Borges, Jose, Morales, Israel, Rodriguez, Nestor J. Page Design Guidelines Developed through Usability Testing. University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez Campus. n.d. Web. 30 November 2014. http://www.ece.uprm.edu/hci/papers/Chapter.pdf
I was unable to find any information on Borges, Morales or Rodriguez as I am assuming they are all Puerto Rican professors with little to no internet presence. The paper was written under the authority of the University of Puerto Rico which is the largest and most diverse public university in Puerto Rico. I therefore felt it was a trustworthy source and worth incorporating into my research.
The author’s thesis centres around a worry that individual website creators with little design knowledge are creating more and more web pages with poor usability and that hinder the use of the websites in general. The authors then go on to describe in detail steps that web designers can take to improve the usability, navigation, appeal and overall design of their website. They focus a lot on research and studies about web design and include a lot of factual evidence behind all of their points.
The author’s intended audience is anyone interested in web design but especially those who may not have a rich background in the field or are interested in looking at the research behind web design and not just one persons opinion.
Unlike a lot of articles about web design that include a lot of personal opinion on behalf of the author, this article is fairly un biased. The authors of the paper are looking extensively at research, facts and figures regarding web design and are not simply relying on what they think looks nice.
This article is very strong in that it provides a lot of evidence for each of the points that the author is making. However its weaknesses come in the large, dense chunks of information full of computer jargon. The article sets out to be a guide for beginner web designers in how to set up a site however it is often very hard and confusing for a beginner to get through.
This article supported much of our thesis in that it provided evidence and factual research for many of the aspects of web design that we thought made a successful website especially highlighting how important navigation is to a website that aims to store a large amount of information.
For the Design Features section of our paper this source was very useful. As I’ve said before it’s hard to find good sources about web design on the internet as they all seem to be so personal but it was really useful to see such in depth research on subjects we were so interested in like where the header should be and how to organise categories. We used this source to guide us and to back up some of the points we made in regard to our website’s design.
Gary Kidney is a professor in academic computing with a well respected career in a number of university. He is currently the Deputy CIO for Academic IT Solutions at Yale University.All the authors of the article are professors in the field of computing or education and have great authority on the subject of the paper.
The purpose of this paper is to examine previous attempts made by the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) to establish what it meant to produce a ‘quality online e-learning course’ and to create a model to ensure the production of quality online learning resources. The article looks at what makes a quality course and specifically looks into the production process that UHCL employed when designing their courses. In the end the article agrees that UHCL’s methods for designing quality e-learning courses were, to a certain degree, extremely successful and thought the authors warn that “quality is one of those things that can only be pursued and never attained”, they do conclude that the methods taken by UHCL to create a quality course may serve as a model that could be followed in the future of designing online learning facilities.
This is a scholarly paper and the intended audience are professors or professionals in this field. It is an extremely strong paper in that it goes into great detail about the methods used by UHCL to create a quality course however it is by no means a definitive study of quality e-learning courses. It only describes one institutions attempts at creating an e-learning course and can really only be read as a specific case study and not an overall analysis of the field.
The information provided in the article definitely supports our research paper to a certain extent. The e-learning product we are attempting to create is different from the e-learning course described in this paper however we agree with many of the fundamental principles at the centre of the research in this paper; that e-learning resources should be easy to use and navigate and informative yet interesting for the student.
I think this material is extremely relevant in terms of our paper. Although it is talking about a different kind of e-learning resource it touches on many of the issues we will need to address in our paper and will be a really great tool in guiding our research. The paper includes several tables and models about the process of designing an e-learning course which I think will be vital in the next stages of our products development.
Chapman, Cameron. “Website Archives Design: Good Practices and Examples.” Smashing Magazine. Smashing Magazine GmbH. 24 May 2010. Web. 23 November 2014. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/24/website-archives-best-practices-and-showcase/>
This is an article written for Smashing Magazine, an extremely popular online magazine offering professional resources and advice to Web developers and Web designers. It was launched in 2006 by Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman. It has a very large audience and over 800,000 Twitter followers. The author of this article, Cameron Chapman, is a professional Web and graphic designer and journalist. She writes for a number of blogs such as Mashable and Smashing and she is the author of The Smashing Idea Book: From Inspiration to Application, a collection of inspirational designs, photos and web site looks.
While often website’s or blogs can be unreliable sources, Smashing magazine is a well established site aimed at professional web designers and people with some experience in the web design field. This article in particular seems aimed at individuals who already run a website and are looking at ways to improve their design and layout.
The article is broken up into three sections, the first examines common layouts for website archives, the second questions whether specific sites actually need archives and the third showcases some website’s with archives that the author thinks are particularly well designed or successful in their goals. The author puts particular emphasis on the fact that the archives should be spacious, concise and easy to use while still informative and encompassing all the information available on the site.
There is definitely a major bias in the article as it is all written from one individuals point of view regarding what she thinks are the most successful web designs. However I still think it is very interesting to read in regards to our project. Our project will include archiving a huge amount of data in a well designed, easy to use way and this article presents a lot of different, well researched examples regarding the different options available for doing this.
