Social Psychology Of Web Architecture:

Creativity Learned Through Cyberspace


Table of Contents
Instruction for This Report

Introduction

 Creating a web page for the first time can give a person the uncertainty and uncomfortable feelings. Creating web page can also make you afraid of what's ahead of you especially when you are taking a class that requires you to make a web page on your own.  At least this is how I feel when I first started taking Psychology 459 where it is a requirement for students to create a web page.  At first I was unsure of how I will do in class because I have never created a web page before.  However, with the time, effort, and practice, I was able to conquer my fears and get the hang of all the materials that I needed to create my own web page.

    Learning HTML, in my points of view, is like learning how to walk for the first time all over again.  In the process of learning HTML, I had to rely heavily on the internet literacy exercise and follow directions carefully.  I also had to be always in class in order for me to get more information that I needed from my peers and Dr. James.  All of my efforts help in some way however it still was not enough for me to achieve the success that I wanted.  The hardest thing that I ever encountered and have a lot of trouble doing is organizing and being creative.  I also had a hard time in thinking of ideas on how to "catch the eye of the people and make them interested in my web page.  Giving useful information and creating an entertaining site are the main goals when we try to create a web page.  In order to attract the visitors, a web page should have information that visitors needs for them to come visit your page again and maybe even refer your web page to some other people.  At the same time, visitors of the page tends to come back or invite other people to visit your web page if the web page is entertaining in appearance.

This report deals heavily on the issues of creating a web page.  Included in this report will be two reports created by students from the past generation describing the hardship and success they have experienced in making a web page.  Furthermore, I will discuss and try to explain the contents of Jeff Glover's web page that contains information in creating a useful web page and ways to avoid making your web page to be useless.  Then I will also explore the psychological aspects of web designs and try to discuss and interpret Dr. James' ideas on it.  Finally, I will briefly share my experiences and feelings creating a web page.

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A Little Look at Past Generations

 Juliet Baptista did an excellent job on her report.  Juliet's report was simple yet very informative.  I don't know how she did it, but she had done a great job.  I don't know if you'll understand what I am about to say but in case you don't, I am just trying to explain how Juliet did her report. 

First of all, Juliet describe the feelings that she had the first time she took the class and how she got over her fears in her introduction.  She then went on and discussed about Cherisse Eguchi's report where she describe Cherisse's report as very informative and supported it with detailed explanations.  Furthermore, Juliet seemed to be honest when she stated the feelings she had in exploring and reviewing Cherisse's report. 

Aside from reviewing and commenting the past generations report, Juliet also did a good job in giving her reaction and feelings about Jeff Glover' Home page and explained in detail what she learned when she explored Jeff's home page. Juliet also talked about Dr. James' Psychological Aspects to Web Design and related her experience with the psychological aspects as explained by Dr. James.

Juliet did not seem to have a conclusion on her report because she did not have a conclusion tag at her reports table of contents and at the end of her report.  However, I feel that her report is basically full of conclusion and suggestion over different topics.

Juliet, in my opinion, may have possibly rephrase someone else's topic but almost all of her comments and feelings were her own.  It might have been obvious that Juliet rephrase some one else's topic because of the fact that different people feel the same way.  It is possible that Juliet might have described her feelings the same way as some students from the past generation did. 

Juliet's personal experience were ample and seemed very true.  It is for this reason that I chose her report.  She seemed truthful in describing her experiences and expressing her emotions but I think it would be better this instead of just having an objective view.

In her report, Juliet was affected by opinions, declaration and action.  Juliet used all these areas in commenting and explaining fully every report that she went over.

Juliet's report did not have much design.  As a matter of fact it was very simple as I have mentioned but yet it was very informative.


Cindy Hisley also did a report focusing on the topic of web architecture.  Like Juliet, Cindy did an excellent job in doing her report.  I find cindy's report rather interesting because it is very informative and neatly organized.  Here are some of the reasons.

Cindy started her report with and introduction where she described herself as already having the experience in creating web pages and in particular have experienced using the internet.  Cindy then went on and expressed her feeling about the past generations report on the same topic.  Upon reading the review that cindy gave to the past generation, I was amazed at how organized and detailed it was.  Her review of the past generation generally consisted the description of the student's reports and followed by her comments.  The description was filled with information and she gave a brief interpretation of the reports in her own words before expressing her point of views and opinions about the reports.  Cindy also was informative and organized in expressing her point of views about Jeff Glover's home page and when she interpret and explain the psychologicalaspects of web designwritten by Dr. James. 

It looked appeared me that Cindy's topic of "what its like to become a web designer" is her conclusion.  In this section she described her expectations and thoughts about the class in the beginning and then went on to mention all of the experiences that she had  while taking the class and the knowledge that she gained.

