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# Changing expecations (again)
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/changing-expecations-again/
- Published: 2006-01-02T21:34:58.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T20:59:10.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Books, Social, UX

[![playography.png](https://www.lorcandempsey.net/content/images/wordpress/lorcan/playography.png)](https://www.irishplayography.com/index.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)Over the break I was looking at a couple of directory-type sites. I was interested in how my response to them was different than it would have been a couple of years ago.  
First, somebody was showing me the [Irish Playography](https://www.irishplayography.com/index.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net) site, an impressive accounting of Irish plays and the people involved with them, and, at first sight, a useful resource for those who want to find out more in this area.  
[![muldoon.png](https://www.lorcandempsey.net/content/images/wordpress/lorcan/muldoon.png)](https://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth126&ref=lorcandempsey.net)The second was the [Contemporary Writers in the UK](https://www.contemporarywriters.com/?ref=lorcandempsey.net) site of the British Council which is yet another well-done site. It includes a short biography, bibliography, a critical treatment, prizes, an invited comment from the author, and other details. Again, a potentially very useful resource.  
As I browsed each, I was struck that I kept looking for the user-contributed content. The comments by play-goers, readers, people who reported additional details or perceptions about the people and activities being presented. This was, for me, another example of how a particular kind of offering – in this case sites which solicit user-contributed content – is creating a general expectation.  
Without user-contributed content, each of these sites seemed – to me anyway – slightly flat or inert. This is probably unfair to the creators of the sites, but it is how I responded. And I certainly wouldn’t have felt this way a couple of years ago. Of course, this may have had something to do with having spent quite a while looking up movies in various places over the holiday period!  
Incidentally, I liked the quote that the British Council site had gleaned from the modest Paul Muldoon:

> I’m afraid I can’t come up with anything wonderfully witty and wise to say about my work, except to wish that it displayed a shade more wit or wisdom. \[[Paul Muldoon. British Council.](https://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth126&ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]

Related entry:

- [Changing expectations](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/000813.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)