programmable. I dont think its a conclusion others haven't already drawn. I believe that this is why advertisements even exist. Trends themselves show that all you need to do is convince people why they should do, buy, wear something and their product is sold. In this section I felt that he was saying that no individuality exists online. Later when reading he talks about Melanie Griffith's personal site, as well as others. I saw that here he was showing that individuals CAN express themselves online. I can see how this reading relates to our next project, which deals with identity.
I liked when he compared local live groups and web groups. People can attract attention and become famous but in two completely different ways. The local fame actually involves close communication and some understanding of that individual and their expertise. Web groups mostly deal with celebrities where their attention is achieved through stupid acts that interest people. Also in web groups or online fame, no fan really gets to know the person or see first hand what they do for a living. Overall, I think we see a lot of the same information. The web allows for people to have so much information that it has caused an overload. What works with the web is that through the chaos it still allows room for individuality which is key.

Weinberger

I thought the overall message of this article was pretty interesting, and it offered a different way to look at how the internet functions as a way of bringing people together. The concept in itself that the internet brings people together isn’t necessarily original, but Weinberger’s descriptions of the various ways that the internet brings people closer really illustrated this point and gave me a better appreciation for just how powerful the internet is as a tool for bringing users closer together.

From a personal standpoint, I’ve seen this first hand how small communities can be formed through various outlets on the internet. I’ve played games online where I’ve formed mini-friendships with people and talked to them almost as casually as I would talk to a friend in real life. I’ve also known people who posted on message boards where they formed actual friendships and ended up becoming friends in real life as well. Weinberger does a good job of describing how this has come to be and how it is continuously spawning new communities and bring people with similar thoughts and interests together.

To me, the most interesting part of this article was the opening section where he describes how he connected and discussed the events surrounding 9/11 in real time with people who were feeding him news as it happened about events that were not covered by the mass media. He also expressed a feeling of intimacy with his fellow group members and email senders that was much stronger than the relationship he felt with people giving him the news through other sources of media. I also really enjoyed his analogy of the internet as being the opposite of a grenade thrown into a crowded market, in that it serves as a powerful force that brings people very close to one another. In total, this was a more colorful and interesting read than the past couple articles we’ve looked at, and I thought it did a good job describing the connective powers of the internet.

Togetherness by Weinberger

Weinberger told of how important and useful the web became on September 11th. The news kept repeating the same horrific events over and over, while the web became a source for others to connect. I can relate to this because I always get my news and information for the internet. I hate watching the news because it is always about horrible things such as murders, shootings, and kidnappings. Online you can find so much more information than just the horrible things. The internet is able to connect us more because we can actually connect with people through it. When you are watching TV, you are usually just glued to it, therefore it's just you and the TV. We are all so proud to be individuals, sometimes almost using it as a threat, for example defiantly stating "I am unique." But once we are in a crowd we get lost. We are all just part of the common public. Being defined by categories: race, gender, age, etc. angers us. We hate to be stereotyped. As a whole, our society is obsessed with the media. We put celebrities up on a pedestal, like they are not human like the rest of us. But on the web, fame is not important. It is more of a community, you never see the face of the people you are talking to, and nowadays everyone has crazy names for their emails and usernames. You can chose any thing you want, so it's all a guessing game. The web is grouped by interest. You go onto websites that you are interested in and find people there who have the same interests as you do. People join the web to become active, they want to be active members of a web community. Everything is online nowadays, you can join a bookclub, find a penpal, do ratings. The web is a crowd of people, but you can distinctly see each and every one of them. It's amazing to see how the web has become so prominent in today's society. You can do anything and everything online these days.

Hypertext Article

As I read through the article, I realized that there is a lot more to hypertext and converting text to hypertext. I agree with a few other students when they stated that the reading was tough to get through at times, however I did find it very interesting. It is interesting to see how the industry is changing especially since that industry is the one I want to get into. I read on the internet all the time, at time I prefer it, but I also agree that there is nothing like cracking the spine of a book. However, the device that he mentioned about the one inch by one inch screen that you where on your head sounds amazing and that would completely solve the problem of going absolutely anywhere to read. Overall, I found the article informative and engaging if but a little dense.

Hypertext Article - Madison Ultis

This article was very long, and I must admit that at times, I got a bit lost; I agreed with Jasmine that his reference to many different books made it a little more confusing because they were all texts I had never heard of or read. I did think, though, that the article was very insightful because I had just always attributed hypertext with links on a sight, but I now realize it is so much more than that. I might be totally off here, but one element about hypertext I found was that it can either be found in some sort of linear book or in a completely dispersed system of links that one can follow however he/she chooses to. Overall, the connections I made in this reading were pretty much about the different systems involved in hypertext and how it is much more intricate than most people consider.

