March 18, 2004
Attention spans, worthwhile content and UI
Posted by bopuc at March 18, 2004 11:06 PM
Interesting thread over at blork blog: Brain rot.
As Mike mentions in the comments, he and I have been talking about this stuff a great deal. I met him and immediatly told him: "you need to blog!" (ugh... sorry... the "B" word)
So I set him up. I gave him some default templates I made for general weblogging. Figured, start him off and we'll adjust the UI as we see what he puts into it.
Because, my friends, UI accounts for much of how we interact with our tools... The architecture and presentation affects how a weblogger writes his/her entries, and also how well readers "accept and adobt" those entries. As such, those who are sensitive to this delicate dance, and who have the ability to do so, will adapt the design, both the look and framework, of their weblogs.
So anyways, as soon as Mike had posted his first entry I knew: "oh damn.. he's actually writing! we're gonna have to adabt the design, or at least how he enters his stuff!"
Entry Body, Extended Entry, Excerpt, Title... I want as many people as possible to be able to read Mike's stuff!
Ed, however, raises another issue, obliquely related: the content itself.
Mike's writing mini essays. RSS junkies that we've become have little time for essays. This is terrible and one of the things Mike writes about, and it speaks to that favorite debate about "what is weblogging", as a medium, as a phenomenon, as an influence on our lives and how we "live".
Mike and I have discussed how best to optimise his blog use... from tweaking the presentation, as well as the level of complexity in his writing (which he refuses to flinch on and I don't blame him).
Near the end of our conversation last night it dawned on me that the conversations that he and I have been having should be blogged (he's not alone... many of the conversation I have with various smartypants in real life should be). As such, I'm thinking of a sort of "salon weblog", or sumthin, where I can have conversations with various people.. since THIS weblog is basically my linkdrop/parrot/light commentary weblog. (And this my "deep thoughts" weblog. Can you tell I have time for such a thing? ;)
Hrm, as such I'll leave that there.