30 July 2015

Topic Choice and Strands of Development in New Media

How is it possible to help content development. Consider that content may developed by a) simply the act of producing it, in a way which may be helped by the structures within new media or b) by the activity of working on various strands of potential development which may emerge from this content.

Would it be the case that these strands emerge from a) and are then developed by b). Thus b) is both a necessary step in certain kinds of content and an enhancing process within it. But can strands emerge from b). Well, other topics can be found this way, but can content develop in such a way.

It is an important issue with a content driven website, as one wonders to what extent one is constrained by the way topics are covered on a Site. To me it is this: is it better to start a new topic, or to let a topic develop.

Topics may organically develop from topic development, and pages may contain multiple strands, that have developed within the topic. Is this better than a more mechanistic development and separation of topics.

It may be more naturalistic to the way content may develop in new media, as it has the capacity to have delicate inter-content development, as a consequence of the way content can be optimised over time. So it is a matter of making use of the capacity of this new media, if desired.

But at some stage must separation take place - not necessarily. It may be the case that the initial topic choice is where the obvious separation, the genesis of strands of content takes place, and the task is to develop within this structure. Why, because new media can enable a kind of development which can add something new to the way content is addressed and strands of this developed.

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Underlying all of the above is this: that to actually develop content is I might hazard a long complex process, which may be potentiated by new media. This may put new media on a par with other developmental processes, at least potentially.

Of course this puts a lot of onus on the initial topic choice. But that may be the case with any expressive form. New media gives a flexibility to then alter and expand and contract and reform those topics over time, in a sensitive response to the content itself, and the context within which this development takes place, whilst keeping the topic as well. What this may do is expand the potential of initial topic choice, as new media can take it places. It is also an idea of a new media creation which has potential that is hidden to some extent at a given time.