[Sigia-l] [spam] The Value of "IA" or Whatnot, was: The New Nielsen?

[Andrew Hinton]

I suspect that people say Web a lot without necessarily meaning only HTTP. I
think we tend to use Web as a generic rubric for interactive media. But it
does muddy the waters, for then how do we refer to the web if it's not
specific to...well...the web? Anyway...

In some ways the medium is significant, in other ways design decisions are
driven more by the application. Designing fulfillment application for an
extranet is really different from designing a discussion forum for the
public, for example, whether it's on the Web or not.

An employee's desktop is an important information environment, true. It's
very important that we keep that in mind, whether that desktop is networked
to others or not. 

However, the fact is that the main reason companies purchase millions of
dollars of desktop hardware is that they are networked, and it's the value
of that network that justifies having the computers to begin with. A shared
information environment is made up of many individual nodes, and a portion
of each node isn't necessarily networked (Word, Excel, etc. and other apps
that I just use on my desktop), but the value of having created anything
there is becoming more and more based on the network...i.e. I don't print
things out and inter-office-mail them anymore. I email documents, I store
them in shared areas, I collaborate on them electronically.

Anyway, just rambling... I'm not disagreeing with you Paula, just pointing
out that the distinction between the desktop and the network is effacing in
general. 




:paula.thornton at prodigy.net::wrote on 7/17/02 10:11am:

> When an employee sits down
> to do their work, who's championing their causes for their desktop? That's
> NOT the Web. It's far more challenging, and from a Alan Greenspan sort of
> perspective, a far more valuable use of our skills to contribute to the GNP.
> 

-- 
:: s y m e t r i ::
andrew.hinton ÷ information.architecture ÷ [ahinton at symetri.com]