Lost in Translation

All web designers run across this at some point: a client has created something to sell and they want to make sure it won’t get stolen when they put it online.

Visual art, audio, video, poems, how-to’s, blogs, and other such materials are what we call IP or intellectual property. There is a lot of exaggeration and paranoia surrounding these items and the potential for theft/piracy.

Yes, there are means to prevent theft but none of it is 100% foolproof.

Here are a few facts about managing IP online

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There is a common assumption among those who do not work in a technical field that because an individual is qualified to do one type of technical work, they are qualified to do it all.

Everyone hears it at some point. The dreaded phrase “well you work on computers so you must know…”.

“So, you work on computers so you must know about web design.”

Or conversely:

“You build websites so how do I fix X on my computer?”

I’m not entirely sure how this mindset came about. When you think about it, do you go to a proctologist if you have skin problems? Of course not! You see the dermatologist.

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One of the purposes of this blog is to clear up technology myths. I ran across an interesting article that just screamed to be written about in this blog.

This piece of “news” was released a few days ago: EXCLUSIVE: W.H. collects Web users’ data without notice.

In a nutshell, the article says “The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama’s promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.”

The article gives reactions from various groups who feel there is something sinister going on.

Bear with me. This post isn’t about politics. It’s actually about technology and business practices. And why this is actually not news.

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Since I’ve said it so often before, let me say again in my blog, right here in writing: Flash is not always your friend.

Yes, it is really great.

Sometimes.

As with all technology, just because it is really cool does not mean it is something that everyone should use every time.

Here’s why:

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Although I’ve been a web designer professionally for almost a decade, I was working on a college degree for far longer. That’s right, I learned this stuff before you could major in it. As a result, I decided to go for an e-business degree because I had no desire to sit through months of basic web design classes. Surprise! I already knew about 99% of the e-business material too.

But this meant I got to participate in some interesting classroom discussions and once again see how other people view the Internet.

In several classes there was confusion among students as to the difference between blogs, wikis and forums, what they did, and when to use them.

To add to the confusion, they each do have some similar functions. Yes, all 3 are web-based applications that allow people to communicate with each other. However, this doesn’t mean they are all ideal for the same needs or projects. (more…)