Laurel Schwulst thinks that websites should be a place to reflect individuality. The individuals are the
"architects" of the websites. Websites are worlds to the creators/artists. Social Media does not allow full
expression of the individual's creativity, it confines the imagination to standardized ways that was meant
for generating profit for the big corporations. I agree with her to a certain extent, because people are
optimizing their creativity to make "viral" posts that do not really show their individuality. However, I
understand not everyone knows or has the interest in making their own websites, so Social Media simply fills
the market gap for generating digital web content for the majority of nonprogrammers.
Schwulst uses the metaphor of Houses, rooms, worlds, architecture, plants, gardens, puddles, and rocks in an
ocean.
My metaphor for a website is a drop of water in the ocean. Each drop in the ocean consists of different
compositions and matter. Some have more gold, heavy metals, zinc, organic matter, viruses, and bacteria.
Just like a website, it could be simple, could be complex, a scam website, or a virus website.
Depending on the location, the drop in the ocean might be warmer, colder, brighter, or darker. Normal
websites and dark webs are like water in shallow water and deep sea water, some are more visible, and some
are mysterious and hidden. Some websites are more popular than everyone uses, and some are hidden in the
dark corners that nobody knows.
Each drop of water in the ocean facilitates something else, it serves as a medium for fish and sea animals
to breathe oxygen. Like a website, it has its function, it could work as a platform to promote one's works,
a place to share ideas, and a medium to grow a community. However, ultimately, water holds everything in the
ocean together including living organisms and matter. Just like the World Wide Web, all the websites are
ultimately linked together like a drop of water in the ocean is connected to all the other drops of water.
It facilitates the diversity of live forms in the "ocean".
The quantity of drops of water in the ocean creates new systems, like circulations. Water currents generated
by temperature differences are like trends online, for example, the crypto NFT metaverse trend. It creates
momentum for a certain direction of water flow. Water also evaporates and consolidates or crystalizes into
ice. This creates water cycles that nourish and make the ocean alive. Website trends, designs, and
functional websites change and evolve with hype cycles.
Water has different forms, just like all matter. Water that is being consolidated into ice is like websites
that never change but are visible to the public. It is also hard and difficult to change shape. Just like
water from the North Pole, although rigid and hard to access, it stores the mass amount of historical
information that is buried deep under ice. Websites that are like ice are hard-coded, not flexible, but it
last a long time without maintenance. On the other hand, water that is evaporated is like highly evolving
websites, they are quick to change, adaptable, and flexible. They might not last a long time but are
certainly malleable and could morph into any shape. These websites could be prototype websites or MVP
landing pages that change swiftly. .