Lesson plan

Amazon Light

Amazon Light was an alternate user interface to Amazon.com built on the Amazon Web Services API. The site was developed by Alan Taylor, a former Amazon programmer, while he still worked for the company. The site was funded through Amazon affiliate links. The website was intended to be a simpler and more efficient way to access Amazon.com and use its features. It allowed the user to search or browse Amazon's database of books, music, DVDs, and VHS tapes, and add items into a list. The list was then used to add the items into the user's Amazon.com shopping cart where they could then be purchased. Amazon Light originally used a layout which resembled the main page of the Google search engine. In July 2002, Google's lawyers told it to cease and desist. Amazon Light 4.0 won the "Technical Achievement award" at the South by Southwest Web Awards in 2005. In July 2009, Alan Taylor announced on his blog that "Amazon Light (all four versions) will shut down."

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Article summary

Amazon Light was an alternate user interface to Amazon.com built on the Amazon Web Services API. The site was developed by Alan Taylor, a former Amazon programmer, while he still worked for the company. The site was funded through Amazon affiliate links. The website was intended to be a simpler and more efficient way to access Amazon.com and use its features. It allowed the user to search or browse Amazon's database of books, music, DVDs, and VHS tapes, and add items into a list. The list was then used to add the items into the user's Amazon.com shopping cart where they could then be purchased. Amazon Light originally used a layout which resembled the main page of the Google search engine. In July 2002, Google's lawyers told it to cease and desist. Amazon Light 4.0 won the "Technical Achievement award" at the South by Southwest Web Awards in 2005. In July 2009, Alan Taylor announced on his blog that "Amazon Light (all four versions) will shut down."

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.