Difference between revisions of "Michael's Projects"
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Websites themselves are "tools" in the broad sense, as objects designed to help us learn (such as books are). There exist a great many sites that provide some sort of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_help online help], such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_site review sites], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating_sites rating sites], question-and-answer sites, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_forum online forums] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki wikis]. However, help websites too often have low [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability usability]. Searching for answers in online [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_forum forum]s, for example, can resemble searching for a needle in a haystack, and may often provide information that is unreliable. A convivial help site needs strong editing, to increase usability, limit bias, and provide verified answers. As an experiment I began working on an [http://iuserguide.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Internet User Guide] website to share my own (limited) knowledge of basic Internet use and possibly help others avoid all of the false leads I followed. But of course the extensive work involved in writing content for this site has turned out to be beyond my capabilities. | Websites themselves are "tools" in the broad sense, as objects designed to help us learn (such as books are). There exist a great many sites that provide some sort of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_help online help], such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_site review sites], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating_sites rating sites], question-and-answer sites, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_forum online forums] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki wikis]. However, help websites too often have low [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability usability]. Searching for answers in online [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_forum forum]s, for example, can resemble searching for a needle in a haystack, and may often provide information that is unreliable. A convivial help site needs strong editing, to increase usability, limit bias, and provide verified answers. As an experiment I began working on an [http://iuserguide.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Internet User Guide] website to share my own (limited) knowledge of basic Internet use and possibly help others avoid all of the false leads I followed. But of course the extensive work involved in writing content for this site has turned out to be beyond my capabilities. | ||
| − | Another internet-related project would be to create a [[Cooperative Social Network]], similar to social networks such as Facebook or Friendfeed but structured as a coop. I believe that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative Cooperatives] are a viable economic alternative to less democratic forms of enterprise, and most of my websites are hosted on [http://www.ouvaton.coop Ouvaton], which is a French web-hosting cooperative. A cooperative social network could be created and run by a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative worker cooperative]. In order to reduce the amount of advertising and data mining, the service could operate on a freemium model: the basic service would be free for all users, while paying premium memberships would benefit from additional services and priviledges. The premium members could form a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers%27_cooperative consumer's cooperative]. I | + | Another internet-related project would be to create a [[Cooperative Social Network]], similar to social networks such as Facebook or Friendfeed but structured as a coop. I believe that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative Cooperatives] are a viable economic alternative to less democratic forms of enterprise, and most of my websites are hosted on [http://www.ouvaton.coop Ouvaton], which is a French web-hosting cooperative. A cooperative social network could be created and run by a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative worker cooperative]. In order to reduce the amount of advertising and data mining, the service could operate on a freemium model: the basic service would be free for all users, while paying premium memberships would benefit from additional services and priviledges. The premium members could form a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers%27_cooperative consumer's cooperative]. I need to find partners who might be interested in such a project - that's the hardest part. |
[[Category:Projects]] | [[Category:Projects]] | ||
