Luke Ashe-Browne Open source, web technology and feeble attempts at eloquence

The state of the social art

I've been a participant in the semi conciousness we call "Internet" for quite a long time, well, since 1998 anyway. I've seen many trendy, contemporary news and announcement sites come and go. But there are a few that really do stick out in memory and longevity. It's these few that have shaped the thought process of designers and expectations of consumers. With the on line resources we use, it has always been the busiest and most professionally produced site that set the tone for the competition, and determined the cutting edge in methodologies and technical features. So what has happened now? Too many sites with access to clever technology on a shoe string budget have flooded the market, blogs and news sites built on open source or free internet applications, blog services and annoying email diuretic social sites that just want people to post their latest breathing habits, which infuses the sites value chain with more pointless minuitia. The fact is that it used to mean something to make the effort of publishing something online, it wasn't so easy, the information had to be a little more relevant, meaningful and of good quality to be worth the work. With the ease derived from web 2.0 technologies and free publishing platforms, the quality and relevance of what you find on line is diminished. It is funny to read about the time you and your friends flooded the toilets in the Luvre, but that won't help the secondary school student with his essay on renaissance art in France, or the tourist looking for opening times to the museum.

But this was never meant to be a harsh or critical blog when I started the site, I only intended to gather my thoughts in written form, but it seems I not entirely happy with the end product which my global colleagues and I's efforts have produced since the start of this millennia. It is ironic that I now write this blog with such malice against other blog and social network users, which I myself have possibly the largest volume of experience of all those I am acquainted with.

I can only question my own value system, which causes me to argue against this progression of our technological brain child. There are those among us who are driven to fill out what space we can in the sea of drivel and irrelevance, attempting to contribute to the tide turning effort of producing meaningful publishing. Those few who do, I salute. I have had the great pleasure of finding Stephen Fry's web site and blog, also discovering he is not only a literary buff and compulsive thinker we all know from his published and television fame, but he is also a long time technologist, having "been passionately addicted to all manner of digital devices" .. " I have gorged myself on electronic gismos, computer accessories, toys, gadgets and what-have-yous of all descriptions" [from the blog of Stephen Fry www.stephenfry.com/blog]
This activist of intelectual enrichment of our on line environment is just one example of the many great works that litter the internet in unfortunate obscurity. I now have a burning desire to find more such evidence, and maybe change my own jaded perception of what gets fed out to the internet consumer.

I have followed the technical developments and enabling technological features of the Internet for 9 years, and as I approach the decade mark, I have become more aware of what people actually do with these available functions, rather than just how they do them. Some join the party of social networks which allow them to never loose touch with the social life they used only to enjoy at the weekends, making the week long weekend a near reality. This richness and volume of communication may yet spawn the next generation as one of diplomats, racial, religious, social and gender tolerance and understanding. Or maybe I'm just thinking as idealogically as my technologist predecessors going back to the 60's. I cannot avoid the evidence pointing toward my earlier discussed belief in the internet lack of quality, but we must temper this influence with the realisation that there are still forces of good in the digital verse, contributors of positive data, relieving the karmic imbalance of the internet.

So as you move forward this day, do try to hunt down snippets or whole pages of informativeness and relevance, rather than just spending your whole day watching your friends latest myspace video.