Landow Response

Before I read this, I pretty much thought of hypertext as links that redirected you to other web pages and I really had no idea there was so much to the technology. So in that way, I thought this article did a pretty good job explaining just how sophisticated this technology is and how we have just scratched the surface in a lot of ways. I thought a lot of the ways he mentions hypertext being utilized were really innovative and it seems as though this technology is poised to have a really large impact on a number of fields in the near future and already has in a lot of places. As for the article itself, I thought it got a little jargony in some places and it was kind of hard to push through without skimming over parts. The fact that this was all pretty much brand new information about technology I barely knew existed made it a little harder to digest, but for the most part I think I took a lot out of it.

Landow Hypertext

I agree with colleen, this article was very hard to get through. Some parts were interesting I could relate to but others were way over my head. I did not realize how much there actually is to hypertext or just the web in general. The only thing I felt I could really relate to was the comment about the book in the bathtub. I have had to read books online and I end up just printing them out because 1. the screen and my eyes and 2. a laptop is just not that portable. The computer screen really makes my eyes tired and just the fact that you have to stay at that chair or that can only sit in certain ways/places with a computer. I do think it is nice that you can get them online because then if your busy or do not have a library or bookstore close to you it is very easy access. Thought a long the lines of books online, I have heard that eventually that is how all books are going to be, especially on college campus. I think though they should give you the option of buying them still, cause what if you want to take note…not everyone knows enough about technology and how you can highlight and edit stuff. Also just seeing how far technology has come now, with projections and things like blackboard, I always wonder if we are just going to start having classes online along with everything else.

February 11th -- Hypertext Article

This article was complicated for me to respond to. I believe that George Landow is responding to the separation of print theorists and hypertext theorists and how print theorists believe that using technology to read and use text takes away from the experience of reading and actually having the physical print in your hand. As technology becomes more and more prominent in our everyday lives, we are closing the connection between print and hypertext. Before, there was a distinct separation because in order to read a piece of text on an electronic device, one had to be at a specific location and confined to that space while the print version (like a book) allowed a person to read it anywhere (like the bathtub) and thereby gain a better, more pleasurable experience. But now we are responding to these limitations with making computers and other electronic devices available to take anywhere...from Iphones to the new paper-thin computers, we are now able to take our hypertext device anywhere we can take a book, bringing the separation closer together.

There are certain things that I dont believe that electronic hypertext can do quite as well as a printed version. When doing papers, I rarely make notes and edits on the computer. Instead I print out the copy and jot notes with pen on the printed version. It seems so much quicker to execute as my thoughts can immediately be put on paper and I feel like I have to think about what to type instead of just jotting notes in the margin. I do not believe that hypertext is replacing print text but expanding it. In the article, Landlow states that "the great and defining power of digital technology lies in its capacity to store information and then provide countless virtual version of it to readers, who then can manipulate, copy, and comment upon it without changing the material seen by others." This can be a great tool to expand on what has already been written. When we read information that is in hypertext, we can take that information and interpret and comment on it and put our opinion and version for others to see and comment on but they are still able to read the original text. Just because we have manipulated the text does not mean it is gone forever. We are not changing the text itself, just feeding off it to produce our own text.

The other big expansion for hypertext is its ability to link -- an area where print text is limited. The possibilities of linking the text to other resources, visuals, etc. is a huge tool in understanding the text that is presented. The article also states the resource of the dictionary and the statement that rarely is the printed dictionary used because an individual wants results fast. So they would only use the dictionary if it was essential to understanding the meaning of a text. With links to fast, online dictionaries, more words are looked up and more meaning can be derived from a text. However, a problem with links is that a reader can get caught up in the different links and resources and never finish the actual text that was suppose to be read. Another problem with hypertext and links is if that link provides analysis and other opinions, it would be hard for someone to formulate their own interpretation without being affected by the opinions and interpretations of others that can be easily found with the endless amounts of stored information.

The same can be said of our class -- we read a textbook about web design and the different elements and then we have resources and tutortorials linked to our blog as additional information to help us understand what web design is about. So instead of separating print and hypertext, we should be embracing the two and finding the highest potential for both so they can be the most beneficial to the individual using the text.

