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 Web
...displays exist without any relationship to each other except
the individual links that may or may not connect them. The popular
myth is that this represents the way our brains work, since our
brains do seem to be (loosely speaking) undifferentiated matter
with electrical connections linking and dividing them into special-purpose
segments. Recently, however, most designers with real work to
do have concluded that a) we don't know enough about brains to
make this claim, and b) if our brains do such a good job with
this structure, why do most of us have to use calendars, to do
lists, filing systems and other external mechanisms to be able
to find information we want when we want it? This structure is
interesting and has its place in some kinds of situations, but
is not a viable choice for most instructional/informational design
situations. Lost in hyperspace -- or, actually, in someone else's
brain. Unless your learners set out to have a confusing and disjointed
experience in which the value lies mainly in serendipity, pure
web structures are just a problem. You might be teaching your
learners to unravel the way in which you conceive of a topic and
then use that information to build their own mental models. If
you are not, leave the pure web structures to experimental applications
and entertainment/literary products in which the journey is the
reward.
Elizabeth
Boling, PROBLEMS
& DESIGNING
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