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Dave Cridland
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1 year ago
in Why Identi.ca is important on Behind the Times
Microblogging isn't important, but that belies the point. It's also not "better" than IRC, or XMPP - I've argued that microblogging and XMPP should converge for some time, and I think that they probably will.
But then, I've also argued that microblogging is simply the latest incarnation of the telnet talkers of old - and those were powerful communities, too. These are not "change the world" technologies, and anyone arguing that is probably somewhat deluded - but they are pleasant, and occasionally useful.
Dave.
But then, I've also argued that microblogging is simply the latest incarnation of the telnet talkers of old - and those were powerful communities, too. These are not "change the world" technologies, and anyone arguing that is probably somewhat deluded - but they are pleasant, and occasionally useful.
Dave.
1 reply
Each of us sees/feels/experiences a small piece of the world, accompanied in most people by a robust internal chatter. It is that internal chatter that forms the basis of our daily decisions.
Micro-blogging connects all these little sensed pieces of experience in near real-time. The important elements of our internal dialogue "bubble up" as posts, and give a sense of the world as each of us experiences it. Yes, much of it is inane, just as much of our internal dialogue is. But it gives us a human sense of others and their problems. I follow a conservative representative, progressive feminine bloggers, conspiracy nuts, a farmer in Iowa, and people in India, Australia, the Netherlands... I could go on. My world is richer for it, but more importantly, tolerance, understanding, & even compassion for those ~thought~ to be different is growing (if ever so subtly.)
Most of the time, this idle chatter is about simple, perhaps unimportant things, and it's constrained to a relatively small network. But when something important (or really interesting) happens, it bubbles up, then ripples through networks so fast that if, say, a major earthquake happens or a journalist is arrested, the whole network can learn of it in a matter of minutes. How is that not revolutionary? When have we ever had a technology/protocol able to achieve that?
Prior technologies have allowed that only for limited numbers of people, and so we've needed to have representatives to fulfill the global sensing, communication, & decision-making tasks of the world. Governments will never go away, but now we have access to more information, more quickly than our leaders. And we can talk about that information ourselves, and large numbers of people can decide to do what they can to fix the problem or convince others to. (Just like with Open Source Software)
Like any tool, it comes down to how you wield it. So perhaps I should rephrase the thesis: Micro-blogging has the ~potential~ to be every bit as significant as the printing press (I'm sure it also had nay-sayers).
I'm hyper-excited about identi.ca because it brings a missing ingredient to the mix: Complaining gets you nowhere. If you aren't happy with something, FIX IT! Write a script like http://identi.ca/4fthawaiian. Host the Laconica software on your server. Write some code, or convince someone who can that it's for the greater good. And be patient. If YOU can't fix it today, why should THEY? Open Source + Micro-blogging = there is no more "they." It's you and I. If WE care about it and if WE have the skills, then WE can fix our problems quicker, better, and more humanely than any centralized hierarchy. That's why Twitter should be shaking in their boots.
Peace,
http://identi.ca/exador23
global identican
"The medium is the message" - Marshall McLuhan