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My Web is Text Based

marksonland.com

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Re: My Web is Text Based

#31

Post by jacquesm »

sqs wrote: post #11

Also, I often can't watch video content without unplugging my speakers and putting my headphones in so I don't disturb other people. Oh, and my laptop fan starts going like crazy and my CPU goes to 100% with FLV.

There is a pet peeve of mine, I usually have my monitors speakers plugged in and active, so if I land on a page that starts playing some silly video I run the risk of waking up the whole house. Ads with video in them are even worse, a surefire way to let me never ever visit that site again (these warrant an entry in my hosts file).

Re: My Web is Text Based

#32

Post by andrew1 »

patio11 wrote: post #25
jibiki wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly we had public education in the 1800s(?) What is the difference between public education (like we had then) and "nanny state" education? (I'm asking this seriously...) What particular legislation would you point to as causing a change?

At the time he visited, public education was rare and voluntary. The first US law mandating attendance at school was introduced in 1852 by Massachusetts, sometime after the reported 90%+ literacy rates were achieved. (I have significant skepticism that it was actually 99.96%, but 90% sufficient to read and write at what we'd consider a grade school level these days, sure.)

996 out of a thousand would be 99.6%, but I agree with your suspicions.

Re: My Web is Text Based

#34

Post by access_denied »

jacquesm wrote: post #30
KaiP wrote: post #8

The main problem I have with video over text is that it takes much longer to convey the same information. I can read about 5 times faster (450-500 wpm) than most video (90-100 wpm). So other than special cases where video is crucial, I much prefer text.

My response to video links is to simply ignore them (which is quite ironic, given my background). If you can't find the time to at least accompany your video with a textual representation then I'm not interested, I think the choice of medium should lie with the recipient, not with the producer.

The choice of medium will lie with the recipient. That's the promise the web holds for us. I hope it fullfills it.

Re: My Web is Text Based

#35

Post by access_denied »

jacquesm wrote: post #29
unalone wrote: post #2

This shift over to primarily video content irritates me: I like reading text, and video is difficult with my college's slow Internet.

I think the main reason why we're seeing such a shift is that in the long run it is easier to ram advertising down people's throats over a video link than it is to get them to click on ads in textual content. The CPM's paid for delivered video ads reflect that, they count those much higher than delivered (but not clicked) text or graphics (even flash) ads.

Yes, and in the case of espn: you didn't think Joe Intosports likes to read (espicially at the evening, it's too much like work).

Re: My Web is Text Based

#36

Post by markessien »

The problem does not lie with video - the problem is that video today is very linear. Even people who think they prefer text do not actually do so - they just prefer being in control of the reading speed and being able to immediately jump to the information they want.

Imagine video that behaved like a real person sitting opposite you. You type in google - "Where is Tibet", and a video immediately pops up with a person who says "Tibet is in China" and at the bottom of the video a bunch of relevant extra information popup, allowing you to jump up and down in the video. This would work a lot better.

Video has to become searchable, navigable, and you should be able to have an information context in any videos that you watch. Then the web will benefit by becoming video based.

Re: My Web is Text Based

#37

Post by mseebach »

patio11 wrote: post #25
jibiki wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly we had public education in the 1800s(?) What is the difference between public education (like we had then) and "nanny state" education? (I'm asking this seriously...) What particular legislation would you point to as causing a change?

At the time he visited, public education was rare and voluntary. The first US law mandating attendance at school was introduced in 1852 by Massachusetts, sometime after the reported 90%+ literacy rates were achieved. (I have significant skepticism that it was actually 99.96%, but 90% sufficient to read and write at what we'd consider a grade school level these days, sure.)

Well, extrapolate the data, from a largely rural society where you could get through life without ever reading a single word, and today, where literacy is held in somewhat higher regard, and the effect of mandatory education on literacy rates doesn't look that profound.

I'd say the basic introduction to liberal arts and natural sciences are much better arguments for mandatory education than literacy rates.

Re: My Web is Text Based

#38

Post by jacquesm »

access_denied wrote: post #35
jacquesm wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the main reason why we're seeing such a shift is that in the long run it is easier to ram advertising down people's throats over a video link than it is to get them to click on ads in textual content. The CPM's paid for delivered video ads reflect that, they count those much higher than delivered (but not clicked) text or graphics (even flash) ads.

Yes, and in the case of espn: you didn't think Joe Intosports likes to read (espicially at the evening, it's too much like work).

True enough :) Another big factor is that television / video by default are passive, in other words your brain is in a different mode than when you are reading. A person that is reading is far more likely to see an advertisement for what it is, an interruption of their day and a waste of bandwidth. Television / video consumers are more in the mood for wasting time and will pay attention to almost everything as long as it moves.

Re: My Web is Text Based

#39

Post by davidw »

markessien wrote: post #36

The problem does not lie with video - the problem is that video today is very linear. Even people who think they prefer text do not actually do so - they just prefer being in control of the reading speed and being able to immediately jump to the information they want. Imagine video that behaved like a real person sitting opposite you. You type in google - "Where is Tibet", and a video immediately pops up with a perso…

So instead of a 17-byte string, you get some enormous video (not simply audio, but a video with pictures and everything) of someone telling you exactly the same thing that you could have read in a few seconds?

I agree that things like searchable video have their place, but it is not for stuff like that!

Re: My Web is Text Based

#40

Post by davidw »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #15
andylei wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most people probably would be illiterate without a mandatory government education

please don't upvote such ahistorical nonsense. Even the most casual examination of historical records reveals this to be false. In the early 1800s, Pierre Samuel Dupont, an influential French citizen who helped Thomas Jefferson negotiate for the Louisiana Purchase, came to America and surveyed education here. He found that most young Americans could read, write, and "cipher" (do arithmetic), and that Americans of all…

Those seem like pretty high numbers if you counted everyone who lived there, which would include a lot of slaves. Did he count them? And they all knew how to read and write? Seems dubious to me. If he did not count them, who else did he not count?
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