What is a Picture Worth to You?

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. According to Lynell Burmark, a researcher in visual literacy, a picture is worth more than 1000 words. Burmark believes it is worth 66,000 words since that is how much faster an image is processed by the brain than text. Web designers recognize this and are using it to their advantage. Illustrations, icons, and symbols are enabling web designers to forgo words and use images to grab the attention of users instead. The possibilities for creativity, in the form of imagery, are endless.

Icons
One example of this is the use of icons. Apple recently launched a new operating system, Snow Leopard. Their use of creative icons portray many new features that are offered with this system.






This icon represents Apple's move to a 64 bit capability, replacing the former 32 bit technology. In non-technical terms, this means that the Mac is faster, can hold more memory, and is more secure than ever before.

This icon stands for Grand Central Dispatch (GCD). In short, GCD helps developers make applications more receptive to user input and it demands less code, CPU time, and memory than previous systems, thus enabling the system to run more effectively (Think of it as a hub, as in Grand Central Station).

Open CL stands for Open Computing Language. Open Computing Language improves the speed and responsiveness of many of applications in different categories such as gaming, entertainment, and scientific and medical software.

Quick time X is the next generation media player. This new media player (complete with a new interface) launches faster and provides a higher quality video playback system.

The new technological advances in Snow Leopard are accurately depicted with a few icons. These icons enhance Apple's message, offer users another way to remember their latest additions, and exhibit their contemporary creative talents.


Illustrations
Sometimes, innovative illustrations can portray ideas uniquely. This diagram for a Dow article, from the website Makezine.com, presents a clever design that provides key information in the form of an image.

In this illustration, Dow Chemical, their scientists, and their scientific contributions are all pictured on the periodic table. The periodic table has been manipulated digitally to include photos of scientists.

To find out more information about a scientist and their role, you can click on a photo in the table and a short video will explain further their "fascination" in science and their work in the field.

The table is interactive and users can change the information according to an experts' name, a topic (as seen below), or the results of a poll on what fascinates others.


























And finally, to get back to the home page, this creative navigation icon is displayed.









These are just two examples of the effective use of imagery in Web Design. Creating memorable messages with illustrations, icons, symbols, charts and graphs can be a valuable way to communicate and leave a longer lasting impression. Images can support a topic, be used in place of text, or express a particular mood. If used correctly in regards to positioning, size, and connection, an image may well serve several communicative purposes.

Are you a Social Bookmarker?

There is so much information out there on the web. Finding information, saving it according to tags, and sharing it with others, is an easier task thanks to social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking sites have grown in popularity. Delicious may be the one that is the most familiar but there are many more social bookmarking sites now on the web. Here is a list of the top 10 according to eBizMBA.



































When you register with a social bookmarking site, you can collect your favorite bookmarks, store, and organize them according to tags. Unlike traditional bookmarking that required you to use your own browser and save your favorites to only one computer, social bookmarking makes it easy for you to save your favorites to a website that you can access from anywhere.

Tagging your bookmarks categorizes them with short key words that describe your site and sorts them accordingly. Your bookmarks are usually public (unless you state otherwise) and you can share your bookmarks with users who are interested in the same information. You can build your own community with your family, friends, or coworkers. Bookmarking sites enable you to access the links that other users have tagged as their favorites to find information that also interests you.

I have recently created an account in Delicious to tag sites that are relevant to my coursework in Technical Communication. The sites that are the most useful to me contain pertinent information on blogging, web design, and writing in general. I often bookmark articles or sites that I will need to refer back to when I am writing on my blog or working on other assignments.


Some social bookmarking sites create a tag cloud that becomes larger as more people use the same tag. This is referred to as a folksonomy which is a ground up (created by users) way of cataloguing information. In a folksonomy, there are unlimited ways to tag the same information. Which is different from a hierarchy, that is top down, with only one way to classify material.

In Delicious, blue tags are tags you have in common with everyone else.

This new way of sharing information raises an interesting question from my current Professor, Mr. Ken Ronkowitz " Is social bookmarking a democratic taxonomy that allows the community to peer review the content of the Web or is it a disorganized collection of personal preferences?" In many ways it is both. There is a democratic theme that everyones' ideas count and they are free to tag any information they choose. However, it is not a error-proof system. Information that is not tagged according to the masses or misspelled will be lost.

Does popularity of the content necessarily make it the best or the most useful? The top box office movies are not always the best movies. So in some respects, social bookmarking is a collection of personal preferences or tastes that you consider to be significant. However, finding material can be much easier if you look for it through the tagging system. It can also be beneficial if you establish or join a network of your peers and gather websites and articles collectively on the same topic. Then the preferences are the same and tagging may be consistent.

New Web 2.0 features have provided us numerous ways to organize information. So where will all of this interactive sharing and gathering take us in the future? Will Web 3.0 offer new ways to use it? I guess we will have to just wait and see.

What is Web 2.0?

" I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user." Bill Gates.

This quote by Bill Gates could not be more true as collective changes are taking place in World Wide Web. Some refer to this change as the new web or Web 2.0. My definition of Web 2.0 relates specifically to the new applications that can be "shaped" by me. The applications are more useful, can be adapted to fit my needs, can provide information sharing with others, and can assist in every day tasks. Not to mention, many of them are free.

New applications are almost "made to order". There are different tools that appeal to different audiences. If you need something done, as the Apple commercial states, "there's an app. for that ."

Some new Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis are helping companies improve collaboration with their consumers. In much the same way, individuals are using social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook for communication purposes. All of these tools are providing a connection and a way to share information. Whether companies are connecting to their customers or individuals are connecting to their friends, the tools themselves may be different, but the purpose is often the same.

An aspect of Web 2.0 that interests me is the ability for one site to accomplish several things at once, almost effortlessly. A site that I recently discovered and use every day is Dropbox. Dropbox can save my information, share it, and store it. Most importantly, it allows me to retrieve information from any computer with internet access. Dropbox can do all of this and the storage of the first 2 gigabytes are free. I am a slave to my computer and I never realized the impact of my dependence on a machine until it malfunctioned. I had not backed up my work and was I trying to meet a deadline when my hard drive went bad. I was in a real bind. In order to avoid this situation again, I installed Dropbox. It is easy to use and now backs up my files automatically. I only use it to back up my text files but you can also backup photos, emails, videos and and more.

One of the best features of Dropbox is that it syncs my files online automatically and across computers (that have an internet connection.) So now I can work from my laptop and my desktop. I can retrieve files from anywhere that has an internet connection, even with a Blackberry or an Apple iphone.

The feature that exemplifies the term Web 2.0 is the collaboration element. All of this information can be shared with others and can offer a collaborative workspace if necessary. Organizations, companies, and students can share material and work together on team projects.


Where will the next changes be for the World Wide Web? What will Web 3.0 look like? Some experts have labeled Web 3.0 as the Semantic Web. This change would improve search engines abilities to search for information based on context and your own interests and preferences. Tagging will also provide new resources to develop data-related based applications. In the future, widgets could possibly be combined to create personalized, functional web pages.

As for the future of computer and technology, Tim O'Reilly (recognized as creating the term Web 2.0) has commented that building systems that combine human and machine intelligence is a huge part of the oncoming future. My biggest question is will they finally be able to do the dishes?