With Twitter, Facebook, or online gaming, the infrastructure is set up for the user. How that user can or cannot interact with the website is, for the most part, predetermined. For the homepage, the possibilities were almost limitless. The first step of the process was attempting to figure out what I wanted to put on my site.
Because I'll be graduating in the spring and I've started applying for jobs, I figured it would be nice to have an of online portfolio I could point employers to. So, my practicum project became a challenge to design a website that would hold all my art, writing, etc.
But, to continue our class discussion on Web 2.0, is the "homepage" format still relevant? If web 1.0 was defined as individual sites that simply presented macrocontent to users with little possibility for interaction, how can a homepage break from that stigma? Is there any way to make a homepage integrated to the Web 2.0 world of interactivity?
As you mentioned, the homepages we talked about in class are very static, usually not interactive, and definitely not social. This can be seen as an issue as more and more of our lives go online. There are now ways to integrate Web2.0 aspects into your homepage, but unfortunately they are probably difficult for a first time web devloper.
ReplyDeleteHowever we do see these sorts of things all over the web today. On any news site, their are links to post it to your facebook or twitter. You can also "Like" just about anything on the web now. You could consider using some sort of "Like" functionality on your homepage to make it more 2.0 but it may be difficult, I've never done it.
I like what Nick says, but also, I'd say that just because a personal webpage is considered a relic of web 1.0, doesn't mean it can't be just that. What is the purpose of this site? That is the first question and you mostly answered that. To build a digital portfolio for possible employers/colleagues to visit and explore. Business cards have been around for ages, but business men still use them, why? Because they achieve a purpose, sharing personal information quickly and conveniently. So you make a business card, you list your website and contact. Later, they find your card in their wallet, remember the conversation/interview, decide to check out in digital form the portfolio of things you can do. It's easy, no phone calls, no emails, or even meet and greets to go over your work. It's all available in one convenient place for everyone wanting to know what you can do. As long as a thing, achieves a purpose, efficiently, it should be used as a tool for such purpose, regardless the status that cultural critics would relegate it to.
ReplyDeleteI agree that personal webpages have the potential to go beyond wherever cultural critics have relegated it to, as Andrew said. In fact, personal homepages hold one advantage over social network or other preset sites in that they are inherently unique.
ReplyDeleteIf I make my own personal homepage and devote enough time and effort to it, maybe I can make it well-known — and it won't become lost among other pages that look/act just like it (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.).