In O'Reilly's and Batelle's article, the idea that was the most important to me is the way data recognition and someone's ability to find patterns in user data is often recognized by employers. They also discuss the way information changes constantly and web applications have to stay on top of things and changing their content. I hope to become a web designer, creating websites for clients will require me to include elements in my products that will be easy to change, for instance a Twitter feed, or some way for users to interact with my original clients. As far as seeing patterns, if a number of readers/users are not satisfied with the look of the website and therefore prefer to visit some other site, it will be my job to notice that trend and fix it to the best of my abilities.
I'm a member of the deviantArt community and they are constantly changing their website to accommodate the thousands of individuals who visit the site every day. Very recently, they have put into beta testing a new way to categorize the art that is being submitted daily; instead of the artist having to search through endless categories to correctly label their work, the site now gives suggestions based on the title given to the piece, or by typing a word like "frog" into a search box. The site will then give you categories like "photo/.../animal" and lets you pick from a more restricted list.
I haven't submitted to deviantArt since this has been in place but when I do, I'm sure it will be incredibly useful, thanks to search options that are becoming "smarter".
I'm a member of the deviantArt community and they are constantly changing their website to accommodate the thousands of individuals who visit the site every day. Very recently, they have put into beta testing a new way to categorize the art that is being submitted daily; instead of the artist having to search through endless categories to correctly label their work, the site now gives suggestions based on the title given to the piece, or by typing a word like "frog" into a search box. The site will then give you categories like "photo/.../animal" and lets you pick from a more restricted list.
I haven't submitted to deviantArt since this has been in place but when I do, I'm sure it will be incredibly useful, thanks to search options that are becoming "smarter".
I find it so convenient when websites have a search box. I haven't heard of that art website and am excited to go check it out! The way the Internet is getting "smarter" is so cool. I have been wondering what makes me become a "we" when participating in the voting system of the web. I find your blog to be a perfect example. When you come across something you are interested in and want to share with others one fells to a degree obligated to do so.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog and the "Google Is Born" article it is interesting to think back to the late 90's when companies were more interested in people visiting to their website and getting views, instead of creating a portal to other peoples websites and improving search. The evolution of search and how companies incorporate data mining is very interesting from the consumers perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe use of social networks like twitter and facebook are going to be an important key for businesses to have presence in cyber space. Like we talked in class, businesses will son need people who are familiar with those tools in other to expand online business.
ReplyDeleteNice post overall. Next time work to make a few more direct references to the reading just so that I can see that you're really getting into the heart of the readings (if you will). Your example about web design is a good one. In terms of the notion of perpetual beta and web design, content management systems are becoming more and more useful in that content can easily, and constantly, be updated on the client side of things.
ReplyDeleteWe all know, data is important. How we access that data is just as important. It's true, that just the simple things such as searching for something are becoming smarter. That is, it is easier to use and returns even more relevant results than before. That and such things like metadata make it easier to find what we are looking for.
ReplyDeleteThe internet seems so fickle in its wants I feel like it would be very difficult to recover the ground lost to bad design. I gaming site I used to read constantly, Kotaku.com, changed its layout and its user base hated it. Several months later they are still trying the new design and have seen a significant drop in page views. I know I almost never go anymore because it is too difficult to find what I want to see. If you can figure out how to give users what they want before they know they want it you will undoubtedly be a very successful web designer.
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