Another thing to take into consideration is that this article was written four years ago, as the internet moves so fast it means that much of the information could be outdated. However after reading the article I think some of it is still definitely relevant.
Although this article is biased to the authors personal taste I still think it’s something we should look at during our research. Her experience as a web designer gives her more authority on the issue’s she’s talking about and she draws from so many different websites that you really get a good overview of the different options available for web archiving.
Socrates said that “it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration” (qtd. in Barfield 21). Today I ask you; what if Socrates was wrong? What if great poetry comes not from wisdom, instinct or inspiration but from a powerful, groundbreaking new technology invented by an NYU student in November 2014.
The name of this tool is Silver Orange. An innovative new software that will help writers of all ages to compose poems, limericks, raps, songs and much much more. Just imagine how much better Shakespeare’s sonnets would have been if he had not been worrying about rhyming? How much more powerful Eminem’s lyrics would have sounded if his mind had been free of the burden of thinking of new words to rhyme? Given time, Silver Orange will become the poets most vital tool, an appendage of their own brain. Enhancing and exciting creativity in millions of people worldwide.
Why do we need Silver Orange?
Kari Kraus talks about designing projects “less to understand the past than to imagine the future”, she says her point of view “is primarily prospective rather than retrospective” although she admits to drawing “extensively on history” (Kraus 97). This is what I aim to do with Silver Orange. In the past the word ‘poet’ has conjured up visions of a tortured artist sitting with paper and pen at an old wooden desk. And certainly some ardent poetry lovers will be initially sceptical of the idea that you could use technology to help create poetry, an art form that is meant to be “a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 6). But I would encourage these sceptics to look to the future. Silver Orange is not intended to in any way hinder creativity or make every poem formulaic. Instead, by helping with the rhyming process, it releases the poet from limits they may have encountered in the past, it will enhance creativity and make the poet free to create and explore. Imagine a runner who ran barefoot for years, and then imagine you gave this runner some expertly crafted running shoes. At first he may have his doubts, say that his craft is no longer pure, but soon he will see that he is able to take his craft above and beyond his past limitations with the help of these amazing new shoes. That is what Silver Orange will be to the poet. Once you read in full about Silver Orange, is will become clear that it is the next stage in the medium of poetry. Those who consider the poem a sacred vessel that comes straight from the human mind should consider the technological developments in the production of poetry that have been made so far. Since the invention of typesetting machines in the 1880’s industrialised publishing, poetry and the poem moved from being an old media object to a new media one (Manovich 30). Today all poetry is published and printed using new media technology requiring it to be typed onto a computer. Lev Manovich defines new media as an ‘image or a shape (that) can be described using a mathematical function’ (Manovich 27). Therefore, as it stands today, all published poetry is a product of new media. To think of poems as new media objects, it then does not seem a huge stretch to think of ways in which other new media objects can help these poems to be created.
In the 1970’s researchers attempted to use “high-level” automation of media creation to get computers to generate poetry or fiction (Manovich 32). What those researchers were ignoring was the fact that poetry requires human soul to succeed. Something that no matter how far technology progresses it will never be able to truly achieve. Poetry needs an author who is passionate about what they are writing and it relies on imagination and creativity. There is no way that a truly beautiful poem will ever be created by a computer alone but there is also no reason that the poet should abstain from the many tools technology possesses that could help them to advance in their work.
What does Silver Orange do?
At it’s core, Silver Orange will be a fairly basic software. A program that can be downloaded onto any computer. Silver Orange will be a “low-level” automation of media creation (Manovich 32), the program will respond to the author’s words by generating a list of possible rhymes using an internal comprehensive rhyming dictionary. The poet will simply open a new page on Silver Orange, enter their desired rhyme scheme and begin writing their poem.
Temporary example of Silver Orange layout
Imagining the poet had selected an AABBCC rhyme scheme, on completing their first line andpressing the enter key, a list of words that rhyme with the last word of their sentence would appear in the right hand column. They would then proceed to choose a word from the list and compose the second line of the poem. This pattern would repeat until they felt their poem was complete. The poet will be able to choose from a number of different rhyme schemes as well as selecting modes such as ‘limerick’ or even ‘Seuss’ which will help the poet compose a poem in the style of poet Dr. Seuss.
Temporary example of Silver Orange layout
Silver Orange will also have a ‘synonym’ function. If the poet has found that none of the suggested rhymes match his or her desires they will be able to switch to ‘synonym’ mode and a list of alternative words will appear where the rhymes used to be, the poet can then change the troublesome word and continue writing the poem.
As well as using low level automation of media creation, Silver Orange will rely heavily on new media’s increasingly ability to store and access enormous amounts of media material (Manovich 34). It will allow it’s user to tap into the expertise of other users. As Silver Orange develops it will track what words are most popular and these will move higher up in the list when words are listed. It will also develop around each individual user. The software will track what kinds of words the user normally chooses using a series of complex algorithms much like those used to filter Google searches. It will mould itself to the style of writing that the user adopts and will continue to grow, learn and become familiar with the poet that it aids.
How will it be designed:
We’ve talked in class about how important writing layout is and the layout of Silver Orange will aim to be clear, minimalist and remind the user of word processing documents they are used to. Kirschenbaum talks about how George R.R. Martin chooses the program WordStar to write his novels on as he likes it’s lack of distraction (Kirschenbaum 6). This is definitely a trend that is becoming more and more popular as writers choose to leave behind Microsoft Word and emigrate to more minimalist writing programs. Silver Orange will unavoidably have a number of ‘distractions’ as this is central to it’s function. But despite it’s extra features I want Silver Orange to feel as much like the technology that writers are used to composing with, making the transition from Word or other programs to Silver Orange simple and smooth. Users will be able to adjust the font, colour and formatting of their words to help make them feel at home with the technology. There are many different options regarding the layout of Silver Orange but ideally I would like it to be as distraction free as possible. Just the author, their poem and the genius tool that is the Silver Orangesoftware.
Screenshot of Apple’s Pages software
A current technology that I look to as an inspiration is the Apple software Pages. The layout of Pages is minimalist however still offers a number of different formatting options. The right hand menu bar in Pages is laid out in a similar way to how I imagine the menu bar of Silver Orange to be and I think moving forward I Pages would definitely play a part in my design process. Were my idea to be picked I would also talk closely to the members of my team regarding the design of Silver Orange as I feel each individual as a different opinion regarding what kind of writing software they prefer and we would need to extensive research before deciding on the final layout.
Who will use Silver Orange and how will it be marketed?
As I’ve mentioned before I imagine at first poets will be skeptical about adopting Silver Orange to write their poetry. And while I am certain that given time and experience with the software they will come to adore it, poets are by no means the only market for this product. One way in which I plan to market Silver Orange is as an aid for people in creating poems for loved ones. Everyone has had a Mothers Day or a Valentine’s Day when they have wished to write a poem for someone and have not been able to think of anything. But with Silver Orange this will no longer be a problem. Silver Orange will also be extremely useful for writers of comedy poems or comedy songs. My brother is part of a sketch comedy group who often have to write comedic songs to perform and he has already told me that a tool like Silver Orange would be unbelievably valuable in his creative process. Similarly I feel writers of rap lyrics will be quick to adopt Silver Orange as in the past the music industry has embraced technology far more eagerly than the literary community. I would aim to market Silver Orange as a life long tool that creative users will come to rely on. I do not want to it to be a fad or something that people play around with once or twice and quickly forget. Thereforethe marketing will need to have a certain elegance and class to it and not simply be marketed as the ‘next cool thing’.
The name of the program was chosen because ‘Silver’ and ‘Orange’ are two of the only words in the dictionary that do not rhyme with anything. I also felt that I wanted to give Silver Orange an abstract name so that in the future it would be something that was immediately associated with the software such as ‘Twitter’ or ‘Google’.The preliminary logo that I have designed emulates a lot of the key features that I want Silver Orange to emulate. A creative tool, one that can be used by everyone, and one that in the future will be seen as a landmark feature in the merging of writing and technology.
Works Cited:
Barfield, Raymond. The Ancient Quarrel Between Philosophy and Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2011. Print.
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. Track Changes, A Literary History of Word Processing. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2014. Early copy.
Kraus, Kari. “Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday.” Textual Cultures. Volume 8. Number 1 (2013) : 1-21. Print.
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. 2001. Print.
Wordsworth, William and Coleridge. Samuel Taylor. Lyrical Ballads & Other Poems. London: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 2002. Print.
In the beginning of the chapter you talk about Henry James’ claims that he could not write without the metronome of the typewriter and also about your own experiences with the ‘big, heavy, noisy’ act of trying to write on your own typewriter.
Do you think that the medium with which a writer chooses to express their thoughts relies heavily on personal opinion or do you think that the development of seamless word processors that allow us to copy down every thought are the way forward and that one day everyone will have converted to using the same technology?
What do you think the future for voice recording software is and do you feel that it is possible to really write a novel without ever having written down any actual words?
Something that interested me most about Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was looking at the value that the characters in the novel put on individual lives. Oryx and Crake asks it’s reader to really consider what makes a life worth saving and as I read it I found myself struggling with my own morals in regards to living things.
It all starts with the pigoons. Early on the in the novel Jimmy is taken to OrganInc and is introduced to the pigoons. Pigoons look like pigs but contain human organs, scientists then harvest these organs and use them for transplants. On the surface it seems that the scientists at OrganInc value the Pigoons lives more than the life of a normal pig; “it was claimed that none of the defunct pigeons ended up as bacon and sausages: no one would want to eat an animal whose cells might be identical with at least some of their own.” (24). However we soon find out that the value placed on the Pigoons lives is far more to do with individual morals than overall consensus. Jimmy is upset when he finds out that Pigoon meat may be being slipped into the cafeteria food and this is one of the first things that marks Jimmy out as being potentially more morally good than some of the other characters in the novel. In direct contrast to his feelings about the pigoons Jimmy’s aversion to eating the ChickieNob’s comes from them being too far removed from a normal living being. “He couldn’t see eating a ChickieNob. It would be like eating a large wart.” (203).
