LINMO

Guidelines: Suitable Topics

A vast number of topics exist that are suitable for development into LINMO-compatible web sites. The most important criteria for selecting a topic are (1) the availability of a truly qualified author, (2) the willingness of that author to make the tremendous commitment in time and effort that is necessary to produce a high quality and comprehensive complete site that conforms to the model and (3) the extent of interest by potential users.

A qualified author is one who is an expert in the subject matter (or is willing to become one), who is a skilled writer, and who has a basic understanding of the Internet and web site construction (or is willing to learn). Although basic HTML (hypertext markup language) can be learned relatively quickly, it can take years of experience to become a skilled writer.

The range of topics includes those that are used in professionally published hard-copy (i.e., printed on paper) books. However, it is even broader because it also includes those topics that might not be economically viable for commercial hard copy publishing because of a very small potential audience or an audience primarily in regions with low incomes (e.g., in developing countries) in which most people cannot afford to buy printed books.

This broader range exists because the costs are lower to both the author and the readers and because the potential readership is much greater. The costs to the author are lower because there are no costs for printing, binding, advertising, shipping, publishers' profits and other activities that are normally associated with hard copy books. Also, there is less risk of financial damage from failure of a book to sell a certain number of copies. Many more readers are likely to read any web site than a comparable book because there is nothing to purchase.

Categories of topics include scientific and academic fields, general interest fields, and even businesses and organizations. They could even include biographies and foreign language lessons. A few specific examples are alternative energy, ancient Greece, astronomy, baseball, classical composers, chocolate, comparative religion, computer history, dentistry, economics, the Enlightenment, France, geology, materials science, mythology, nutrition, philosophy, photography, physical anthropology, poetry, political science, psychology, relativity and urban design.

Each of these is a broad topic. Useful sites could also be produced about much narrower topics, for example autism, Beethoven, Buddhism, digital photography, economics of free trade, Elizabethan poetry, existential philosophy, fascism, fuel cells, the moon, Neanderthal man, Paris, polymers, vitamins and volcanoes.

A site does not have to be about some existing field or topic. Perhaps the most interesting sites would be those that explore some new topic, such as a new theory, concept or invention. For example, the LINMO site is about a model for content-rich websites. Other examples might be a new, comprehensive approach to urban design, a revised theory of ancient human migration, or a new approach to improving the productivity of computer program development.

LINMO-compatible web sites could also be produced about organizations, including specific companies, government agencies and non-profit entities. And they could even about specific products (i.e., goods and/or services) or product groups. The products could be services produced by a government agency or charitable organization or physical products produced by a private enterprise. An example could be a specific computer program. Many people might find such sites about organizations and products more interesting and more useful than sites produced by public relations departments and advertising agencies.

A potentially huge application for LINMO-compatible web sites would be product documentation, including for computer software. Poor documentation is a serious problem for software, particularly with regard to usability, which is the convenience, comfort, efficiency and satisfaction with which a product can be used by a range of people under a variety of circumstances. Among the problems that LINMO-compatible documentation would solve would be faster loading, easier navigation, a simplified and standardized user interface and the elimination of the need for costly proprietary (i.e., commercial) programs that are currently used to create documentation in proprietary formats.

Moreover, LINMO-compatible sites do not necessarily have to be non-fiction. It is also quite possible to apply the model to a work of fiction, or possibly even to a collection of poetry or short stories. A full exploitation of the liberation from the linear mode of presentation that is characteristic of hard copy books might, in fact, lead to some highly innovative works of fiction.

Clearly, there is no shortage of potential topics. Rather, the main problem is likely to find people who have sufficient ambition, expertise, writing ability and resources (i.e., time and funds) to create such a site.