In defense of Pinkerton's (and likely to rouse your collective ire) I would point out that what you saw was corporatism in action. They had made a decision to develop promote and distribute WAVE for 'fun and profit' as corpatism does with every marketable item or service. The fun is in making the experience of the service, or of the item's use as pleasant as possible while maximizing the profit to gained, even if it's only the 'good-will' aspect. They'll take all the input they can understand or justify toward this, trying to maximize the traffic at the 'storefront'. They'll bring in their strongest critics for 'advice' as long as they retain control and believe there is a return on the investment. If/When the return does not meet desires, they'll cut it loose in some way that absolves them of as much residual responsibility as possible. You saw them, as you say, trying to understand Slashdot and why it should be important to them. To expect anything but conversation (that you got hours of it is impressive) for a first meeting is truly naive. These people can't, without putting their jobs, careers, and lives on the line, make or promise any major change immediately. The changes they made speak volumes about their listening abilities and their resolve to go ahead in some fashion. The same effort that you expended here needs to go into every other anonymous hotline and three times as much into improving families and family life in America. In life, as in other systems, the easiest thing is to do nothing and let nature take its course, and the less we do, the more nature will take its course. We have a choice about the situation. The outcasts and malcontents need something and iyts not somebody telling stories about them, but rather somebody listening to their stories - and dreams.
It would appear that what the study defines is that, where any of the desireable elements is missing, the result is lessened. Keywords here are 'desireable' and 'lessened'. Each places a value on the condition and finds that the collective result is other than 'optimal' for the microcosm examined. We live in a larger world than one household, one city block; we find ways to cope with the separations of time and space. The study fails to account for the biggest part of human relations, familiarity and ease of communication. To the extent that any medium enhances this, it will be adopted, willingly and enthusiastically. From our experience, we go on to another place, from which we develop further into our next condition. The Internet works because of the tools that have been enabled and the efficiency of those tools in enabling creative, individual solutions for problems. We can become and remain familiar with each other at previously impossible distances and ways. Our thoughts and ideas can be understood around the world in places and ways our parents could not have thought possible. I do wonder at the effects the advertising/merchandising model being used to fund Internet development will have, skewing its growth to enhance those ends. Ultimately, we will collectively resolve the issue and move beyond it, to another.
Slashdot Mirror
In defense of Pinkerton's (and likely to rouse your collective ire) I would point out that what you saw was corporatism in action. They had made a decision to develop promote and distribute WAVE for 'fun and profit' as corpatism does with every marketable item or service. The fun is in making the experience of the service, or of the item's use as pleasant as possible while maximizing the profit to gained, even if it's only the 'good-will' aspect. They'll take all the input they can understand or justify toward this, trying to maximize the traffic at the 'storefront'. They'll bring in their strongest critics for 'advice' as long as they retain control and believe there is a return on the investment. If/When the return does not meet desires, they'll cut it loose in some way that absolves them of as much residual responsibility as possible. You saw them, as you say, trying to understand Slashdot and why it should be important to them. To expect anything but conversation (that you got hours of it is impressive) for a first meeting is truly naive. These people can't, without putting their jobs, careers, and lives on the line, make or promise any major change immediately. The changes they made speak volumes about their listening abilities and their resolve to go ahead in some fashion. The same effort that you expended here needs to go into every other anonymous hotline and three times as much into improving families and family life in America. In life, as in other systems, the easiest thing is to do nothing and let nature take its course, and the less we do, the more nature will take its course. We have a choice about the situation. The outcasts and malcontents need something and iyts not somebody telling stories about them, but rather somebody listening to their stories - and dreams.
It would appear that what the study defines is that, where any of the desireable elements is missing, the result is lessened. Keywords here are 'desireable' and 'lessened'. Each places a value on the condition and finds that the collective result is other than 'optimal' for the microcosm examined. We live in a larger world than one household, one city block; we find ways to cope with the separations of time and space. The study fails to account for the biggest part of human relations, familiarity and ease of communication. To the extent that any medium enhances this, it will be adopted, willingly and enthusiastically. From our experience, we go on to another place, from which we develop further into our next condition.
The Internet works because of the tools that have been enabled and the efficiency of those tools in enabling creative, individual solutions for problems. We can become and remain familiar with each other at previously impossible distances and ways. Our thoughts and ideas can be understood around the world in places and ways our parents could not have thought possible. I do wonder at the effects the advertising/merchandising model being used to fund Internet development will have, skewing its growth to enhance those ends. Ultimately, we will collectively resolve the issue and move beyond it, to another.