Atwood continues to look at the value that the characters put on individual lives in a much more dramatic way when Crake decides to destroy almost the entire human population. Destroying every human on Earth certainly seems like a large jump from eating a few pigoons and the question of why Crake did what he did is one that looms over the entire novel. I think that Crake’s decision comes fundamentally from a place of pain. He has discovered the drug companies plans to make people ill in order to sell them drugs and he also suspects them of killing his father. It’s an extreme decision to make but by blurring the lines of morality in regards to other creatures throughout the novel, Atwood makes us slightly more sympathetic to Crake. His hatred of his species has grown so large that to him it makes complete sense to wipe them out and replace them with another.
The novel ends on a cliffhanger but one that also concerns the way that different species regard each other. The Crakers are the species in the novel closest to humans however it is unclear at first whether their lives are valued or not, and it is eventually Oryx who convinces Jimmy that their lives are worth saving;
“If Crake isn’t here, if he goes away somewhere, and if I’m not here either, I want you to take care of the Crakers.” (said Oryx).
(…)
“They are like children, they need someone. You have to be kind with them.”
(322).
After this Jimmy treats the Crakers like children, making sure they are fed and looked after. However when Jimmy discovers that there are other humans alive the question of how the Crakers and the humans will interact becomes key and Jimmy worries that the humans will not see the Crakers as lives similar to their own; “Maybe all will be well, maybe this trio of strangers is good-hearted, sane, well-intentioned; maybe he’ll succeed in presenting the Crakers to them in the proper light. On the other hand, these new arrivals could easily see the Children of Crake as freakish, or savage, or non-human and a threat.” (366).
Okay so after that very long point I do finally have some questions:
Do you think that Atwood is making an argument that all living creatures should be valued or do you think she is saying that none should be?
Do you think she is using the blurred moral lines regarding life throughout the novel to highlight our societies confused conscience when it comes to what animals we are okay with destroying and what animals we place extreme value on?
Another large theme in the novel is extinct animals. Do you think Atwood is making us look at the way we kill entire races of animals by showing us Crake’s decision to destroy the entire human race?
This is a small little post just because I saw this commercial on TV (while watching Scandal) and it really reminded me of something we talked about at the beginning of the course about new media icons and imagery being heavily inspired by old media.
You can watch the video here (embedding it didn’t work).
Founded in 2005 by Robert Kaplin, Etsy has become the go-to online marketplace for all things handmade and vintage. Through Etsy, individual sellers can use the e-commerce site to sell anything and everything handmade or second hand. From art and quilts to furniture and second hand toys, if it’s cute, knitted or has a bow on it, you can find it on Etsy. However beneath the ruffled curtains and Oreo cookie shaped necklaces, Etsy has come to represent something much larger. It is a key technological tool in the third wave feminism movement, encouraging a new generation of women to start their own businesses and make their own money. Born in the 1990s third wave feminism was largely a reaction against some of the strict initiatives and movements created by second wave feminists during the 1960’s, ’70’s and ’80’s. It focused on broadening the term feminism, focusing on issues such as class, race, sexuality and femininity that previous feminist waves often ignored. Third wave feminists redefined what it meant to be a feminist, reclaiming old media crafts such as knitting and sewing that were viewed as hobbies of their mother’s generation by second wave feminists and no longer necessary to the modern woman (Offensend). With more and more young, empowered feminists turning to the creation of handmade goods to make an income, Etsy has created a space where the online selling of handmade goods is easier than ever and where women who may traditionally not have been able to work or make an income have been able to empower themselves and become successful business owners from their own homes.
In November 2013 (the last time Etsy posted their monthly statistics online), $147.5 million of goods were sold via the online marketplace. In that same month 1,318,666 new members joined the Etsy community and 2.15 billion page views were recorded on the site (Traub). What makes Etsy stand out from other competitive online marketplaces is, of course, it’s focus on the homemade, however upon examining the interface of the website there are a number of features that show why Etsy is so appealing as a platform for business owners and why it has made the process of selling online so easy.
As soon as you go the Etsy homepage, users are encouraged to sign up to in order to start browsing and buying goods. The sign up process is easy and requires no financial transactions upfront. Once users are signed in, the Etsy homepage displays galleries of items that are ‘trending’ or centre around a certain theme such as ‘halloween’, ‘weddings’ or ‘gift ideas’.
Image a – The Etsy homepage interface
The interface (see image a) is clean and minimalist but with a feminine edge. The handpicked items from different stores displayed in the galleries all feature beautifully handmade goods and well photographed products. The items chosen by Etsy to display are clearly aimed at a female audience, from jewellery to cupcakes the website’s white layout lets the products speak for themselves, attracting the user with the beauty and attractiveness of the items on sale.