Cindy seemed to have done her report with her own creativity and ideas that have made her report an excellent one.  Cindy had her own ideas, but similar to Juliet or other students from the past generation, it looked like she just rephrase someone else's topic because she had similar personal experience with the other students.

Cindy go over her personal experience in detail very much.  One thing that made her report excellent is her ideas and creativity.  She seemed to have relied heavily on what she knows and related it to her experience.  Juliet, to my knowledge, have been affected by opinions, declaration and action because she covered all of the individual's report using these three areas.

I enjoyed reading Cindy's report because it was informative and neatly organized.  Her report did not have much in design or colors but the information that I've gained in reading her report already makes up for the color, different fonts and designs that her report was lacking.

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Web Designer Principles As I see It: Jeff Glover's View on Home Pages

Jeff Glover's Home Page deals heavily on how to create and improve home pages.  It defines and guides people to the right direction of how to create home pages.  Basically tells people what the DOs and DON'Ts are in creating a beautiful home page.  You might think of this site as the knight and shining armor of all the web pages because it after all saves the home page from being abandoned.  Right!  Mr. Glover gave a list of what's sucky meaning the things a person should avoid if he/she wants to create a home page that will attract people and also a list of what's savvy meaning the things that a person should use if he/she wants the visitors to keep coming back at their home page.  Of course, as Mr. Glover have stated, "This web site is only a guide for those looking for some direction.  Good design is a matter of YOUR taste and style, not someone else's!" So this is not a rule for making a beautiful home page but guidelines.  You can still do whatever you want with the home page you're gonna create.  Whether you want to follow these guidelines or not is really up to you!

The list that are considered suckky as mentioned in Mr. Glover's home page is as follows:

All of these items on the list are described by Mr. Glover as "Suckky."  Mr. Glover explained in detail why these items are not so useful when it comes to creating a home page.  He also provided some suggestions on how to use some of these items without making the page "suckky."  Based on my experience in exploring home pages, I am particularly annoyed when I visit a home page with a lot of scrolling marquees and blinking.  I am not able to concentrate and pay attention on the articles or text that the site contains because I am either distracted by the blinking of a certain word and my attention seems to focus more on the scrolling marquees and the blinking text.  Whenever I encounter home pages that have scrolling marquees or blinking text, I usually get ot of the home page because I know I won't be able to do the purpose that I have in visiting that home page.  Glover suggested that people should refrain from using blinking text and scrolling marquees.  Instead, people should just make the text bold and bigger. 

Other people think that having the text blink on their home page makes the page even more attractive but I find it annoying and People like me can easily focus our attention to that blinking text or the scrolling marquees and are going to end up leaving the site without even exploring it completely.

I feel that a web site can attract people and keep them from visiting a home page over and over again if the information that the site contains is useful and informative in every way.  I think that simplicity is still the best idea in creating a home page because it is the information that the site contains which is the main reason why people visit a web page and not the designs and pictures that are in it.

The following items on this list are considered by Mr. Glover to be Savvy.

In exploring Mr. Glover's "savvy" list, ideas of how to accommodate the people who visits a home page came to my mind.  To my knowledge, Mr. Glover expressed his idea to make a home page that is convenient to all the people who will want to visit and explore a home page.  An individual who wants to create a home page must be considerate to the visitors who will want to explore their home page.  The home page author must try to find ways to make the visitor's exploration of the home page simple, fast and easy.  People who want to create a home page must keep in mind that the home page is for visitors who want to explore it.  The creator of the homepage should first think of the people who will visit the homepage before they think of themsleves.

Mr. Glover also created a list of extra tips that might be helpful in the process of creating a homepage.  The items on the list include:

  • Speed vs. Design
  • jpgs vs. gifs
  • GIF Animation
  • Cookie Crumbs
  • Myths and Mistakes
  • META Tags
  • Planning your Site
  • File Organization
  • Link Lunancy
I have always held the belief that if a the more animations a homepage has, the more it will attract visitors to the home page.  Exploring through the GIF animation, I discovered that this belief is false and I shoul reconsider putting less animations on my home page.  According to Mr. Glover adding animation on home page tend to actually dominate the page and visitors tend to put their focus on the animation rather the information that the home page contains.  That's right!  Because I have experienced losing my concentration while visiting a home page because my attention was focused on the animation and no matter how I try to focus on the information, my mind is still thinking about the animation and designs that the page have.  I don't know what I was thinking when I believed that the more animation a page have the more visitors it's going to attract.

Finally

I have learned a great deal of information through exploring Mr. Glover's home page.  I know that the knowledge that I have gained through exploring Mr. Glover's home page will be useful in the future.  I have learned that we, as web designers, must keep in mind the purpose of making a home page before we even start making an actual homepage.

