Most of us remember when we didn’t know what that or the term “Internet” meant. Now, of course, most of us have had personal experience with the web and all its relations -- e-mail, streaming video, interactivity, etc.

Today, the web is our newest medium. Most companies, services, educational institutions, and organization have a web presence. Sales of books, airline tickets, stocks and even land take place over the web. People join chat rooms with others from China, Australia, Europe and next door.

The web is deeply ingrained into the lives of many people, and our dependence on the web and the expansion of its use will likely continue. It will employ more and more people in a variety of traditional capacities -- reporters, writers, editors, designers, etc. -- and probably in some ways that we haven't thought of yet.

What the web offers

The Web is similar to our other media, and yet it is radically different. Those differences have a profound effect on writers:

• Immediacy
  
  
• Permanence
  
  
• Capacity
  
  
• Flexibility
  
  
• Interactivity
  
  

A word medium

Many people think of the World Wide Web as something akin to broadcasting -- probably because we use the web (“surf” is the term) on a computer terminal that looks like a television screen. But that isn’t the way to think of the web.

The web is a word medium.

Unlike their use of traditional television, users of the web read. Unlike their use of newspapers and magazines, they write. The web requires its users to be more physically involved -- interactive -- than any other medium.

Because the web is a word medium, for many users it has become in information source. People go to web sites to find things out. A web site’s ability to provide information that people want helps the producers of that site sell advertising and make money. Many sites are dependent on the quality -- not the amount -- of information they provide for their users. Consequently, information must be good -- it must be well written and (have you heard this before?) accurate, complete, efficient and precise.

In other words, writing for the web demands all of the same qualities that we have learned so far in this course about media writing.

What users do

Many people believe that people don’t read when they are surfing the web. That’s not really true. Users do read when they have to. They will read when it is necessary to get the information they want or when they are rewarded for doing so.

What users prefer to do -- and what they will do first -- is scan. Scanning has some important implications for the content and form of the information on a web site, and we will discuss that later.

Users approach the web in a nonlinear fashion. That is, they look upon the web as a department store rather than a novel. If you read a novel, you start at page 1. If you enter a department store, you go to the department where you think you will find what you want. The best thing a department store could do for its customers is have a directory of the store at every doorway. (Few do.)

In the short time that the web has been in existences, users have come to expect clarity and choice. The successful web sites -- the ones to which users return -- give users clear choices, things that are readily apparent, that they don’t have to figure out.

At this stage of the web’s development, users are often surprised by depth and quality -- because there is so little of it. How many times have you tried to look something up on the web and just not been able to find it, even in what you thought would be the most obvious places?

That’s why news sites -- produced by traditional media organizations -- are so popular. These are organizations have a tradition and the understanding of how to present information in ways that users will want it. Many web sites produced by people untrained in the mass media are funky and cool, but they are too self-involved to sustain the interest of the user.

So, some terms you should know and understand:

• scanning
• nonlinear, nonlinearity
• clarity
• depth, quality
• news sites
  
  

Content

As with any other medium, content is a key ingredient of the web. Not design. Not graphics. Not flash. Content. Quality content.

As a writer, you should try to produce content that has all of the qualities of good media writing -- accuracy, completeness, efficiency and precision.

In addition, that content should be useful to the user -- which means knowing something about the audience you are serving.

That content should be current -- it should be the most recent, up-to-date information that is available.

The content should be presented in context. We have not discussed yet hypertext and linking, but the web offers us some wonderful opportunities to let users take off in directions that they choose to gain even more information that we can present. Our job is to give them the means to do that.

And the content should be concise.

Writing concisely

In applying the concept of writing concisely to our writing, we mean writing in these specific forms:

Labeling -- being able to place content in particular and appropriate categories. As writers, we must be able to categorize and to put names on those categories. The psychological term here is indexing, if that helps you think about it. Labeling is harder than it sounds.

Headlining -- saying in just a few cryptic words what something is about, but giving enough information so that a reader can understand.

Summarizing -- Using one or two sentences to give readers a good idea of what is in a longer piece of writing. A good summary gives specific information as well as the broad scope of the writing.

All of these concision skills will be part of the arsenal of those who get into web work -- and of anyone who works in the mass media.

We must all learn how to say what we have to say more efficiently, precisely and with more information and more substance.

We will continue this discussion next week.

Before you come to class:

Think about how you use the web.

Think about a time when you went to the web for some information, thinking it would be easy to get, and then were disappointed.

Think about a time you used the web and were entirely satisfied -- even surprised.

What web sites do you return to?



Possible news quiz questions

Answer to many of the news quiz questions can be found at the TennesseeJournalist.com (tnjn.com)

1.