Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
a part in roles and behaviors portrayed by people in societal scenarios —
symbolic interaction, human computer interaction with regard to Web portfo-
lios may be seen as an important factor in the communication interaction
between the user and the Web portfolio author. This connection occurs through
the content, structure, and usability of the Web portfolio.
The Web portfolios out in the global information society will find a new frontier
of communities to gather in and then disperse. Communities will be physical and
digital, but will have common connection and common platform through the use
of the Web portfolio. Yahoo Groups are an example of a community based
portfolio system. People join groups that share common interests, fetishes,
ideas, or things. Each member of the group creates an identity and then shares
limited content which is posted to a template design within a controlled
environment that creates a mini-narrative about each member's feelings on the
group's masthead topic. Web portfolios at grand scale will have similar
induction into major Internet group depositories, except for the limited content
and template design. The loss of appearance is very evident in Yahoo Groups
and other similar environments. The creativity factor is low due to the limits and
therefore the group environment is starving for content. Chatting and photo
exchange may be the most popular activities, but the real reflections and
persuasive style that is shown in the unfiltered Web portfolio cannot be matched
be online communities, they can only coexist, as the digital communities do with
the physical communities. Again, Nicolas Negroponte (1999) describes the
transformation this way: “It is hard to imagine that our highly structured and
centralist world will morph into a planet full of loosely connected physical and
digital communities, but it will” (Leer, 1999, p. 390).
One of the most important evolutions of on line groups that will emerge will be
the central use Web portfolios to communicate, appear, and persuade other
group members and people outside of the small group that makes up a niche
Web portfolio community. The communities will not discriminate. Everyone in
the knowledge worker realm will have a Web portfolio. Eventually anyone who
works will have a Web portfolio. Mechanics, doctors, lawyers, retail sales-
people, and CEOs will all have Web portfolios in the future. And they will all
congregate in communities that will loosely fit together to make a global
information society. This statement is based upon Negroponte's ideas that “in
the digital world, neighborhoods cease to be places, and become groups that
evolve from shared interests” (Leer, 1999, p. 390). What this means is that this
new form of localism found in the digital world will be shared and enhanced by
the Web portfolio due to the abilities of the knowledge worker to get a portfolio
