Re: web sites going dark

[vint cerf <vcerf at MCI.NET>]

consider a twist of ribbon as an alternative?

vint

At 08:11 AM 9/13/2001 -0400, stan kulikowski ii wrote:
>>> I was wondering, and I have asked the firm where I
>>> work, if all web sites (commercial and otherwise)
>>> should "go dark" in memory of the victims today.
>>
>
>  on this suggestion, i put my entry page of a web design course dark, so
>we could discuss the issues and techniques of design in the course.  the
>technique is rather simple, but the motivations are a little more complex
>than i had anticipated.
>
>  how many times can any of us recall that this was done?  for what reasons?
>
>i seem to recall that some web sites went dark after the passage of the
>telecommunications act of 1996.  this was done in protest over the
>censorship issues in the decency parts of the bill, and these were
>eventually struck down by the supreme court.  i would not imply any
>causality here, but the judicial result did give some validation to the www
>expression.
>
>going dark in protest is a different motivation than going dark as an
>expression of support for victims.  same technique, different goals.  it
>seems to me there is some risk of misunderstanding ambiguous sentiments
>tied to the same expression.  i had thought that support of victims means
>the people who survived the attack, and the relatives of those who died--
>and probably those of us who have an empathy of this event as a tragedy.
>there is a different 'support of victims' which means to focus on the dead.
>like 'remember the alamo' was a symbol to charge emotional energy and spur
>soldiers into later battles.
>
>news agencies are showing detailed images of the towers falling which are
>intended to charge the sentiments of the viewers.   children will be
>drawing images of jets, towers and smoke to discharge these anxieties they
>get from the news.  very similar symbolic expressions which either build
>catharsis or discharge it.
>
>i could use a little RFC on this design technique of web sites going dark,
>at least to collect data on when and how this has been used.  perhaps some
>informal guidelines on the range of motivations and use of symbols.
>                                                           stan