Weaving the Webby Sally McLeanI woke up this morning, and realised I'd been dreaming in html. "Interesting", I thought, as I headed for the computer. "Now, what did that site layout look like again?" When questioned by my flatmate as to what I was up to, I told her about my dream. She just shook her head and said (and I quote) "You need to get a life." Something I've found increasingly more annoying as each news report goes out (and each comment about my work escapes my flatmate's lips), is the media myth that the Internet is a damaging, socially unacceptable, unhealthy landscape. I happen to think that it's quite the opposite — that it promotes creativity, original thinking and sharing of ideas. What about the sites produced and maintained by artists, writers, filmmakers and other creative types? The Internet is only a reflection of the "real" world. Doesn't the web have it's own network of artisans and cultural contributors? Yes it does. Can't the Internet facilitate artistic excellence in web site and graphic design? Yes it can. Would people have "tsk, tsked" Michelangelo when he woke up from dreaming about a masterpiece in oils? Or if Mozart awakened with a symphony in his head? Or if Einstein arose with the theory of relativity on the tip of his tongue? Okay, so maybe some people did at the time, but my point is what is created on the Internet now will hopefully be held up as examples of great imagination and useful contribution to the world later. I'm not saying that I'm a Michelangelo or a Mozart, and I'm definitely not an Einstein, but I like to think that I am developing interesting, informative and creative places to visit in the virtual world. I'm a filmmaker as well as a web designer, and I don't see that my work on the web is any different to my work with celluloid. Both worlds exist outside the "real" one — so why is one more acceptable than the other in some people's eyes? Do I pick on my flatmate just because she's a hairdresser? No, actually I don't. Even when she has pink hair. Get my point?
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