The answer to this question is a complex plethora that may mean different things to different people, but always, there is a certain element of truth for everyone. The word "home" implies an degree of personability -- a page that closely relates WHO the individual or organization putting out that home page is. The home page can be a direct reflection of the individual, relaying information about what the individual does, what (s)he is interested in, what (s)he believes in, or what is important to that individual. For example, Teresa tells about herself on his homepage, giving the net traveler a welcome comment, a copy of her class schedule, as well as links to her friends' home pages, thus we get to know a little bit about Teresa's. In this sense, a home page also acts as a bridge, bringing people from all over the world into contact with each other.
Home pages bridge the gaps filled by physical space and therefore, physical distance is no longer an obstacle to traversing the world and getting to know other people. In interpersonal relations class, we learn that proximity is one of the greatest determinants of whether an interpersonal relationship between two people will occur. With the advent of the internet, this no longer needs to be true. Not only do home pages contain information about people, they can also provide ways for people to get in touch with each other via e-mail, a safe way to make contact with other individuals. I say safe because e-mail allows people to remain relatively anonymous as opposed to giving out phone numbers, which psychos can use to call you up and harass you, or worse, find out your address and stalk you (or worse). Thus, home pages bring individuals in contact with each other, fostering a sense of community across time and space.
Home pages are creations. They are the creations of individuals. People breathe life into home pages by starting from scratch and programming and putting their creation out into cyberspace for all to see. Home pages don't just happen. They happen because somebody made them happen. They exude life because the individual putting up the home page has a personality that comes through computers and impresses upon the net traveler. Because they reflect the individual creating the page, they are a reflection of the mental and spiritual world of the individual. The fact that the home page is a creation implies that is was once formless, a mere seed (or in some cases, a tree) in the imagination of the creator. The imagination is part of the mental world of the individual, thus, what was once only a thought becomes manifested as a home page.
Often, home pages are the culmination of one's interests. Sometimes people are interested in a particular topic and they want to share this interest with others; the result of such a desire is a home page. The Different Body Building Home Page is such a page. This guy, Kevin, was interested in body building and he turned this interest into a home page devoted entirely to body building, mind and body. The home page was built around a central theme, body building, and is the culmination of Kevin's interest in body building. a section of my home page is largely devoted to areas of health on the internet. This is a special interest of mine and thus, this area of my home page evolved as a result of my interest in health.
My home page provides many links to other areas on the internet that are related to health and so can be thought of as a spring board or a switch board that relays the net traveler from one area of the internet to another. This is another way in which home pages can be thought of. Home pages provide guidance for the intrepid net traveller in that they can lead the net traveller from one link to the next. For example, the World Wide Wellness page has a link to "Other Wellness Resources" which leads to other areas on the net that are also concerned with wellness. Sometimes, when I am on the internet superhighway, I get from site to site by clicking on interesting links leading me from one home page to the next. Thus, a home page can lead a person to various other areas of the internet, thereby performing the function of a switchboard in that the home page connects one cyber-area to the next.
What we find on home pages are multitudes of information, and in this sense, home pages are concentrated areas of information, of information sites. One can find just about any topic to learn about from home pages. For example, I am very interested in alternative modes of healing. In particular, I have recently been attuned to perform reiki, the Japanese art of healing with energy. Well, the homepage I found on reiki provided me with a lot of information about reiki such as the history of reiki, principles of reiki, the reiki symbols, and using reiki for healing. Another good example of the wealth of information that can be found on the internet is on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention homepage. This page has information on all kinds of diseases -- what they are, their etiology, and how to prevent them -- so anyone curious about specific diseases can access the information.
All homepages contain some kind of information. Some home pages contain personal information, some contain commercial information, some are professional, some are governmental, and some are recreational. Personal home pages are those home pages that allow people to express who they are. For example, the home page done by Teresa (already mentioned) was of a personal nature in that the main purpose of her page was to introduce herself to the world, as opposed to providing information about a specific topic. By contrast, commercial home pages are put up primarily to advertise a particular company or product. For example, Branch Mall has a home page which has links about each store in the mall and what the different stores contain. This is a good way to advertise themselves and lets people know what they offer and access to the information provided here can generate interest in the mall for others to come visit.