Landlow Hypertext Article

This article was definitely the most difficult for me to get through out of all of the articles that we've read so far. He referenced so many people and books that I wasn't sure of, and he used a lot of words I was unfamiliar with. His writing was not very personable, and the article seemed to drag on and on. I found his point about the hypertext reading sight to be very interesting..."you can't read a book in the bathtub" and "reading on a computer takes away the pleasure of encountering the physical object" both rang very true to me. Technology takes away the fun of reading in a way. We become focused on the presentation, rather than the text or words. Linking is the most important fact about hypertext. I never really knew this or thought about this, so I found this insightful. I guess it's true, you need to link everything on the internet. When he said the very speed of networked electronic communication changes our experience of publication, I could really relate to that. Everything is online nowadays, even newspapers. We have to apply for things online, it is so out of the norm so do things on paper anymore. Even responding to one another is done online, and we can have an answer withing minutes. I find it interesting to think about how hypertext has become such a big part of our culture and lifestyle. It's just part of who we are now, so we don't even think about it until someone points it out. As much as I hate technology for always seeming to malfunction and make things more difficult, I also couldn't imagine my world without it. I'm attached to my laptop, and if someone took that away from me, I'd be completely lost.

Response to Hypertext Theory (Landow)

I thought that the article was somewhat difficult to read because there were a lot of books that were referred to that I havent read or even heard of. Reading this article definately showed how much he knows about hypertext. There were a few points that stuck out to me, concerning how much hypertext has helped out society. He talks about the start of hypertext, and how it evolved from a "dissatisfaction" with printed books. I can see how the internet is more convenient but I dont really think that there were problems with books that made people think that some other way of holding information needed to be developed. It was interesting how he showed the relationship and similarities between literary theorists and computer scientists. I never saw the relationship so it was different to see him prove that. He also mentions that hypertext calls for and has developed a new form of writing. I had written about about this before, and how in email people even use a shorthand form of typing. I had a question about how one should dissect hypertext and take its digital text as one, and it's reading on the screen. Just from being in class these few weeks I see how the development of hypertext is one thing, and enjoying the creation is another. It was also discussed how reading something on the screen takes away from the physical presence of a book. It really feels like we take hypertext and much of technology for granted. You dont realize that the monitors or screens in the classrooms are so useful compared to writing everything on a chalk board. Actually handwritting everything out has its advantages too, but in an age of hypertext and technology, we should become versed in their use and practice.

Chapter 7

I am excited, yet nervous for this project because I have never used frontpage before and I only know basic computer skills. I found the horizontal format section to be really informative. I really appreciated the last example they used on having to scroll sideways because I find that so annoying on websites. It is not only irritating to have to scroll up and down and sideways, but then you cannot see the whole picture. How do you set your browser window to 800 X 600?

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 was interesting because it gave me an idea of how I want my page to look. However it also confused me a bit. Perhaps I'm not getting the visual correct, but how can a person make a horizonal web page and not have to scroll from side to side? Maybe it is about the amount of information on the screen or the size of the screen itself, but I just don't understand this. Do you guys know?

Chapter 7

After reading chapter 7, I had an easier time trying to figure out what my website would look like if I used the essay that I have in mind. My question deals with cutting the paper into appropriate sections. I think other ideas, like a list of poems, would work easier because the poem could be uploaded and graphics can be added to add interest, but my essay deals with increasing divorce rates and how we as a society can change it. I think the topic is interesting, so I want to use this essay I have, but I dont know where I can appropriately divide the paper into sections.

Question of Feb 5th

Also along with Steph and Madison, how do you know when you have too much information or the amount of pages you should have? Also if you have a really boring topic how can you make it interesting to everyone? I am not sure what I am going to do yet but there are some papers or things I have done that are interesting but at the same time just boring and dry. Would color and graphics help to make it not so dull?

Question for February 5th

In terms of this specific project, I am wondering how I am supposed to know how many separate pages to create within the site.  I am using my White Paper from last semester, so I already have an idea of what sort of color scheme I want to go with, but I'm not sure how to break up my information and still keep it interesting.  I have different headings and then sub-headings within the text, so I was thinking that is how I could make the links?

Also, I have a few visuals for the site, in terms of figures that we created with data and statistics.  I am not sure what other kinds of visuals to include in order to break up the text and make it
more readable.  I also don't want it to be filled with childish clip art either, so I am open to other suggestions!  Thanks :) 

Question Blog for February 5th

I really look forward to this first project as it will be my first time using FrontPage and actually designing beyond just a basic "powerpoint-ish" site. The only thing that I'm concerned with is having too little or too much information the the site. What would your recommendation be as to how many webpages would be a sufficient amount within the website? My second question would be if anyone had any other resources (for backgrounds, templates, other web design tools etc.) that they know of that would be useful (like the color scheme idea from Madison). Any resources would be a great addition to the growing amount we are receiving from professor Consilio. Thanks!