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Psychological Aspects To Web Designs: The Doctor Speaks...

Dr. James talks about the psychological aspects of web architecture.  In this article, Dr. James explained how a home page is similar to a regular house.  In addition he also mentioned how our minds are realted in someway to the links that we make on our home pages.  He also discussed the psychological characteristics of a home page and explained the topic in full details with supporting references.  I have found some excerpts from Dr. James' article which I found rather interesting. 

Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext Links
   From the psychological perspective, hypertext links in a virtual super-document created by members of a cyberspace learning community have three characteristics: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.
   A link is a communicative act by which a member of the community transmits new information or new meaning by connecting two independent ideas which have not been related before. Links in a virtual learning community are thus motivated actions or behaviors responding to members' wishes to exchange and communicate their mental life to each other.
   The affective feature of links refers to their motivation. It answers the question, Why the link was created, or, What was the person's purpose for putting a link there. 
   The cognitive feature of links refers to their argument or implication. It answers the question, What new information or knowledge is being created through the link, or, What is the new idea that is communicated by the link.
   The sensorimotor feature of links refers to their location and appearance. It answers the question, How the link was created, or, What is its physical appearance.
   The study and analysis of linkage structure is the study and analysis of communicative acts in cyberspace by members of a virtual learning community. It is the natural history of culture (ethnography), language (ethnolinguistics, sociolingusitcs, and psycholinguistics), and behavior (social psychology).

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I find these quote rather impressive because of the way Dr. James' have interpreted it  hypertext links as having a personality not to mention a mind of their own.  From the way Dr. James explain it, the hypertext links are just another reflection of the personality of the individual who made the homepage.  My friend once told me that, "your personality will come out on how you do your everyday tasks.  People can see what kind of personality you have through the actions you perform and the words you say."  I think that the same perspective applies in here because an individual's who makes a homepage simply puts his mind  and his ideas in creating the homepage.  By looking at the outcome and how the links connect together, visitors of a home page can actually know the person a little better through exploring the home page.

 
Cyberspace as a Second Home
My Home Page is my other house. It sits in cyberspace. I had a difficult time explaining why I call a bunch of computer files on my drive by the name of "my house" or "my home." He had a bunch of folders and files on his computer and he didn't see why he should call this his house. Well, that's not it. I don't use the term "my home" for just any bunch of computer files around. But these particular files are connected to the Internet. This means that millions of people could look at them, at any time, and read them, or copy them to their own computer. In fact any navigator in cyberspace who lands on your Home Page can copy them at the flick of the mouse. For all I know my Home Page, or sections thereof, can have thousands of duplicates of itself all around the world.

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Your Home Page as your second Home!  This is very possible but it never really occur to my mind that a homepage could be a second home.  I have always had the impression that a home page is just another piece of computer work, a masterpiece or an achievement that a person could be proud of.  To my knowledge and from what I learned through reading Dr. James' article, I have come to the conclusion that a home page is a place where ideas and creativity have combined together to express or show an individual's personality through the works that he/she has done on a home page.

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What It's Like To Become a Web Designer: A Learning Adventure!

I started this class knowing the basics of how to use the web and the internet.  However, I did not know much about creating a home page.  I mentioned in the introduction of this report the uncomforatble feelings and uncertainty that I had in the beginning of the semester.  I really did not know what to expect because this was my first time taking a class that required me to create a home page.  Throughout the semester I have made mistakes that helped me in being more knowledgeable in creating a homepage.  Getting started is the hardest thing that I ever had to deal with but I overcame the my fears and obstacle that prevented me from doing a good Job.  I am not too sure on how good of a job I did.  I guess that will heavily depend on the people who will visit my home page.  Thus I can sya that I now have the confidence in creating another home page.  I am really fortunate that I was able to register for this class because I have learned a large amount of information that I can use in the future.

One suggestion that I can make for the future generation is to always be prepared to learn something new about the net.  Another suggestion that I can give is to never procrastinate.  Give yourself enough time to do your work and assignments.  This class requires a lot of your time. 

As for Dr. James, I would suggest that you continue to educate people about the net and about driving.  A generational community is a perfect place for people to learn about drving and about the psychological aspects that is involved in our journey through life.

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Index to Web Design

The HTML Courses &Tutorial Online Education in Web Design and Authoring is the only site that I have found through the use of the search engine on the internet

This site offers classes online similar to those of Dr. James such as web design and authoring classes.  They also offer a variety of other classes that deals heavily ith web design and even offer HTML tutorials.  I guess this can be another useful site to visit if a person wants to learn more about the internt and creating home pages. 

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