Being an alumnus of the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts, I receive Reach magazine and read a quote containing much of what I've been preaching throughout all the years I've been a practicing web consultant.
Brian Southwell, Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication interviewed for an article entitled "The Internet: Face-Off with Academia" as saying:
"All that glitters is not gold in technology. You can have too much of a good thing."I couldn't agree more. So much so that, many times I find myself talking my clients out of lucrative features for their web site because what they want really is just for show and provides no real value for their investment.
Professor Southwell qualifies his statement:
"We [professional academics] often think of the Web's interactive nature as a boon: you see what you want to see and pass by the dull or irrelevant. ...[t]he interactivity that makes the Web so appealing might be the very thing that derails our search , interfering with our understanding and retention of the information we find."
