Welcome to Web Architecture

Hello RISD Summer Web Architecture students! I am excited to get the opportunity to run this class again so soon (I ran it with seven great students during Winter quarter and so only three short months have passed before I can run it again in an improved version). You will benefit from the wisdom gained from those seven students who took the course as I will personally add their comments to our shared discussion Forums as we move through the material together. They did a great job of helping me help you through the feedback process you will I find I always take seriously.

I'm extremely fond of this course personally. I took this course as part of a Computer Science Masters degree I pursued just as the Web was getting hot and heavy (it is hotter and heavier even now as we've since packaged new ideas into a hyped-up Web 2.0 marketing campaign). This course gave me great context in which to write code, design websites, or even just participate better with others using Web applications. But, better even than that, it gave me a new way to work creatively — to work within a flexible design (aka architecture) being designed by committee and reviewed by a wide range of interested parties. I have felt very liberated and successful working with that newfound knowledge ever since finishing the course. I teach because I want to give that gift of context and work process to others if at all possible. I can adapt this class to your current place in life: You just need to communicate that to me and your peers so we can help you help yourself.

My responsibility to you, as I see it, is to get you to understand design and architecture as it relates to technology infrastructure generally while teaching you about how the Web works specifically. Your responsibility is to try and participate in the process so that you can become a better person when developing anything on the Web (and given the fact you are taking this course through the Rhode Island School of Design, I trust you are mainly interested in interface design — even if it is just as simple as creating useful Web pages). I want you to understand how the Web has been built over time and how new ideas get implemented so that the Web can continue to evolve for the betterment of our human society (but not at the expense of other life on the planet). There is great abundance out there in this life and we're going to think about how design and architecture can help a group of people work towards mining the abundance to support all they do.

You might not like your responsibility at first because you might not consider it your way of working (and your way has been very successful for you to date). But, our focus in this class is on the process that has emerged over the years to be very successful for teams of people to improve the Web. For you to be successful, you might have to adopt some new tricks and consider other points of view. You might have to struggle a bit more on your own to develop a mindful world view that you can describe more fully than you ever have before (to me, that invites a richness of thinking that improves quality of life). You might have to struggle a bit more in participating in a collaborative process of discovery — your peers in this class will depend on you to help them through the discussion Forums (explained in the course videos). If your journey is similar to mine, you'll be amazed at how the world falls in your lap when you participate in this successful development process that has emerged with the Web. And, you'll realize how much you feel you are swimming uphill if you don't learn to participate with the emergent processes available online.

I have sympathy for anyone who thinks the material is overwhelming in this class. Please read this next sentence closely and carefully: I don't expect you to understand it all within a six week class. What I expect is for you to focus on what the class material could give you if you wanted to indulge more fully. I would like you to engage in the material for the rest of your life — as you find the time and focus. It should be a very enjoyable journey if you like learning as I do. We need a certain percentage of society to be astute in understanding Web architecture, but we don't need everyone to be (although I have no doubt humanity can accomplish amazing, incredible things by pushing the medium). Some people just need to understand how their little piece works within the context of the whole. They need to be able to voice that piece loudly so others make sure it continues to be available to them as the Web evolves. I ask you to write a pre-test essay so you can voice your current understanding and put into words the goals you have for yourself in terms of understanding the Web. The pre-test is for you. I read it and respond to you only to help guide you better in your journey. Your journey will just be beginning here. The material in this class is special because it is everywhere online — many presentations, many points-of-view, many debates, and very active in its evolution.

I don't have sympathy for anyone who doesn't put the time in nor listen to suggestions to try for being successful in this class. We pay tuition to improve ourselves and build a portfolio of skills in which to become skilled at the courses we add to our resume. To become skilled in this class requires reading or listening to those who participate in the process and trying out their hard-earned process to incorporate the best of it into your own. So much of what defines our success versus failure comes down to our attempt. And, our attempt depends on our process. Refine a successful process for yourself and you have a much better chance of success in all you do.

So what exactly is this process I refer to? Your process of participation in the global Web Architecture process suggests that you should:

1. Read much about current Web architecture and actively pursue online documents that can solidify your understanding.

2. Participate in debate and discussion with others who are attempting earnestly to develop a current understanding.

3. Develop a mindful way of using the Web so as to always be thinking about what you are doing in the context of the architecture that supports it (yes, even when using Facebook, Skype, Firefox, Twitter, or whatever application is enabled by the Web).

4. Ask yourself what needs improvement in order to better meet your needs as a user of the Web.

5. Communicate those needs to those who are designing on your behalf so that you can be more productive, motivated, and supportive of Web technologies (for example, the World Wide Web Consortium is always listening).

6. Don't be afraid to draw the line based on your personal values and express where you think the Web is going overboard in providing services for humanity (do we really want to spend so much time in front of a computer screen).

7. Find your niche as to where you can improve the Web experience for your fellow humans. Each website matters. Each application matters. Each interaction matters. Each information repository matters. Be a better participant and make it better for others by helping them become better participants.

Getting Started

I am asking you to start this class by digesting the material above and writing a document in regards to what you understand about how the Web works. If you know nothing, you have that much more to gain in taking this class. So, don't be shy to admit it. Write about how you currently use the Web and how you think knowing more about how the Web works can help you in your use or with any goals you have with designing for use of others. Send me your essay when you complete it. Bravely incorporate your thoughts into the discussion Forum so others can get to know you as well. There are only six of us participating in the class this summer so we'll need each other to communicate often to represent a community of Web communicators working on a goal. I want you to get a positive experience from that and realize how liberating asynchronous communications can be for your personal journeys.

You'll be able to compare your thoughts at the beginning of class to your thoughts at the end of class (which you won't have to share via essay because you will have made them clear in our shared online Forums).

I want you to dive into understanding the Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (the thing we'll refer to as OSI very often in this class). But, take it easy. Learn a little each day and even more each week as I help you through it. You don't need to get it all right away. Let it soak in slowly but surely. Do whatever you need to do to make that happen. Lots of ways to be successful at learning technical information. Defiantly thinking you can't do it is not one of them.

Lastly, read the Who Needs an Architect? document and provide your thoughts on it within the appropriate Forum.

If you do these three things, you'll be well on your way. Use the links from our syllabus to do your work every week (including this one). All seven students from last class validated these tasks were very helpful when asked for feedback to help you out going forward.

And, of course, e-mail me or any of your fellow students with any questions. I reserve the right to post your questions in the Forum if you don't do so, but will do so anonymously unless you make it clear in your message you want credit for the question.

Now, get on to it.