Yeah ... WWW, Mosaic and the whole conceptual universe of
the Web and even the Internet could stand some non-threatening
"packaging" words and pictures ... in my opinion, one of
the best efforts in this direction is Kevin Hughes's
"Guide to Cyberspace" -- maybe the "cyberspace" image
would be a good one to extend ... ?
> ... For instance,
> yesterday someone I know who is quite savvy in Gopher and WAIS was
> feeling his way along with Mosaic and the Web; he said he kept wanting
> to be able to quickly "gopher" elsewhere. He did not know what "Open URL"
> would do; that revelation alone opened things up. Would "Open Network
> Resource" be more inviting? What's obvious to a wizard isn't to a newbie.
This is a good point -- the Most Excellent Mosaic is even
as we speak getting its trial by fire at the hands of the Great
Unwashed who (can you imagine?) don't know from beta products.
And even the literate few, as in this example, could benefit by
some clarity of language (and, of course, jargon avoidance).
I think even "Open Network Resource", while a step in
the right direction, is a little stodgy -- we probably need some
PR types to suggest something more graphic ... "resource" may be
kind of vague ... maybe "node" or something more image-inducing?
Steve Waterbury
NASA/GSFC