For my Final Project for DGST 101, I made a website. It is a sign-up page for the fictional second iteration of Twitter, Twitter 2.0. You can access it here.
Process: Originally, I was going to do a Medium essay about memes and the internet as a mutator. But, as I began writing it, I found the concept boring. So I shifted gears and decided to make a website. I wasn’t sure what tools to use to do this, but I started with Squarespace. When I discovered SquareSpace costs money, I changed to a website hoster named Glitch and an HTML editor labeled Just In Mind. Soon, I found that Just In Mind also required money, so I switched to Wix. To use Wix, I needed to select a template. One of the templates was of a startup website.
Seeing the Startup template, I had the idea of a website for a fictional Internet 6.0. Why 6.0? Web 3.0 was 20 years ago, so I guessed that it had gone through a couple of generations since then. I started building it on Wix, but the interface annoyed me, so I searched on the Mac App Store for a website builder and found Universe. On Universe, I could start with a blank page and it would host the website on its own domain. I started creating my website on universe, which would consist of fictitious “features” of the new iteration of the internet. As I was coming up with features, I realized that most of my problems with the Internet were really problems with Twitter. Because of this, I switched my project into focusing exclusively on Twitter.
As I created the website, I developed the imagined history behind the fictitious creators of Twitter 2.0. I imagined them as the original Twitter Engineering Team who regrets the effect that Twitter has had on the world. Now, they want to fix their mistake by eliminating what they see as the worst parts of current Twitter. Additionally, they are annoyed by how often their website is the subject of congressional hearings, so they want to reduce its global importance. To this end, I gave them their own “About” page on the website.
In summary, I created this website to express some problems I have with Twitter and Twitter’s effect on politics. To accomplish this goal, the website I created has a Home Page, a features page and a page that extols the advantages of the features. Additionally, there is a page that explains why Twitter 2.0 was created, a sign up page for emails, and finally, an about page for the fictional developers. It is my hope that this website accurately conveys my feelings about Twitter and its global impact.
Thank you.
