Exploring the Possibilities of Global, Collaborative Platforms on the World Wide Web By Benedict Smythe At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The World Wide Web in itself would be shapeless without system designs. In the long run, this is the aim of some scholars who aim to push forward the increased use of the principle of complementary systems.

According to Andrew B. Whinston, from the University of Texas in Austin:

“Based on complementarity theory, we provide a conceptual foundation for designing. Collaboratories which maximize users' value through the judicious choice of complementary design factors. We emphasize the need for developments in the area of "open" collaborative systems, and suggest that analyzing the design problem from a complementarity theory standpoint can lead to useful insights regarding the value users derive from the system.”

Users and the gains of the complementarity approach

The complementarity approach focuses on the specific values that are derived from enhanced interfaces between people (or the users) and the programs that they use.

When applied to the World Wide Web, this directly translates to the websites themselves and the infrastructure used to implement and mediate the experiences of the users.

On the global setting, the minute networks comprising the international information superhighway is the biggest goal. The goal is to create user-friendly experiences that would enhance trade and other related uses of the Internet in general.

One of the related uses of the Internet is for research and development. Whinston further expounds this point:

“We believe that if properly organized conceptually and technically, the Web can serve as a highly effective foundation for a Collaboratory, which will bring together the diverse worlds of researches and professionals in various fields. On the other hand, isolated and idiosyncratic developments of Web servers will lead to information overload, inefficiency, and chaos.”

The chaos factor

Whinston had mentioned the advent of chaos on the World Wide Web. Precisely because of the integral durability of the systems approach that he is pushing forth, other heterogeneous elements are being considered as clutter.

In a broader conceptualization, what Whinston had been driving at is the complete centralization of the Internet, in its many regions. Of course, there can be no one real “mega” region for all types of data.

To pretend that it would be possible to do so would be simply nonsensical. The simple reason is that different institutions, individuals and therefore, different types of data have different organizational needs.

Smart computing and smarter data retrieval

The keystone to the complimentary approach is hinged on the deployment of “smart agents”. Smart agents can be whole systems or simply minor scripts. The aim is to streamline and to render more efficient.

However, there are perceived obstacles to the use of these “smart agents”, according to Whinston:

“We argue that "smart agents," which are sometimes regarded as a panacea for the infoglut and information-filtering problems, will be less effective when information is organized in a haphazard manner.”

Design is also important in remedying current obstacles in the formation of newer and more efficient means to use the World Wide Web. There must be a concerted effort to remove the unnecessary obstacles to complete complimentarity.

In the long run, Whinston argues that:

“A Collaboratory can provide a set of related (complementary) features through a single, open user interface, it greatly enhances the benefit to the user while reducing his or her cost of effort and time spent in using the system.”

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