Tech-savy people have common traits: they love the internet and cherish its fruits. Some were born with the internet, grew up with it, formed a consistent character in it. Their minds can adjust to anything that relates to being connected in a very short time, because that's how their minds were constructed in the first place: unbeliveably-flexible.
(Un)fortunately, the world doesn't consist of only tech-savy people. I saw many people hesitate and draw back when I teach them how to find their way on the internet, how to build a site, how to form an online-identity... I saw them sweat with anxiety, because how their minds were constructed in the first place is not valued anymore. Despite years of hard work and expertise, they find it hard to fit in to a totally new set of rules, which should be totally acceptable, but it's not.
And learning this shiny new language is not as easy as it looks. The word "SIMPLE" shines on the www-101's cover, but one cannot move far without spending significant time and effort on this. Take a look at how we spend our time online. Being stuck to online games and msn is not what this book promises us. It can only be the first tiny chapter.
Being online for the past 10 years, and working at a pretty tech savy company, even I have a hard time putting myself together on www. With much more than 100 links to discover per day, I struggle to create a bookmark hierarcy that makes my life easier than harder. Creating content, finding out new things to find out, watching people expose their life, exposing my life, "creating" a new expertise and working on it, deciding what is unnecessary and making an effort to omit it, watching the www create its own superstars, watching the structure of chaos forming, taking a stand when appreciation tools are used for your advantage, taking a fall when hacking tools are used for your disadvantage... This is NOT SIMPLE.
But then, it doesn't have to be simple. We just shouldn't label it as such and work from there to welcome offline people into the game. I know I am not the only one who treats this misconception as a problem, and I know a lot of companies and some geeks are trying to simplify. My point is, it should be more simple and guidance should be provided.
People who are new to this world should be treated better. As I was thinking how I would make my way into the internet now if I hadn't met it years before, I searched for "internet" on Google and came accross an interesting site called "Internet nedir? temel kavramlar" (what is internet? the basics). Not exactly, but close to what I'm talking about... Different levels of orientation should be set for new-commers. Not that they don't already exist in "how to" websites, but they could be easier to find and follow.
Think of a big gather-up. The first time you enter the arena, without knowing where to go, you search for info-points to direct you where to go next and inform you on what you can do there right? The www should provide a similar service to smoothen the entering process.
Right, the web is supposed to be based on decentralisation and nurtures the free thinking that stems from this confusing interconnectivity, but providing (virtual or real) info hubs and orientation is the main thing that will welcome disturbed offline people in. The world population is around 6.7 billions, the online community is 1.4 billions, and there is still a long way to go.
