Content Creation Summary
Jakob Nielsen’s article, “Content Creation for the Average Person” is basically about how everyday people should use the web. Overall it was very different from other alertboxes I have read in several ways. First of all, it was written in 2000 and parts of it were written to "predict the future" and have now come to pass. For example, he speaks of the "current" difficulties with getting pictures on the web, and hopes that oneday images will be more easily adapted to a digital format and loaded onto a site. This alertbox was also much more of a revery than the others I have read. I seemed to follow the line of "I wish things were handeled more like this by the world" instead of "This is how web developers should help the world."
There were a few things I gleaned from this article, even though it was in a different sort of style. First of all, don't try to make webpages with the whole world in mind, make them with your content and a small audience in mind, and they will probably be more beneficial for you and the world. Second of all, Web developers should keep in mind that web users can respond to what is being made avaliable on the web, and that that is the true power of the web. The newspaper site that allows people to comment of articles, for example. Nielsen also takes time to point out that just passing around illegal copies of another man's work will never be the greatest accomplishment of the web and that this should not be the main objective of a web developer's page.
I plan on implementing the information I found here in several ways. First of all, I hope to make web pages with above average content that reflects my own experience and expertise, instead of what I think the whole world is waiting to hear. I also hope to provide my users with the chance to contribute to my pages in some small way, therefore utilizing the interaction the web has made so available.
To read this article visit alertbox.
March 31, 2008 12:08 PM