I assume most people here know how webpages work these days. They run code, they save data, etc. But in this increasingly interactive web, who is responsible for telling people about all of this? I'm pretty sure back in school the internet was presented to us as this mechanism for transferring information; you "open" a website, and get a "document". I am sure this is still how many if not most people imagine the internet, without really being aware of what happens, largely due to metaphors like "documents" that are still widely being used today.

But aren't we, who make these websites, actually just lying to people about what's going on? If we talk to them in terms of "documents" and "opening" links, etc., aren't we presenting an image that is factually wrong? And if so, who is responsible for communicating to users that they aren't viewing "documents", but in fact, running "programs" on their

PCs, that they downloaded from the internet?

I'm also very interested if somebody knows of any research on this topic; that is, how "most people" imagine these things work.

TL;DR Websites have turned from documents into programs and too many users didn't get the memo