Studies have shown that 80% of usability problems on websites come from poor navigation design (Savaji, Downe, Fahmi Mazlan, Soo and Abdullah). With millions of diverse new products listed every month (Traub) it would be easy for Etsy to become an incomprehensible mess of unrelated handmade products. Etsy combats this problem through their use of categories. One of the first options on the homepage is to either search for an item or browse items by category. The key to good navigation is good information architecture; selecting the right labels and categories and laying them out in a way that attracts the user and reflects their own mental organisation of the information (Straub). Many of Etsy’s categories are very simple, appealing to users who may not be familiar with the website and just want to browse. The ‘Men’, ‘Women’ and ‘Kids’ categories make it easy for an Etsy beginner to start looking for something they might be interested in. The other categories appeal to the kind of user Etsy is most familiar with. Categories such as ‘Wedding’, ‘Jewellery’ and ‘Craft Supplies’ are clearly aimed at Etsy’s predominately female audience and serve as markers, telling you what to expect from the content of the website as well as making it easy for users to find exactly what they want. As an avid crafter myself I can advocate for how hard it is to find craft supplies for sale online, the immediate presence of that category on the Etsy homepage let me know I was in the right place as soon as I first visited the site.
One thing that makes Etsy so attractive to sellers is the store front interface (see picture b). Once you have clicked on aparticular user or seller the site directs you to their personal Etsy page. The layout of the pages is beautiful, users are given the chance to upload their own header image, create categories displayed in the side bar detailing the types of items they are selling and each user has a box in the sidebar with information about the shop owner. What strikes you most is how professional Etsy makes everything look. Many of the people selling are extremely amateur however due to the layout, each individual sellers page could be it’s own professional e-commerce site. The layout and the design immediately provoke trust in the buyer. You do not feel as if you are buying from an amateur but from a proper online shop with beautiful handmade items.
Image b – Etsy individual seller store front
Etsy operates all their transactions through PayPal. Upon buying an item the user is redirected to Paypal where they can check out in a number of seconds with nothing but their PayPal login details. The seller never has to worry about handling the money, Etsy takes care of it all. The money is simply transferred from the buyer’s PayPal into the sellers PayPal and then the seller is sent the details of the order and the delivery address. PayPal may be a large part of why Etsy is so successful. A study regarding trust and usability elements in E-Commerce websites conducted by University Teknologi in Malaysia found that the usage of PayPal immediately increased the user’s trust in the transaction security of the website (Savaji, Downe, Fahmi Mazlan, Soo and Abdullah 221-226). The study also found that web site quality, ease of navigation and professional design also played a large role in making the user trust the site and feel more confident about spending their money (Savaji, Downe, Fahmi Mazlan, Soo and Abdullah 221-226). PayPal also serves as a huge attraction for sellers. What discourages a lot of people from starting their own business is worry about how they will operate it financially; processing payments and figuring out how to handle the money once it’s been received.
Another element of new media that makes Etsy so attractive to small business owners is photography. Jewellery designer Emma Mitchell owns an Etsy shop called Silver Pebble where she sells her handmade silver jewellery.A necklace by Emma will cost on average $180 and to make each one costs Emma herself 50% of the selling price (Mitchell). Before Etsy, were Emma to have tried to sell her products she would have needed to sell them through a shop or a craft fair. This would mean making dozens of each product in the hope that they would sell (Mitchell). For a lot of people setting up their own business it is financially impossible to make a large supply of their items before having sold them and there is also always the risk that the items won’t sell and you will make a loss. The development of photographic technology has meant most people have access to high definition photography and a way of putting it online. This means Emma has to only make one of her necklaces and can then go on to make each one individually as each new order comes in. Etsy offers customisable delivery times meaning the seller can let the user know that they will be making the product upon receiving the order. For small business owners who do not have a lot of seed money, this aspect of the online marketplace is extremely important and almost completely removes all the start up risks involved with creating a business.
This transformation in potential business opportunities for crafters has also had a huge impact in modern feminism.For a long time feminism and crafts such as cooking, knitting and any other act seen as ‘women’s work’ were considered two opposing forces. During the second wave of feminism in conjunction with the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, feminists rejected so called ‘women’s work’ in order to try and claim equality and to balance women’s lives with their male counterparts. Women all over the world put down their needlework, put on their trouser suits and crafts became associated with stay at home mum’s and an old way of viewing women (Offensend). However this very rejection of all things ‘girly’ goes against the idea that a central element to the feminist movement is choice. Feminism is about women having the freedom and equality to live the lives they choose without feeling dominated by men and the rejection of homely activities by second wave feminists exorcises this choice (Offensend). The 1990’s saw an explosive resurgence of knitting among young women, often stated to be centred around feminist and Bust magazine editor Debbie Stoller’s book Stitch ’N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. In this, Stoller argues that it is time to rethink the position that girls doing traditionally male activities is feminist but girls doing traditionally female activities is not. There were also similar movements dismissing cooking and baking as non liberated, oppressive activities. As a feminist knitter and baker myself I feel cooking and knitting are extremely important activities. Having the skills to create something from nothing and being able to reclaim a skill like knitting and bring it into the modern age feels very empowering. While the 90’s resurgence of all things girly was extremely popular it was also very criticised. It centred around the idea that women who were already working or had some sort of financial stability should take up knitting or cooking as a hobby and many commented that only women in some sort of privileged position have the option not to do activities like these as a necessity but for pleasure (Gilley).
