The internet is in an ever-evolving atmosphere. Less than a decade ago there was no such thing as YouTube, Twitter, or Digg. Today, these "Web 2.0" applications are spreading like wildfire on the internet. In "Not Your Father's Internet" the argument is made that youth are demanding more of these interactive apps when it comes to politics. They want candidates to engage with them through new media. However, a gap is present between what youth are looking for and what campaign organizations are providing. A similar chasm can be seen in the Muhlenberg College Media and Communications website.
There is no sense of interactivity in the department's web page. As new age internet users we want the ability to change, update, and produce content on the net. So, I propose the addition of more "communicative, creative, and social uses" of the net onto the department page. A specific example of this would be to include an RSS feed to a department blog. Students would be able to comment on postings and submit their own content. Bringing the user into the process of producing and manipulating the content of the site will increase traffic and hopefully bring about easier access to important information. Of course, there is always the problem of privacy as presented in Digital Natives. How much information about students should be put onto the internet? This is a question that will take serious deliberation. The first step, however, is to change the website in a way that it conforms to the desires of the new youth web culture.
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3 comments:
I liked your point about bringing more traffic to the website. As we said in class, many of us never really use the site to look up classes and other things about the department because there are currently other ways to find the information faster and easier. I think that your idea of using the RSS feed for a department blog would allow more people to interact and visit the website. You also talked about the demand for so many interactive applications and this would be an easy way to incorporate this into the department’s site.
I think the RSS feed is a great idea, and will definitely help with increasing traffic as well as incentive to continue updating. Interactivity, as stated, is really important!
Alex you do a really great job framing the "chasm" here and linking to the insights raised in the article. Although the article addresses politics, it also makes some more general claims about your generation's relationship to media overall. The expectations you define are very important. All good suggestions. Let's see how we can take the idea a step further...
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