Comments on: The Live Web

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:01:42 +0000

This is a great way of thinking about the web. Unfortunately, like most buildings built today, many sites are nothing more than static storage silos. Hopefully as these ideas spread and the success of the sites such as Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook that have built incredible ecosystems are recognized, we’ll see this become more of the norm. For now and several years to come, it’s a strategic advantage to those who have the foresight to build such ecosystems.

By: Max Design - standards based web design, development and training » Some links for light reading (4/10/08)

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:23:19 +0000

[...] The Live Web [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:52:11 +0000

@Gene…your opening line had me a bit scared.

I like your notion of a giant living document…I think it’s a nice way of putting it. I’m not arguing against the web of pages, by the way, but I’m rather pointing out that we’re furiously building applications to help us make sense of it all.

By: Gene

Gene — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:18:13 +0000

Josh, this is a really well-written post, so congrats on that.

Sometimes when I look at the way web applications are being built, with RESTful APIs and semantically meaningful URLs, it’s like all those applications are just a part of the web’s giant living document. (I say that as an information geek rather than an application geek.

I think you make a good point, though, that an essential part (perhaps the most essential part) of designing a site today is thinking about how it interacts with the rest of the ecosystem.

By: Alex Mather

Alex Mather — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:11:10 +0000

Josh. Great post. You know who else gets it? Fred Wilson. He didn’t put it into words as well, but he used two examples to make his point:

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/09/initial-thought.html

I’m doing work for a big entertainment company now that treats their website more like a dead magazine and wonders why they can’t get repeat visitors. Grrrrrr.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:40:20 +0000

@Lindy Ha! fecundity is a great word! Lemme know how it goes with your project…I would like to be able to share success stories/case studies.

By: Lindy Dreyer

Lindy Dreyer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:40:57 +0000

Doc had me at “fecundity.”

I work with associations where change is slow and ecosystems are created by committees. It’s worked for a long time, and yet some of us see a breakdown on the horizon. Thank you for posts like this one. You’re helping me articulate the need for a new way of thinking, both online and within our organizations. Afterall, if our members can have an online ecosystem where change is the only constant, they’ll hardly settle for a slow moving dinosaur in the real world.