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A thought I had.
Jul. 27th, 2007 01:45 pmWhy I feel the Web will never be controlled, tiered, or otherwise be prevented from being the open & mobocratic place it is now.
Mainly because of the people that populate it. Sure corporations can buy up search terms and establish huge presenses, but they're not the ones who are blazing the trail. It's us who are doing the innovating, the discovering, the assimilating. It's see a need, fill a need on the Wild Wild Web. RSS feeds came about by programmers being tired of crappy aggregators that only worked with one service or were clunky and stupid. The community of RSS supporters worked on it together and only later did the big names grab on to it. Podcasting was grown by people just wanting to have an easier way of distributing audio information along with their blog feeds. It got huge when it was made easy enough for anyone to use. Apple didn't do it, bloggers and independant coders did it. Apple only built Podcast support into iTunes after there were hit 'casts gathering hundreds of listeners.
Really it's all about the people. The people made the internet the booming place it is. Our online lives have been made possible by both corporate and independant foundations, but it's the users who have made it take off. With no one to use it, with no one here to read the sites and comment, what would there be?
The internet has become our community where none really exists in our hometowns anymore. This is the watercooler, the coffee shop, the bulletin board, the library, the front porch, the chairs in front of the general store where the old men play checkers, and the treehouse full of kids planning the next water war. And while we have let corporate interests take over a large part of our real-world spaces and lives, we let them because they provided a service, faster and cheaper and more convenient than Mom & Pop could. But the internet is different. In terms of where we go and how we communitcate, it's so very different here. True there are large corporations doing itfast, cheaper, better, but that's mostly in the retail sector. And the Net is vast. Infinite almost. Everywhere and nowhere. So what if Wal-Mart sets up a site? It's not like they have to force anyone else out of that space. They just create a new one for them. If I want to set up my own space what are the costs involved? Anywhere from Free on up.
The point of my dreamers ramble is this: We the people are the voice of the internet. There is room for everyone, but if anyone tries to take away the lives we've built here, they're in for a hell of a fight. Web mobilization can call up someof the largest numbrs of people in the least amount of time. The Mobocracy is the rule. We are stronger than they know.
Mainly because of the people that populate it. Sure corporations can buy up search terms and establish huge presenses, but they're not the ones who are blazing the trail. It's us who are doing the innovating, the discovering, the assimilating. It's see a need, fill a need on the Wild Wild Web. RSS feeds came about by programmers being tired of crappy aggregators that only worked with one service or were clunky and stupid. The community of RSS supporters worked on it together and only later did the big names grab on to it. Podcasting was grown by people just wanting to have an easier way of distributing audio information along with their blog feeds. It got huge when it was made easy enough for anyone to use. Apple didn't do it, bloggers and independant coders did it. Apple only built Podcast support into iTunes after there were hit 'casts gathering hundreds of listeners.
Really it's all about the people. The people made the internet the booming place it is. Our online lives have been made possible by both corporate and independant foundations, but it's the users who have made it take off. With no one to use it, with no one here to read the sites and comment, what would there be?
The internet has become our community where none really exists in our hometowns anymore. This is the watercooler, the coffee shop, the bulletin board, the library, the front porch, the chairs in front of the general store where the old men play checkers, and the treehouse full of kids planning the next water war. And while we have let corporate interests take over a large part of our real-world spaces and lives, we let them because they provided a service, faster and cheaper and more convenient than Mom & Pop could. But the internet is different. In terms of where we go and how we communitcate, it's so very different here. True there are large corporations doing itfast, cheaper, better, but that's mostly in the retail sector. And the Net is vast. Infinite almost. Everywhere and nowhere. So what if Wal-Mart sets up a site? It's not like they have to force anyone else out of that space. They just create a new one for them. If I want to set up my own space what are the costs involved? Anywhere from Free on up.
The point of my dreamers ramble is this: We the people are the voice of the internet. There is room for everyone, but if anyone tries to take away the lives we've built here, they're in for a hell of a fight. Web mobilization can call up someof the largest numbrs of people in the least amount of time. The Mobocracy is the rule. We are stronger than they know.
