{"id":72,"date":"2017-05-02T13:46:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T13:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/?p=72"},"modified":"2017-05-02T18:19:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T18:19:25","slug":"mobile-first-is-a-special-case-of-reading-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/05\/02\/mobile-first-is-a-special-case-of-reading-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile First is a Special Case of Reading First"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several years ago, there was a push towards \u201cmobile first\u201d publishing \u2013 the idea being that more and more people were using their mobile phones as their primary reading device. The optimization of web content for constraints inherent in mobile technology (be that bandwidth or limited computational resources) is something I had already noted as a usability imperative at least a decade earlier (mainly while writing on the long-since defunct omidyar.net) \u2013 I summed it up as \u201cI hate to wait\u201d. At the time the writing was in plain sight on the wall separating the First World from the Third World (but was by and large ignored besides do-gooders lamenting a \u201cdigital divide\u201d).<\/h3>\n

The metaphor of the \u201cBright Lights, Big City<\/a>\u201d is a useful one. We must recognize that the so-called digital divide is in large part a tale of two cultures: One that has been steeped in mass consumption of big media content for several centuries, and another that is more attuned to many millennia of \u201cprimitive\u201d and \u201cface to face\u201d styles of very traditional and highly evolved forms communication. Put simply: Whereas advanced technology and machines dominate \u201cDeveloped\u201d countries; Natural languages reign supreme in \u201cNon-Developed\u201d countries.<\/h3>\n

There is indeed some irony in the widespread consumer-orientation in highly industrialized countries. We will probably revisit this theme sometime in the near future.<\/h3>\n

Here and now, however, I want to focus on the \u201cmatter of fact\u201d situation that online engagement is still in the vast majority of cases a phenomenon of highly developed economies and technologically advanced societies \u2013 and that in these societies the primary avenue to engagement is paved on the path of reading and consuming content. The road to participatory communication is a limited access highway, and all on ramps require reading (or \u201cconsumer\u201d) literacy.<\/h3>\n

The production of literature will also need to be reviewed, but for the present moment it is simplest to treat it as being of secondary significance.<\/h3>\n

Participation and engagement in community communications is not a matter of prodding and motivating people to publish, but rather it is a matter of making it quick and easy for people to read.<\/h3>\n

This primary rule has been \u2013 by and large \u2013 neglected by most \u201cpublishing platforms\u201d (such as WordPress). There are some notable exceptions \u2013 for example: Chris Lema’s talk at WordCamp Portland 2015<\/a> in which he argued that \u201cour goal should always be to delight our client’s clients\u201d (see ca. 17 mins.). Another good (and more recently published) resource to consult for this approach is Tammie Lister’s presentation about \u201chow to know your users<\/a>\u201d in which she emphasizes that she does not want to get stuck in some kind of semantic debate (about \u201cusability\u201d vs \u201cuser testing\u201d, etc.): \u201cWhatever word gets you to doing the thing, then that’s totally OK to use.\u201d (ca. 4 mins.)<\/h3>\n

If publishing platforms were more oriented towards users \u2013 if publishing software were more concerned with delighting the client’s clients, or delighting the end<\/b><\/i> users<\/b> \u2013 then we ought to be making it as quick and easy as possible to read content. Webpages should load in a split second. There should be no strings attached. No big data, no signups, no small print.<\/h3>\n

Yet this isn’t presently the case. Clearly, we need to pay more attention to putting reading first on the list of things we need to do. Personally, I advocate for reading first<\/strong>, joining second<\/strong> and writing last<\/strong>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several years ago, there was a push towards \u201cmobile first\u201d publishing \u2013 the idea being that more and more people were using their mobile phones as their primary reading device. The optimization of web content for constraints inherent in mobile … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[327],"tags":[328,330,331,332,329,19,91,343,159,160,347,334,201,223,341,342,45,349,339,340,344,345,346,348,28,335,336,333,337,338],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w79D-1a","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/05\/20\/reading-writing-communications\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":0},"title":"Reading, Writing + Communications","author":"nmw","date":"May 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Five centuries ago (more or less, depending on when you actually read this), Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door. In the weeks, months and years that followed, one of the most influential publications of the Protestant Reformation was propagated across Europe. Yet, in my opinion,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "impost"","block_context":{"text":"impost","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/org\/org-impost\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2021\/11\/28\/a-brief-history-of-the-gradual-shift-from-submission-censorship-towards-self-publishing\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":1},"title":"A Brief History of the Gradual Shift from Submission Censorship towards Self Publishing","author":"nmw","date":"November 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my friends who has enough patience to patiently listen to my own long-winded diatribes into various affairs in the realms of such sophisticated topics as literacy, economics or even the conditions of life in general (yet who will also occasionally interject and pepper my arguments with opinionated remarks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/09\/12\/the-rationality-of-buzz\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":2},"title":"The Rationality of Buzz","author":"nmw","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's early on a Monday morning \u2013 I would say \u201cbright and early\u201d, but it's so early that the sun is still nowhere in sight. At any rate, the week is about to begin and so I figure it's a good time to think about the barrage of buzz that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":141,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2018\/12\/21\/some-reflections-on-the-revolution-in-propaganda\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":3},"title":"Some Reflections on the Revolution in Propaganda","author":"nmw","date":"December 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"More or less exactly ten generations after Edmund Burke's treatise concerning the French Revolution and roughly about twenty generations after the invention of Gutenberg's printing press, I would like to give you a small update on the state of news, media and publishing following the advent of modern computers on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/12\/18\/the-rationality-of-literacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":4},"title":"The Rationality of Literacy","author":"nmw","date":"December 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past couple months, I have worked on developing a mission statement for one of my overarching goals \u2013 something like a \u201elife goal\u201c. Initial attempts were quite abstract, and I was greatly helped by the very considerate feedback of friends. In the intervening weeks since those first trials,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/06\/02\/why-the-scientific-method-and-open-source-are-some-of-the-best-things-since-sunlight\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":5},"title":"Why the Scientific Method and Open Source are Some of the Best Things Since Sunlight","author":"nmw","date":"June 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"About 100 years ago, some guy named Louis Brandeis apparently said something like: Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Mr. Brandeis was speaking metaphorically (his statement was made in the context of a book titled \u201cOther People's Money and How the Bankers Use it\u201d). There are in fact other phenomena which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "impost"","block_context":{"text":"impost","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/org\/org-impost\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}