This is where Etsy becomes relevant, new media has created a place where this reclamation of the handmade among feminists has stopped being simply a way to make a statement but an actual way for women to create businesses and empower themselves with their own income. In 2001 the media began to pick up on a growing trend regarding young women’s interests in knitting and crafting. The New York Times and other newspapers published profiles on young women, typically in their 20s or 30s, who support themselves by making and selling handcrafted items. A newspaper in Portland described it as a ‘craft phenomenon’, profiling 33 year old Susan Beal who supports herself by sewing, quilting and embroidering (Stryker). When this movement first began most women were using craft fairs and independent boutiques to sell their goods, but with the development of Etsy most of them have relocated online. “In another era, I would have done this as a hobby, but the fact that I can earn my living with my creativity feels very feminist to me,” Beal says. “I don’t know if I would say it’s the new bra-burning, but I definitely think it’s a radical act…” (Stryker).
What the fight for equality for women has been known to dismiss is the real life complications of working for a lot of women. In 1998, feminist writers Judy Smith and Ellen Balka proposed the development of a Sex Role Impact statement that would be used just like the Environmental Impact Statement and would attempt to assess new technology on what the effect of it’s development would have on sex roles. The study involved seven questions that would need to be asked of every new technology by many public agencies before development decisions were made (Smith and Balka). The first two questions on the list are “Would it broaden or restrict women’s traditional options (Smith and Balka 113)?” and “Would it increase or limit women’s chances for economic self sufficiency (Smith and Balka 113)?” The answers to these seems obvious. Etsy has made it easy and effective for women to sell their handmade goods all over the world, entirely broadening the options of how far they can take their business’ and how much money they can make. “Would it decrease or increase the time needed for home and family maintenance (Smith and Balka 113)?”. Once again I feel the answer to this is positive. For women looking to work and maintain a family Etsy makes online selling quick, easy and brings it into women’s homes meaning they can work and look after their families at the same time. The next question “Would it reduce or increase women’s privatisation in the home (Smith and Balka 114)?” has a slightly more complicated answer as any form of online presence immediately slightly reduces the users privatisation, but in our modern technological world that is hard to avoid and there is nothing to show Etsy is less secure or private than any other trusted website. “Would this development be dangerous to women’s health (Smith and Balka 114)?” The answer to this I feel is no. Unless of course a women decided to sell something online that was dangerous to produce however this would be less Etsy’s fault than the women’s own lack of judgement. And finally “Would it make sex roles more interchangeable so that either women or men could do what needed to be done or would it re-enforce traditional sex role stereotyping and division of labor (Smith and Balka 114)?” This question is probably the most complicated on the list and addresses the majority of the points I have been trying to make throughout this essay. In many ways, Etsy does re-enforce traditional sex role stereotyping. The scenario I have evoked during this essay has been one of a women sitting at home knitting and looking after her children. And were I to ever hear someone say that women’s jobs were mothering, cooking and knitting I would probably scream at them until I lost my voice. But the reality of the lives of many women is that they do have to stay at home to look after their children, be it because they can’t afford childcare, have a child who is ill or simply want to stay at home while their children are young. What is amazing about Etsy is that it is truly beginning to subvert any stereotypes we may have of mothers, knitters and women who stay at home. My imaginary women, the one sitting at home and knitting is no longer without an income, her interests and hobbies are no longer outdated. Instead she is able to care for her children while running her own business from home. She is able to sell and make money from the beautiful things she makes. She is able to be part of a huge community of women like her, supporting each other, talking to each other, empowering each other. Etsy has become a symbol of third wave feminism. A place where women can choose to embrace ‘women’s work’ but transform it into ‘men’s work’. In conclusion, if you thought it wasn’t possible to do needlework and be a feminist, you were most definitely wrong (see image c).
Image c – Feminist cross stitch by Scarlett Curtis
WORKS CITED
Curtis, Scarlett. Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Human Rights. 2014. Cross stitch. London, England.
Gilley, Jennifer. “Writings of the third wave: young feminists in conversation.”Reference & user Services Quarterly 44.3 (2005): 187-198. Print.
Luckman, Susan. “Gender, Craft and the Creative Economy.” The 3rd Global Conference on The Value of Work: Exploring Critical Issues, September 1st-3rd, 2013, Mansfield College, Oxford. Oxford, September 2013. Print.
Mitchell, Emma. Personal Interview. 10 October 2014.
Offensend, Elizabeth Gillette. Crafting a Space: A Feminist Analysis of the Relationship Between Women, Craft, Business and Technology on etsy.com. Diss. Portland State University, 2012. Web.
Sivaji, Ashok, Downe, Alan, Fahmi Mazlan, Muhammad, Soo, Shi-Tzuaan and Abdullah, Azween. “Importance of Incorporating Fundamental Usability with Social & Trust Elements for E-Commerce Websites.” Business, Engineering and Industrial Applications (ICBEIA), 2011 International Conference on 5-7 June 2011. Kuala Lumpur: IEEE, June 2011. Print.
Smith, Judy and Balka, Ellen, “Chatting on a Feminist Computer Network” Technology and Women’s Voices: Keeping in Touch. Ed. Kramarae, Cheris. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc, 1988. 111-131. Print.
1. On page 77 the paper describes Hichar and Mozafari’s books as enhancing the functionality of physical books through the addition of miniature computers. To what extent do you feel this is true and do you not think that whether the functionality of a book is enhanced or decreased through technology is subjective to each individual reader?
2. Much of the paper draws on the idea of animating or enhancing ‘otherwise static print pages of text and illustration (78)’ using technology. Do you not think that sometimes in our modern over stimulated lives the simplicity of old bibliographic mediums can be nice change?
3. In the end, the pure essence of a book comes down to the words that are written inside it and the story that the author has chosen to tell. To what extent do you think different bibliographic techniques can actually alter the readers connection with this story and if it is to a large extent do you think this is always a good thing?
Founded in 2005 by Robert Kaplin, Etsy has become the go-to online marketplace for all things handmade and vintage. Through Etsy, individual sellers can use the e-commerce site to sell anything and everything handmade or second hand. From art and quilts to furniture and second hand toys, if it’s cute, knitted or has a bow on it, you can find it on Etsy. However beneath the ruffled curtains and Oreo cookie shaped necklaces, Etsy has come to represent something much larger. It is a key technological tool in the new wave feminism movement, encouraging a new generation of women to start their own businesses and make their own money. In this essay I will examine the new media methods that Etsy utilises to make selling online so accessible as well as the modern resurgence of popularity in handmade goods and old media crafts. And how together these two movements have created a space online where women who many traditionally not have been able to work or earn an income have been able to empower themselves and become successful business owners from their homes.
In November 2013 (the last time Etsy posted their monthly statistics online), $147.5 million of goods were sold via the online marketplace. In that same month 1,318,666 new members joined the Etsy community and 2.15 billion page views were recorded on the site (Traub). What makes Etsy stand out from other competitive online marketplaces is, of course, it’s focus on the homemade, however upon examining the interface of the website there are a number of features that show why Etsy is so appealing as a platform for business owners and why it has made the process of selling online so easy.
As soon as you go the Etsy homepage, users are encouraged to sign up to in order to start browsing and buying goods. The sign up process is easy and requires no financial transactions upfront. Once users are signed in, the Etsy homepage displays galleries of items that are ‘trending’ or centre around a certain theme such as ‘halloween’, ‘weddings’ or ‘gift ideas’.
Image a – The Etsy homepage interface
The interface (see image a) is clean and minimalist but with a feminine edge. The handpicked items from different stores displayed in these galleries all feature beautifully handmade goods and well photographed products. Users then have the option of searching for an item or a shop or browsing items by category. The category options give you an idea of the types of goods popular on Etsy; ‘art’, ‘home and living’, ‘craft supplies’ all focused around aesthetic pleasures and homespun delights.
One thing that makes Etsy so attractive to sellers is the store front interface (see picture b). Once you have clicked on aparticular user or seller the site directs you to their personal Etsy page. The layout of the pages is beautiful, users are given the chance to upload their own header image, create categories displayed in the side bar detailing the types of items they are selling and each user has a box in the sidebar with information about the shop owner. What strikes you most is how professional Etsy makes everything look. Many of the people selling are extremely amateur however due to the layout, each individual sellers page could be it’s own professional e-commerce site. The layout and the design immediately provoke trust in the buyer. You do not feel as if you are buying from an amateur but from a proper online shop with beautiful handmade items.
Image b – Etsy individual seller store front
Etsy operates all their transactions through Paypal. Upon buying an item the user is redirected to Paypal where they can check out in a number of seconds with nothing but their Paypal login details. The seller never has to worry about handling the money, Etsy takes care of it all. The money is simply transferred from the buyer’s Paypal into the sellers Paypal and then the seller is sent the details of the order and the delivery address. This quick pay element of Etsy is a huge attraction for sellers. What discourages a lot of people from starting their own business is worry about how they will operate it financially; processing payments and figuring out how to handle the money once it’s been received.
