World Wide Whatever? Are You Serious?
The Toronto Star has a lengthy feature today looking at how the Internet has progressed since Tim Berners-Lee introduced his Web protocols in 1990/1991. In general, the story is fairly down on the Web and its ability to create or inspire change or solutions to major issues such as AIDS or cancer. (Notwithstanding the impact of e-commerce, social networking, e-mail, blogging, etc.) The story features several quotes from Berners-Lee, which appear to have come from interviews he gave a few years ago, including one with MIT's Technology Review magazine in Oct., 2004. The story also takes a subtle run at the blogsophere - describing bloggers as “online diarists”, and offers up a quote from the Globe & Mail's media writer Rick Salutin, who says the “main qualification for blogging is you failed to get a mainstream media job.”
Update: For some other views on the where the Web is headed, check out this story on the BBC , Wired and Read/Write Web. The BBC also has a story on how the Web emerged
August 6th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Either Rick Salutin is saying you are over-qualified for blogging, or he doesn't believe the Post is 'mainstream media'.
August 6th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
And of course, Tim Berners-Lee has a blog — it runs on Drupal, the open source CMS I work on, so I'm extra proud to be pointing to it.
August 6th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
I think David is a top-notch veteran when it comes to journalism, but I'm disappointed with his take on the Web. I know his style is often to deflate things that may be overhyped, but he does seriously downplay the impact of the Web on the lives of people. Fact is, we all can't imagine life without the Web and that in itself is an amazing thing.
David has written similar features downplaying the significance of fuel cells and biofuels, and while I think there's a need for a healthy dose of skepticism, I think he goes too far sometimes.