Leave a Message for Nitsa Mc
Carthy?Nitsa Mc Carthy
Dec. 14 1995
Dr. Leon James
A Home Page provides a single window point-of-access, allowing one to embark on digital journeys to a multitude of information resources and services. It is a front door or a point of entry that welcomes you to the cyberspace environment. It provides content, images, and hyperlinks, or bridges, between documents. Home Pages represent a method of communication between individuals, groups, communities, societies, institutions, and organizations. The modes of these communications take the form of personal correspondence, commercial interests, educational opportunities and interactive learning, artistic designs, sharing of professional related resources, etc. Ultimately Home Pages are on-line resources which provide a way to offer, access, and transfer information.
A Home Page has its own style and tone and it conveys meanings and emotions that, in turn, produce affective and cognitive processes, and subsequent behaviors in others. As a Home Page architect you are a host to thousands and thousands of Internet browsers or viewers. In constructing a Home Page, an architect doesn't only provide a structure to its site that may include built-in links to other sites, arts, photos, sounds, interactive modes, images, etc., but also uses its Home Page to convey a message. Think about that , as a Home Page architect you are virtually in charge. You decide what links you want to include, where you want to put them, which audience you wish to attract, how artistic you want it to be, what messages you want to convey, how aesthetically attractive you want it to be, what other communicative and interactive modes you want to include (e.g. sounds, e-mail, animation, etc.), and so forth. Because thousands of viewers may drop by and visit your Home Page, you, as a host, are involve by trying to communicate, serve, and entertain them and also by trying to make them feel comfortable, and take care of their needs.
Also, since physical barriers (e.g. geography) are no longer a problem in a hypertext environment, people from different countries and diverse cultural backgrounds are able to interact and share services, information, beliefs, views, experiences, and emotions. As a Home Page architect, you virtually welcome the viewer into your own spiritual world where time and space are unheard off. This on-line spiritual world gives individuals, institution, and organizations a sense of global unity and connectedness. Therefore, and for whatever reasons (e.g. altruistic, educational, commercial, personal, etc.), people are involved in their Home Page because it spiritually empowers them; it provides them with leeway for expression, innovation, imagination, and, above all, global communication.
Finally, humans are social creatures who yearn for contact with their fellow travelers. However, contact is often polluted by non-verbal cues such as clothes worn, body language, voice, or general appearance. People are involved in their Home Page because it is a social facilitator; it provides them with a forum where these types of value judgments are suspended. The only source of information that viewers receive now is what a person puts on page. In essence then, Home Page architects can create a completely imaginary caricature of who they are and what they represent, thus influencing our perceptions in a way that is socially liberating and pleasing to them by overcoming those non-verbal barriers that might occur.
The fact that I am part of Generation Two Cybercommunity contributes tremendously to my involvement. I feel a sense of belonging and this sense is reflected by the affective and cognitive experiences that we share while learning in a hypertext environment. We started off by knowing nothing about the Internet and our weekly reports embodied the negative/positive emotions that we felt, intimidating/encouraging thoughts that we had, trivial/significant goals that we reached, and maladaptive/adaptive behaviors that we learned as Internet novices. Indeed, it took an enormous effort to portray how I fought back my frustration, phobia, feelings of inadequacy and helplessness while going through those weekly tasks. At first it was intimidating to publish anything on my Home Page since in this virtual class the traditional reader or audience has changed; now it is the whole wide world who has access to it. Yet, I was not the only one who fought those affective and cognitive battles. When you learn that others share them too, you cannot help but feel involved.
Another factor that points to my involvement in my Home Page reflects its structure or construction. Slowly but surely titles, headings, icons, backgrounds, and link after link were added. I spent some time designing and redesigning my Home Page, trying to make it aesthetically presentable despite the various limitation that I have encountered (e.g. limited selection of icons to choose from, the dedication, creativity, and time that it took to design my Home Page, and the lack of knowledge, which I gained later, of how to copy an image). Also by making my Home Page easily accessible not only to my files (i.e. to my weekly and team reports and to my topical index), but also to Generation One and Two cybercommunities, instructor's Home Page, and to other Internet sites required some dedication because just by doing that I had created a complex, easily accessed, interlinked web that is dynamically, organically, and spiritually growing independently in the heart of my Home Page.
Lastly, my involvement reflects the sheer interest that I have in global affairs. The net encourages global interdependence since in this so called digital age we are able to surf the net for various resources and relay information to all corners of the world, thereby uplifting the physical barriers that once existed. We have the advantage to interact with, learn from and read about people from various countries and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, in my craving for global knowledge I have extensively explored the World Wide Web for various foreign resources such as language, news, services, sports, entertainment, art and so forth and included many links to those sites in my team reports and its topical index. I wanted to share my interest with other cyber-netizens who might drop by and visit my Home Page. I believe that global knowledge and awareness of cultural differences are essential factors in this day and age. Therefore, by including links to various foreign resources in my Home Page, I made it easier for viewers to access information and get involved in global affairs as well.
Since anyone can enter your spiritual world in cyberspace, you should feel compelled to serve them well like they were guests in your own house. Imagine that an expected visitor comes to your house and knocks at your door...knock...knock...if you don't answer and open the door to welcome him or her in a certain conventional time, s/he might become impatient and leave. The same analogy could apply to the time it takes to load up a Home Page. As an Internet novice, you have patiently waited for a page to upload, but as you become more experienced with the Internet, the patience that you might have had will ultimately subside. Hence, the foremost rule: don't let your visitors wait for your Home Page to load for more than 30 seconds.
Other principals that I advocate include search tools and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Imagine that, after waiting for a while impatiently, the same expected visitor who came from far far away tried the door and found it unlocked. S/he eagerly enters your house but finds that physically (yet, not mentally) no one is there. Confused, the visitor decides to explore the house by traveling from one room to another and yet to other rooms in search of clues. Unfortunately s/he doesn't find any. (Like..."Hi guest! I'm expecting you, but I'm running late. Here is a handy list of what items you might search for in the house and where you should find and answers to questions that you may have while I'm away...see ya soon"). Again, the same analogy could be applied to your own Home Page. It is important to provide visitors with search tools that allow them to retrieve information on certain subjects and locate interesting resources in your Home Page. Also, visitors might want to ask you the why, how, where, when, and what of certain things. In posting FAQ you essentially encourage other interactive modes, provide helpful tools to commonly asked questions, and generally add another useful resource of information. As a rule of thumb then, don't just let net visitors into your Home Page; provide them with helpful tools so that they won't feel lost in a sea of links.
As I mentioned before, Home Pages are on-line resources which provide a way to
offer, access, and transfer information. Their socio-psychological
significance lies in the differing philosophies, resources, and services that
they have to offer. A Home Page is a place that relays information to all
corners of the world, therefore, it is an integrating and connective tool where
people, institutions, and organizations can share information, resources and
services, interact with others, and express their beliefs, ideals, thoughts,
and emotions. It is a place where activist voices can be heard and shared, a
place where people have the opportunity to share their personal lives with
others as they "see" it. A place where commercial, institutional, and medical
services can be easily accessed. A place where entertainment, arts, news,
travel, conferences, psychological, educational, and global resources can be
found. It is a place where one can finally find spiritual unity in today's
physically, culturally, and religiously diverse world.
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