Discussing attributes, postmodernism, reason and rationality, Ross Atkinson’s “Transversality and the Role of the Library as Fair Witness” took me back to philosophy classes I had as an undergrad. Beyond bringing me a bit of nostalgia, the article also encapsulates libraries’ reasons for existence. By reducing what libraries “are” down to two attributes, plurality and authority, Atkinson pinpoints the tension felt within libraries being pulled in two different directions. We want to simultaneously provide all information to all people, while maintaining accuracy and trustworthiness of our resources.

As I read about transversality, I started thinking about how libraries have to work to transcend all of the political bullarky in order to be a fair witness. It's a big challenge. Speaking of challenges, Atkinson says that "It is a primary capacity of reason, therefore, to create connections among concepts or positions that do not, in fact, connect well, providing the ability (or tolerance) to live and work in the presnece of even irreconcilable contradictions" (2005, 181). This quote helps me realize that I am definitely reason-challenged right now, and therefore having difficultly making the connection between ...Fair Witness and Attention Web Designers.

Both are great articles. I found the Lindgaard, et. al., article to be very interesting. First impressions of websites certainly do make a big difference. When I first visit a web site, I have an immediate reaction to it, and the little web surfer in my head says either "this is going to be good," or "move on, this is worthless!" However, Lindgaard seems to imply that aesthetics is more important than usability. For me, usability is part of the visual appeal. Usability is beautiful. From what I understood of the study described, the experiment was performed with a program to make the pages look as though they were displayed with IE, though the users weren't actually clicking through the Internet. I wonder, does this affect download time? I want pleasing colors, but I also want clear content and speed of information over snazzy, distracting animations and graphics. Jakob Nielson says that your page should load quickly: "The one-second response-time limit is required for users to feel that they are moving freely through the information space" (Nielson 2000, 48). Lindgaard's study showing that you have 50 ms to make a good impression rings true...and, part of that first impression is presenting your information quickly. Your site should be attractive (Great Guru Neilson's website--not so attractive in my opinion), but not by sacrificing downloading time.



Nielson, Jakob. 2000. Designing web usability. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing.