Modemless Users

Is health care a right?  That  was a hot-button issue in 2008, and much of the angst has boiled over into 2009.  During his campaign, now President Obama spoke whole heartedly about providing health care for the citizens of this nation.  He also spoke about greater government transparency using internet, specifically Web 2.0 products like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.  His campaign even utilized many application used by sites like these.  But, not everyone was involved.  Numerous homeless citizens could not participate in online dialectic over American Policy.  But this is beginning to change.  

"You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet."

The quote above is from a recent Wall Street Journal article by Phred Drorak.  The article shows that the homeless men and woman are finding ways of making their presence online.  Some of the individuals cited in the article are fairly successful bloggers.  But, this raises another issue.  Internet access is limited to people like Mr. Pitts.  They hang around coffee shops and anyplace else with free Wifi.  Some shelters are installing computers with access to the internet.  In light of this, Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.net made a prediction:

"in five years, a UN convention will enshrine network access as a human right (preemptive strike against naysayers: "Human rights" aren't only water, food and shelter, they include such "nonessentials" as free speech, education, and privacy). In ten years, we won't understand how anyone thought it wasn't a human right."

So, how does this affect usability?  The call for universal connection is increasing around the world.  Rising Voices is an example of such an organization.  You can read about them on my other blog, Drowning Out Silence, and their website.  Programs like One Laptop Per Child are committed to providing disadvantaged youths with laptops and access to the internet (You can also read more discussion about OLPC on Drowning Out Silence).  Many of those laptops have found their way to disadvantaged youths in the U.S.  The point is that access to the internet is becoming less and less exclusive.  Along with this, production on the web is becoming less and less exclusive.  Users in masses are building the digital world through communication and innovation.  This may be a little Marxist but, that is besides the point.  

The point is the individual user now has considerable production power and that power is no longer sitting in middle class suburbs.  It is moving to every nook of humanity seemingly regardless of class, creed, or color.  What will social networking mean in a universal network?  How will copyright be effected in world where production overtakes the product?  How will we create a usable network for a billion people?  

Independent Study

This independent study is focused on studying the relationship between the professional writing and web 2.0.  There has been some study into how users' roles are changing with advent of online spaces that foster user-generated-content and user cooperation.  Professional writers who work to create web communication portals are now contending with the user who is now more apart of the production process.  Web based communication products are being created within this participatory culture.  The information age is turning into the production age.  Web spaces are not just used to search and gather for information, but also help generate content or generate  web-based products.  There are individuals out there creating spaces online in this participation age.  Essentially, they are doing the work of technical writers, who have long been focused on usability, user-centered design, and efficient communication processes.  

Part of this independent study is working with individuals who design Web 2.0 products for users who have different ideas about how they should be using these sites.  So, this independent study will take the next step in inquiry into Web 2.0 application design and usability.  It moves from the analysis of the user and impacts of usability to an analysis of the user-centered design process.  This study will be conducted via readings (scholarly articles, news stories, case studies) and interviews of individuals who design these products.   The readings will not go beyond my own research of various journals and books.  

The final product of this study will yield an article for Intercom magazine on how technical writers on are working with Web 2.0 tools.  I will also turn this into a proposal for ATTW as well (this will be a joint proposal--I have joined with other students on this project).  Last but not least, I will design a functional online system using Web 2.0 tools.  During this project,  I will act as a technical communicator who has been asked to implement a usable communication system utilizing Web 2.0 tools that foster user collaboration and user-generated content.   

It just so happens that I am doing this work at my current internship (more details about internship later).  But, I designed a social media outreach campaign in an urban minority community.  In this campaign, I proposed using Facebook, Blogger, and YouTube.  My job was to fathom how these communication portals would be used.  In addition, I was also asked to implement social media for all of our clients at my internship (all clients are either non-profits or government entities).  This may provide the perfect opportunity to work on this project.  

Web 2.0 Usability and Participatory Design

I came to some conclusion for these questions about Web 2.0 Usability.  I read an article from Clay Spinuzzi called the "The Methodology of Participatory Design."  Participatory design calls for an open relationship between designers and users in the development of a product.  This methodology indirectly affected the on-going design of Twitter (and other Web 2.0 products) as it moved from an application that enables users to broadcast to a application that allows users to broadcast, network, and have dialogue.  These developments of Twitter came through user influence as I detailed in previous entries.  Basically, users and designers developed this weak partnership to optimize the application.  Spinuzzi calls for strong partnerships between users and designers in Participatory Design. In Web 2.0 dynamics, there exists this sense of "weak cooperation" among users, who upload and content on these applications (YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, etc.) (Aguiton and Cardon, 2008).  In the case of Twitter, this weak cooperation has grown not just among users but among users and designers.  The objective seems to be to create a sustainable system of use.  

One thing to think about is the affect on Professional Writing.  Organizations are often looking to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, etc. for market outreach in communication with their stakeholders.  I will write about these examples as we go along.  Professional Writers may be asked to organize this Web 2.0 outreach.  But, there is a difference between Professional Writers who are asked to use these Web 2.0 tools and those who are asked to create an application.  In the latter, the Professional Writer can act as a designer and has control over the tool and the system.  But, in the former, the Professional Writer has influence over the system of communication and production but not the design.  In this situation, analysis of the user's objective is important in choice of the appropriate tool.  

Aguiton, C. and Cardon, D. (2007). The Strength of Weak Cooperation:  An Attempt to Understand the meaning of Web 2.0.  Communications & Strategies. Retrieved April 6, 2009, from General BusinessFile ASAP.

Spinuzzi, C. (2005).  The Methodology of Participatory Design.  Technical Communication.  52(2). 163.