As an educator and lifelong media enthusiast, I am in a constant state of analysis. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how our use of the Web is changing, and how media creators are adapting to our new digital expectations. In class, we discuss the origins of the Internet, from its “read only” beginning, to its “read/write” status of today. And while their is much hypothesizing about what Web 3.0 will be, right now the buzz remains around Web 2.0. Sharing, collaborating, “writing”–those are all keywords to define Web 2.0. Think blogging, social media, and video remixing as key tenets of a Web 2.0 world. Below is one of my favorite videos by Dr. Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State University, to use in class when introducing the topic of Web 2.0.
A portal or a billboard?
Now that you are hip on Web 2.0, let’s get to the title of this post about that “portal” thing. Stop for a second and think about your use of the Internet. What Web sites do you visit frequently? Why? What goals and objectives do you have when you visit them? This last question is perhaps, the most important, because in today’s media landscape, how many of us consume content online the same way we watch television? Think about the structure of television as a medium. The channels are selected for us, either courtesy of the electromagnetic spectrum, the cable companies, or direct broadcast satellite companies. We passively click from one to the next, waiting for something to hook our attention. Or, we check out what was saved on our digital video recorders (DVRs)–all from a fixed selection of networks.
The Web is different. It’s decentralized (for now) construct forces us to possess a reason, a motivation, or an inclination in order to choose what Web sites we give our attention to, and which ones we ignore. We have active goals, rather than passive. We are participants. We want something.
From the user end, there’s no shortage of verbs I could add here, but I believe we can simplify our goals into two main ideas: via the Web, we want to explore or to connect. To help illustrate this point, think in Web terms as you browse the definitions for each word below:
1. To investigate systematically; examine.2. To search into or travel in for the purpose of discovery.
1. To join or fasten together.2. To associate or consider as related.3. To join to or by means of a communications circuit.4. To plug in (an electrical cord or device) to an outlet.
Is your Web site giving your audience an opportunity to explore or to connect? Or, does your Web site simply function as a billboard, posting “read only” type content? What options are you providing for user-end exploration and connection? Are you thinking of your user, or are you thinking about everything you have to have “up” there (on your billboard)? Which has more opportunities to create a lasting impression and relationship with your users? A portal of exploration and connectivity, or a billboard?
As media consumers, we have expectations for online experiences. We visit locations on the Web in order to participate and contribute to something greater than ourselves. We become part of what we experience online. Our participatory inclinations manipulate the “machine” that is us/using us (as quoted in the above Web 2.0 video).
As media creators, we must think about how to engage our audiences and provide remarkable content. We use Web sites as vehicles to something else. The new Web is a series of portals where we choose which content to unlock and to access. What Web world is your site living in?
My next area of thought is – how does living in this “web portal” change who we are as human beings? Do we have two lives? Are we cyborgs?
That post will wait until another day…