Governmental home pages are put out by the government to provide information to the public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page would be an example of a government home page. This particular page not only offers information about the CDC, but also it offers information about the topics which the CDC are involved with such as infectious diseases. Another example of a government home page is the National Institutes of Health home page. Like the CDC home page, the NIH home page provides information on what their organization is about as well as the types of research projects and other areas of health with which they are involved.
Lastly, recreational home pages are created by individuals about things that the individual is interested in. They are not necessarily created with a specific intent, but just for the joy of creating a home page for the internet and sharing their interests with like individuals. For example, B. Meyer created a home page devoted to trucking, as well as other topics of interest to him. Recreational pages are created out of desire, rather than necessity. Some businesses put out home pages because they like the accessibility that the internet provides. Recreational pages have no such ulterior motive, but rather are put up for the sheer pleasure of creating a home pages and sharing oneÍs interest.
Thus, home pages are infinitely complex in their scope and definition. A home page can be defined in many different ways depending on what side of the prism one is on. For some, a home page can be a useful business tool, for others, an outlet for creative expression. Home pages have structure and breathe their own life because we pour ourselves into their creation. In sum, home pages are dynamic points of cyber-light, each pulsating at its own frequency.
There are many reasons why people are so involved in home page creation. For one thing, home pages are self-expressions. Intrinsic to a home page is the desire to share one's world and oneself with others. The home page is a reflection of the spiritual aspect of a person. By spiritual, I mean non-physical. Home pages are public and what we allow others to see of ourselves, and therefore, we don't want to present ourselves in a negative light or misrepresent the true person we want to portray. Thus, people work at their home pages so diligently because they donÍt want themselves to be incorrectly perpetuated in cyberspace.
Another reason why people are so involved with home pages is that it's exciting and interesting. In the process of creating a home page, we learn new things about ourselves as well as the internet. Learning stimulates the brain and I think we, as humans, have an inherent curiosity and affinity for assimilating new information, whether it be personal or not. Another reason why home pages are so satisfying is that they are the direct fruits of our labor. We can see the results of what we have worked for and get a true sense of accomplishment as the home page is created and we are able to materialize the ideas the were once seemingly abstract.
Home pages also satiate our needs as social beings to make contact with other people. In the process of creating our own home pages, we get to see the home pages of others. By visiting the home pages of people all over the world, we have the opportunity to overcome physical barriers and traverse the globe, learning about people and things from other countries that we would not otherwise get to see. Thus, home pages allow us to see what we are missing out on and brings us closer to that which was once an enigma.
People are also involved with home pages because they have an altruistic desire to help others. Many people put out home pages in the hope that they can provide resources that others might need. For example, Dr. Grohol's Mental Health Page was put up with the intent of providing access to psychology, support, and mental health issues, resources, and people on the internet. Rather than creating such a page for personal publicity or advertisement of a business or product, as many commercial sites do, Dr. Grohol's page is purely set up to help others find the resources that they need to find on the internet by providing links to various sites. There is not personal gain from this type of page, and thus, it merely satisfies a desire to help other people. By helping others, one fosters a sense of connection to fellow net travellers and satiates the desire to feel connected to others.
Finally, people are so involved with home pages because it is the wave of the future. If you want to be "with it" you must get involved because others are involved and it would be detrimental not to get involved. Especially for businesses, the internet is a great avenue for free advertisement. Those businesses who utilize the internet as a resource reach a far greater scope of people than those businesses who are internet-ignorant. Right now, the internet is in its infancy, but some day, everyone will be using the information superhighway. It will be integrated into society just as the telephone has become a part of everyday life. Those who don't have a phone are handicapped in the sense that they have limited communication with others. This is the same for the internet. Those who don't use the internet are limiting their access to other people and are detrimented as a result. Thus, another reason why people become involved with the internet is necessity; they must be involved if they want to thrive in today's world.
