Learning Agreement

My work is a combination of online research, a blog, a traditional bibliography and experimentation with design, code and programming. All these areas of research have equal importance. I have made a conscious decision to approach my research this way as I feel this reflects current approaches and attitudes to Web 2.0 design.

Web 2.0 is a loose term used to describe a range of websites, software and design on the Internet. The O ’ R e i l l y R a d a r report Web 2.0: Principles and Best Practices describes Web 2.0 as “ a variety of guises, names, and technologies: social computing, user-generated content, software as a service, podcasting, blogs, and the read–write web. Taken together, they are Web 2.0, the next-generation, userdriven, intelligent web.”

Web 2.0 ranges from social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook to user generated content sites such as Flickr or YouTube to programing languages such as AJAX or Ruby. It is an approach that encourages open source, where code and software are given away for free. Users of the sites are encouraged to be involved. Designer Andrew Betts says ”When using a web 2.0 site you generally feel more like you are interacting with other users of the site rather than the site itself.”

Collaboration is encouraged; this might involve mash ups (combining two existing websites or software to create a something new) releasing code on a blog and allowing other users to use the code or simply posting on a website. This approach to design is done through testing, experimenting and releasing work online; through blogs, on websites or on forums. It is an area of design where work in progress can be released to the public. This includes the perpetual beta approach of software such as Google. New features are regularly added to existing software and testing in done in real time with users. Another approach can involve code being posted online for others to use and develop. For example Dan Coulters phpFlickr code is freely available on his site and allows users to create their own Flickr tools.

Companies such as Flickr encourages this approach by releasing it's source code to the public. Flickrs website says “Flickr has an open Application Programming Interface (API for short). This means that anyone can write their own program to present public Flickr data (like photos, tags, profiles or groups) in new and different ways.” This puts the development of the site into the hands of the users.
A large part of my research so far has been trying to find a role within these emerging technologies, am I a coder or a designer. Can you be both, how do you marry aesthetics and technology?

This is a changing approach to design. Previously the role of web designer, graphic designer or developer would have been clear but the lines between these roles are becoming blurred. The social networking site Ning, advertising for a Web Application Designer post, asks for a designer who can show how they use CSS and HTML code, combined with typography, colour, and page design to create applications. This still seems a narrow definition of a web 2.0 developer or designer. Perhaps a better definition is an interactive editor or manager. A combination of a knowledge of a range of software, technology and processes combined with how users interact with them.

The next stage of my MA involves working as an online manager for the Noise Festival www.noisefestival.com and developing online promotion for both the Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds College of Art and Design. My original proposal, to use a emerging web technology as a design tool and a way to promote artists and designers, has not changed.