Re: WWW html IS a User Interface.

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• Maybe in reply to: Robert.Foster@radiology.msu.edu: "WWW html IS a User Interface."

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Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 21:29:56 +0200
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From: nicka@mccmedia.com (Nick Arnett)
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Subject: Re: WWW html IS a User Interface.
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At  8:37 PM 6/7/94 +0200, Robert.Foster@radiology.msu.edu wrote:

>Global electronic *publishing* requires some method of stylistic
>specification beyond the basic ascii/ebcdic character set. The WWW is,
>by it's nature, *culturally/accessably diverse*. Style is an innate
>part of that diversity, understanding, and communication.
>
>_/]Navigability *is* of prime importance. The WWW is in a general sense a
>complex *user interface*.  Steps should be taken now to insure a www
>system that accounts for cultural, access, and language diversity.
>
>*Appearance is navigability* to members of a specific cultural community.

Good thoughts!

Due to these very concerns, one of the first steps in our Sarajevo Library
project is to demonstrate the Web's capabilities to a small group of
Bosnian cultural leaders.  Their role will then be to define the Library's
mission and goals, as well as the fundamental design and structure.  We
realized from the beginning that designs and structures that work for us
might be confusing or meaningless to Bosnians.

By the way, I feel compelled to ask people to speak up if there's a more
appropriate place to discuss these sorts of issues.  I know that this list
tends to be primarily technical in nature.

But then again, Eisenstein says that one of the ways that the printing
press changed the world was by bringing people with different world-views
into close working relationships.  Educators, religious and printers saw
the world through one anothers' eyes and gained new insights.  She argues
that those interactions produced immediate changes, while the effects of
books were much more long-term.

Nick


Multimedia Computing Corp.
Campbell, California
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