Let me put it this way: when my home page was in its infancy, creation of it took over my life. I would come to the computer lab every day for several hours and stay until closing and that was never enough for me. I always wanted to stay longer -- always thought of new things that I wanted to try with my home page. A lot of what drove me to perfect my page was the knowledge that the whole world has access to my page, and therefore, I was representing myself in my home page. I wanted everything to be perfect because I didn't want people to see a shoddy product. For me it was a matter of personal pride. I didn't want people to think I was incompetent and merely filling the internet with cyber-rubbish. I wanted to have a home page that I could be proud of. I wanted people to see my work and think that I had done a good job. Thus, I became very obsessed with getting my home page just right so that it would reflect me and would reflect what I am capable of doing.
At first, I was very involved with my home page because I saw it as a self expression, but as the weeks progressed, I became much more interested in the fact that my home page could serve as a valuable resource for others who are interested in Health-Related Internet. I took great care in creating my weekly team reports to direct others to health-related sites on the internet. I always felt like there were more links that I could add to help the net traveller find a site of interest and I tried to organize my reports in a way that would be easy to follow, yet highly informative. I cherished the weekly team reports as chances to add to my plethora of information. Thus, my involvement on the internet evolved from one of self-presentation to one of altruism.
First of all, I think a home page should be aesthetically pleasing. To be aesthetically pleasing, it, first of all, needs to be easy to read. A clashing background and text using very bright colors that make one's eyes squint are not aesthetically pleasing and make the screen very difficult to read. Instead, background and text should be complementary and bright enough to read, but dull enough so that the intensity of color does not distract the text. I am a great advocate of color coordination of background and text. This is one way in which the screen is aesthetically pleasing to me. Personally, I prefer pretty colors such as pinks, light blues/greens/purples peaches, or other pale colors for backgrounds, and darker colors for text. I don't really like a dark background with light text. I'd much rather have a lighter background with darker text because with a dark background, a bright color is required for the text and I find having to read bright colors a bit harsh on the eyes.
Another aspect which makes a page aesthetically pleasing for me is the use of pictures and icons, in moderation. Too much clutters the page. I like to use pictures and icons organizationally to make one topic stand out from the next. As you'll see on my homepage I use a different icon for my different links. Another way in which icons can be used is to separate one topic from the next. Bonnie's Jazzercise Page illustrates both of these points. She uses a colorbar icon to separate topics, and she precedes each link with a star icon. I absolutely love the layout of this page because it has everything I think a home page should have, as far as appearance goes. She uses a light colored background with black text, she organizes each topic into sections, and she uses icons as I think they should be used. Also, I like her choice of icons. I like the way the colorfulness of the icons adds to the mood of the home page, giving it a very bright and cheerful appearance. If I was giving out "Best of the Web" awards, she would win top honors.
Another quality I like to see in home pages is organization. I like to be able to follow what is contained in the home page at a glance, and when the home page is not organized into sections, my eyes have a hard time following what is what and I don't want to remain on the page. A home page should be easy to read. A good organization can make all the difference. How should home pages be organized? I suppose by major topics. Each major topic, with its subtopics, should be separated from the next major topic by either adding in a double space or by separation with icons. Whatever the case, a great organization makes the home page a pleasure to visit and makes the net traveller want to come again.
Aside from the appearance of the home page, there are two added components that I think are very important in constructing a home page. First of all the home page should contain a topical index so that whoever lands on the page can easily see what the home page has to offer. At a glance, the person can decide if (s)he wants to remain on the page or move on. Another component that I can't stress enough is that the home page should not take too long to load. When you're net surfing, you kind of get into a certain rhythm and there's a certain urgency and expectation in opening a link. Having to wait too long for that link to open puts a real damper on one's momentum and causes a sense of frustration in the net surfer. Speaking for myself, I am a very impatient person in general and I really don't like to wait around for a home page to open. Dr. James says that 30 seconds should be the maximum amount of time a home page should take to load. This seems awfully long to me. I think 20 seconds is long enough to wait.
In sum, home pages should be aesthetically pleasing, they should be organized, they should contain a topical index, and they should not take more than 20 seconds to open.
