[WEB4LIB] Re: Digital Metaphors

[Gerry Mckiernan]

Hi Carlton/

>>> Carlton Brown <lib7tech at yahoo.com> 05/17 9:46 AM >>>
--- Gerry Mckiernan <GMCKIERN at gwgate.lib.iastate.edu>
wrote:
>>        I am also interested in any other metaphors
> >that other have
>> used or would be appropriate for characterizing The
> >Digital.

>I've always differentiated between media and
>information when describing "the digital" by using 
>the pipeline or conduit metaphor.

>A web site and its internal and external links are a
>digital medium or conduit for the delivery of
>information in digital form. I think it is entirely
>appropriate to describe the digital _medium_ as fluid;
>but whether or not the information delivered via the
>digital conduit could be considered fluid depends on
>the nature of the information.

     Yes. Content vs. Form. Similar but Different,
but ... intertwined!

                  [snip]

>I've found the conduit metaphor to be a useful tool
>when designing or describing the web interface goal,
>delivering information. 
>I've found that frequent (more
>than once yearly) substantial changes in site design
>(digital conduit), tend to inhibit an end user's
>ability to locate content (digital information) until
>they can adjust to the new structure.

     It is also a matter of the package and the content
of the package. Here the digital package contains
digital content. An important/useful distinction?
Perhaps.

     Thanks again for your interest and your considered
response!

     Regards,

/Gerry McKiernan
Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer
Iowa State University Library 
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu 

   "The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent It!"
                              Alan Kay 
     http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/GASCH.KAY.HTML 


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