One way to look at it: The House of Web
Well, what do you do?
LIT = architects and electricians; general contractors
Web team = movers and interior decorators
Staff and patrons = ppl that live/work/use the house; the family
I'm trying to imagine how to use this metaphor work for a really good FAQ, or a not-FAQ for Whitney ;)
LIT = architects and electricians; general contractors
Web team = movers and interior decorators
Staff and patrons = ppl that live/work/use the house; the family
I'm trying to imagine how to use this metaphor work for a really good FAQ, or a not-FAQ for Whitney ;)
posted by edh at 7:56 AM
2 Comments:
Ah! Yes--you and danah boyd were on the same wavelink yesterday...in addition to beta forever, she also talk about this same metaphor...
"I'm reminded of a book by Stewart Brand - How Buildings Learn. In it, Brand talks about how buildings evolve over time based on their use and the aging that takes place. A building is not just the end-result of the designer, but co-constructed by the designer, nature, and the inhabitant over time. When i started thinking about technology as architecture, i realized the significance of that book. We cannot think about technologies as finalized products, but as evolving architectures. This should affect the design process at the getgo, but it also highlights the differences between physical and digital architectures. What would it mean if 92 million people were living in the house simultaneously with different expectations for what colors the walls should be painted? What would it mean if the architect was living inside the house and fighting with the family about the intention of the mantel?"
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/07/14/from_architectu.html.
I love danah!!! Yeah, the whole building metaphor is a really interesting one. We want to build something fabulous, but we can't let it turn into something monstrous like Sarah Winchester's house where we just keep building to be building... those stained glass windows deserve to get a little light, if you know what I mean.
Even though it's impossible at this point, I really wish we had a way for page elements and things like that to function as sticky notes, where they could be pasted together as the users would like to see them. *That* would give us a lot of insight as to how our patrons actually use the website (or the OPAC to my amazement) and we would be able to generate more content that could feed those desires and work towards those specific patrons purposes.
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