First of all, home pages are significant because they are important mediums of information transfer in society. They can be used to educate people, as in the case of this class. They can be used for self development. In my week 13 team report I talked about self-help psychology. The internet is a wonderful medium for self-help psychology because people are able to access the information and utilize it immediately. Self-help psychology is about helping the self and what better way to obtain the information to help the self than through the internet. Rather than buying books, the individuals can obtain the information in the comfort of their own homes.
Home pages can also be used to transfer information about entertainment. Yahoo has a big section devoted to entertainment where one can learn about their favorite actor and actresses, the latest movies, the big movie studios, as well as musicians and other celebrities. I particularly like the home page put out by Disney Studios because there are many many icons of Disney movie characters and I can find out the latest information about Disney happenings. Consolidated Movie Theaters also has a site in Gopher that gives all the movie listings for Hawaii. No longer do we need the newspaper to tell us where the movies are.
Shopping is another way in which the internet is utilized as a source of information transfer in society. Through the internet, one can now buy a variety of items including flowers and exercise programs, if you wish. I think that someday the Home Shopping Network will be done on computer as well as TV, if this has not already happened.
Marketing and advertising, interrelated to shopping, are still another way in which home pages contribut to the information transfer in society. Many companies and organizations create home pages so that they will be more accessible to the public and will reach an even greater range of people. The home pages can contain information about the company and other information about topics related to the company. For a business to be successful, the consumer must buy the businesses product, whether it be sushi or suntans. If nobody knows that the business exists, no one will buy the product and the business goes bankrupt. Advertising is important for businesses because they let people know that the business exists. Thus, home pages are a value commodity in the business world in providing information about the business.
Information transfer is a very significant role of home pages, but there are also many other roles. Home pages also function as lifestyle models, which allow people to put their social selves into cyberspace. One aspect of social behavior studied by social psychology is the social self, the self that we present to other people. Home pages give us an avenue of presentation. Some people choose to present themselves in the form of a cause or some other personal crusade. Others manifest their social selves by creating a home page about themselves. They might include their life history -- where they were born/went to school, what they do for a living -- essays about things they are interested in, pictures, or other things that convey to people who they are. Lea Salonga has multiple pictures of herself, information about engagements she has committed to, as well as a section of personal thoughts. Her page exemplifies the use of the home page as a lifestyle model.
Previously, I mentioned that people may manifest themselves in the form of a cause. In this sense, the home page functions as an avenue for personal expression, and this is another way in which we present our social selves. When I say personal expression, I mean expressing one's inner beliefs as opposed to showing what one does with one's life externally. In the individualistic society of the U.S. there is, sometimes, no one there who will listen to our thoughts and ideas. The result is frustration and anger at being hindered from personal expression. Home pages allow individuals an avenue through which they can express themselves and to me, this is a very important factor in minimizing the crime in this country. I think crime is a result of misdirected aggression which results from the sense of powerlessness. By creating a home page, the individual is empowered in that (s)he can be heard and therefore, can let the world know that (s)he has a voice.
Another way in which home pages can be socially significant is in recording individual biographies and family histories. I can't even begin to emphasize how important this could be for future generations, to have access to information about their family's past. History right now is so biased because humans, with human tendencies for discrimination, cannot possibly tell the story objectively. By publishing home pages, people are able to tell their own stories, and generations of the future can know what generations of the past were like -- what they did, what they believed in, basically, they can know what living I an entirely different era in an entirely different country was like. By providing biographies and family histories, home pages are socially significant in that they bridge gaps in space and time, allowing generations of the future contact with generations of the past.
Lastly, home pages are significant in society because they act as relationship channels, allowing for interpersonal interaction. As I've already stated, home pages bring people together. They allow us to express who we are and allow others to see who we are. They also provide ways in which people can communicate each other. Once a person lands on a home page, they can respond to the home page and get in touch with the individual via e-mail. When I found Teresa's home page, I was compelled to get in touch with her because I was so impressed with her work. By creating a home page, she allowed me into her world and gave me access to make contact with her. I know that Dr. James receives mail all the time from people who land on his home page and want to get in touch with him because they like what he's done. Thus, home pages are socially significant in that they provide channels for relationships, can act as an archive of family histories, allow us to convey who we are, allow for personal expression, and provide an important avenue for information transfer in society.