I wrote an essay on a new breed of virtual communities that exist both online and off. I thought it might be relevant to the discussion:
Getting real: Virtual communities that break the fourth wall
"Of course there is a real world out there when you're engaged in a virtual community. But, in most cases, the web world and the real one rarely intersect. A few websites are changing all that."
Did you vote today? Come tell your voting story in the {fray}! This is the site that Jon Katz
mentioned earlier today, where we're collecting stories from Election 2000. Come and share yours!
(And, yes, I know, I'm just promoting my site. But hey, at least it's on topic!)
My site, fray.com, has been blocked by the Bess censorware, too.
{fray} is a collection of first-person, true stories, each with its own posting area after it. We've hit on a lot of the big emotional issues - love, sex, freedom - and I happen to know we have a ton of high school posters.
For {fray} to be blocked from schools is ridiculous. There is nothing obscene about the site, few foul words (unless you count "naked" which is on the front page right now, and probably why it was blocked), and no pornographic images.
They're depriving high schoolers from a valuable avenue of self-expression (that I've worked very hard to make accessible) and I, for one, am pissed.
I was in college when my magazine subscription changed from Rolling Stone to Wired. The parallel seemed clear to me - RS was about my parent's revolution, Wired was about mine.
My senior year, HotWired launched. I obsessed about it, reloading the front page over and over to see it randomize. (This was the 2.0 homepage, with the random colors, remember?) I obsessed about it. I could tell they were creating the future. I wanted in.
Through a combination of luck, skill, and random connections, I got my chance. I moved to San Francisco and started working at HotWired at the end of 1995.
I worked there for 15 months, through two failed IPO attempts, the birth and death of Netizen TV and Hard Wired, and the doubling and tripling of the staff.
I grew up a lot in that time. I discovered what was important to me. I wrote it down and it got me fired.
But Wired and HotWired still meant a lot to me, and it pained me to watch them sink like ships this year. Slowly Wired morphed into a magazine for old fuckers in suits, not wierdo kids who loved the net and digital tech. And HotWired lost all its edges one by one, and turned into Just Another Website. The freaks and dreamers could go somewhere else.
Say a prayer for Wired, and then lower it six feet under. It's time to start over.
I agree with much of what Katz has to say, but I have to admit, the hype around weblogs really baffles me. They're just link lists with a snarky comments, and there's very little that's revolutionary about that.
I think Teeth Magazine recently said it best:
There can't be that much lint in all your navels at the same time.
What's really galling to me is how all the coverage focuses on the Evil Hacker. Duh. Melissa was a stupid little macro that can only exist on Microsoft products. Why isn't anyone reporting that?
This is not the work of an evil programmer - it's the logical outcome of shitty products (windows and outlook). Hmph.
Slashdot Mirror
Dvorak is a troll and should be modded down and filtered out.
I wrote an essay on a new breed of virtual communities that exist both online and off. I thought it might be relevant to the discussion:
Getting real: Virtual communities that break the fourth wall
"Of course there is a real world out there when you're engaged in a virtual community. But, in most cases, the web world and the real one rarely intersect. A few websites are changing all that."
Did you vote today? Come tell your voting story in the {fray} ! This is the site that Jon Katz mentioned earlier today, where we're collecting stories from Election 2000. Come and share yours!
(And, yes, I know, I'm just promoting my site. But hey, at least it's on topic!)
The fray's election story for this year was just posted !
FYI: The fray story from 4 years ago that Katz mentions can be found here:
http://fray.com/criminal/vote/
And stay tuned! Rumor has it there'll be a new one later this afternoon!
-- Derek
{fray} is a collection of first-person, true stories, each with its own posting area after it. We've hit on a lot of the big emotional issues - love, sex, freedom - and I happen to know we have a ton of high school posters.
For {fray} to be blocked from schools is ridiculous. There is nothing obscene about the site, few foul words (unless you count "naked" which is on the front page right now, and probably why it was blocked), and no pornographic images.
They're depriving high schoolers from a valuable avenue of self-expression (that I've worked very hard to make accessible) and I, for one, am pissed.
-- D
Sorry, I fucked up the link. That url again, was:
Teeth Magazine
-- D
I agree with much of what Katz has to say, but I have to admit, the hype around weblogs really baffles me. They're just link lists with a snarky comments, and there's very little that's revolutionary about that.
I think Teeth Magazine recently said it best:
Heh.
-- Derek
Exactly!
What's really galling to me is how all the coverage focuses on the Evil Hacker. Duh. Melissa was a stupid little macro that can only exist on Microsoft products. Why isn't anyone reporting that?
This is not the work of an evil programmer - it's the logical outcome of shitty products (windows and outlook). Hmph.