Another element of new media that makes Etsy so attractive to small business owners is photography. Jewellery designer Emma Mitchell owns an Etsy shop called Silver Pebble where she sells her handmade silver jewellery.A necklace by Emma will cost on average $180 and to make each one costs Emma herself 50% of the selling price. (Mitchell) Before Etsy, were Emma to have tried to sell her products she would have needed to sell them through a shop or a craft fair. This would mean making dozens of each product in the hope that they would sell. (Mitchell) For a lot of people setting up their own business it is financially impossible to make a large supply of their items before having sold them and there is also always the risk that the items won’t sell and you will make a loss. The development of photographic technology has meant most people have access to high definition photography and a way of putting it online. This means Emma has to only make one of her necklaces and can then go on to make each one individually as each new order comes in. Etsy offers customisable delivery times meaning the seller can let the user know that they will be making the product upon receiving the order. For small business owners who do not have a lot of seed money, this aspect of the online marketplace is extremely important and almost completely removes all the start up risks involved with creating a business. The user friendly interface of Etsy has opened a whole new windows of possibility for crafters around the world. A talented knitter wishing to make some money suddenly has a multitude of options right at their fingertips that just wouldn’t have been possible for previous generations.
The transformation in potential business opportunities for crafters has also had a huge impact in modern feminism.For a long time feminism and crafts such as cooking, knitting and any other act seen as ‘women’s work’ were considered two opposing forces. During the second wave of feminism in conjunction with the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, feminists rejected so called ‘women’s work’ in order to try and claim equality and to balance women’s lives with their male counterparts. Women all over the world put down their needlework, put on their trouser suits and crafts became associated with stay at home mum’s and an old way of viewing women. (Offensend) However this very rejection of all things ‘girly’ goes against the idea that a central element to the feminist movement is choice. Feminism is about women having the freedom and equality to live the lives they choose without feeling dominated by men and the rejection of homely activities by second wave feminists exorcises this choice. (Offensend). The 1990’s saw an explosive resurgence of knitting among young women, often stated to be centred around feminist and Bust magazine editor Debbie Stoller’s book Stitch ’N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. In this, Stoller argues that it is time to rethink the position that girls doing traditionally male activities is feminist but girls doing traditionally female activities is not. There were also similar movements dismissing cooking and baking as non liberated, oppressive activities. While the 90’s resurgence of all things girly was extremely popular it was also very criticized. It centred around the idea that women who were already working or had some sort of financial stability should take up knitting or cooking as a hobby and many commented that only women in some sort of privileged position have the option not to do activities like these as a necessity but for pleasure. (Gilley)
This is where Etsy becomes relevant, new media has created a place where this reclamation of the handmade among feminists has stopped being simply a way to make a statement but an actual way for women to create businesses and empower themselves with their own income. In 2001 the media began to pick up on a growing trend regarding young women’s interests in knitting and crafting. The New York Times and other newspapers published profiles on young women, typically in their 20s of 30s, who support themselves by making and selling handcrafted items. A newspaper in Portland described it as a ‘craft phenomenon’, profiling 33 year old Susan Beal who supports herself by sewing, quilting and embroidering. When this movement first began most women were using craft fairs and independent boutiques to sell their goods, but with the development of Etsy most of them have relocated online. “In another era, I would have done this as a hobby, but the fact that I can earn my living with my creativity feels very feminist to me,” Beal says. “I don’t know if I would say it’s the new bra-burning, but I definitely think it’s a radical act…” (Stryker).
What the fight for equality for women has been known to dismiss is the real life complications of working for a lot of women. Many women have children and don’t want to go back to work in an office, or have children that are sick or disabled meaning they have to be home 24 hours a day. In 1998, feminist writers Judy Smith and Ellen Balka proposed the development of a Sex Role Impact statement that would be used just like the Environmental Impact Statement and would attempt to assess new technology on what the effect of it’s development would have on sex roles. The study involved seven questions that would need to be asked of every new technology by many public agencies before development decisions were made. The questions included statements such as ‘Would it broaden or restrict women’s traditional options?’ and ‘Would increase or limit women’s chances for economic self sufficiency?’. (Smith and Balka) Examining Etsy in terms of this study yields overwhelmingly positive results. Historically, a site like Etsy might be viewed as an example of technologythat women would be expected to shy away from. Women are often seen as not being a part of the traditionally male dominated worlds of business and technology and Etsy embodies the two. However it is estimated that over 90% of Etsy users are women (Luckman). Etsy has become a symbol of third wave feminism. A place where women can choose to embrace ‘women’s work’ but transform it into ‘men’s work’. Women who would have traditionally had to stay at home looking after their children or are unable to work can now be seen all over the world, creating their own businesses, obtaining their own incomes and creating supportive global networks and communities. In conclusion, if you thought it wasn’t possible to do needlework and be a feminist, you were most definitely wrong (see image c).
Offensend, Elizabeth Gillette, “Crafting a Space: A Feminist Analysis of the Relationship Between Women, Craft, Business and Technology on Etsy.com” (2012). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 892.
Gilley, Jennifer, “Writings of the third wave: young feminists in conversation” (2005). The Alert Collector.
