- From: Jeff Leane <leane@emerge.com>
- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 19:11:54 -0700
- To: www-html@w3.org
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. -- Coleridge On 8/30/96, Murray Altheim wrote: >... we have spent entirely too much energy on whiz-bang gizmos at the >expense of creating a Web capable of building an information >infrastructure for our expanding knowledge base. > ... >How can we expect the Web to function as a repository of human knowledge, >our future libraries (rather than simply another advertising landscape), >if an online encyclopedia looks the same structurally as Babes on the Web? > >Rather than spending so much energy on trying to make our screens jump, >spin and bark, lets all demand greater tools, a greater concentration on >document quality, integrity and longevity, and markup languages to support >it. Murray is absolutely right, however... We can demand until we're blue in the face, but the offenders won't comply until they perceive, in terms they understand, that it's in their interest to comply. Since the majority of offenders are in the commercial domain, to speak of a "repository of human knowledge" won't convince them. So here's a challenge to everyone who cares about the web: Form a convincing argument that quality information design contributes directly to the bottom line. Then make that argument, not just to yourself, but to the people who need to hear it. Get off the hermetic www-html list and get on the online-ads or internet-sales lists. The argument I make is IDML. HTML purists may grumble, but IDML has already convinced many businesspeople* of the singular notion that structured metadata = good business. *Including publishers of encyclopedias _and_ of Babes on the Web. ;-) -- Regards, Jeff +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Jeff Leane V: 415-328-6700 | |V.P. for New Ideas F: 415-323-3281 | |Emerge Consulting E: leane@emerge.com | |171 Forest Avenue W: http://www.emerge.com | |Palo Alto, CA 94301 http://www.identify.com | | http://www.well.com/user/leane | +-----------------------------------------------------------+
Received on Sunday, 1 September 1996 22:13:17 UTC