David Weinberger on Web Exceptionalism (part 2)
In this part of the interview, we discover the third piece in which the web is exceptional – the ability to allow collaboration on a scale previously unprecedented. David and Howard also discuss the ways that networks connect us, and note the fact that there’s a need for new words to describe friends (because of the use of the word “friend” in social networking services) is yet another reason to consider the shift in our society that the web is causing. Finally the two discuss “Networks for Change,” specifically how the Obama administration’s shift towards transparency is changing how governments react to people.
In case you missed part 1, you can view it.
At first I thought that this was a rehash of Wired Magazine’s first 12 issues. But it occurs to me that fundamental shifts in how we communicate and what these new networks mean may take more than a decade and a half to work their way into the culture. So describing how the Web is exceptional is the first step in the hard work of how to realize the full potential of the networks.
RE: government — 2 anecdotes from a small state: 1) A legislator tried to televise committee meetings on her webcams. It caused much consternation and wringing of hands. Constituents can watch lawmakers napping! 2) There is enormous resistance to making FOIA requests via email, and making emails subject to FOIA. All the usual bromides about the End of Civilization were trotted out. But now that it’s happening, people are getting used to it.
The ability to use these new network tools for better governance is there, what’s slowing its quicker spread is the human factor. We need to educate the policy makers, the law makers and the rank and file of the benefits of these things.
I love the example of the legislator using a personal webcam to televise meetings. Great example of someone in civil service (is that term still used?) who is actually *serving*. Love that.
Brian,
I have the first 12 issues of Wired here on the shelf. Let me re-read them and I’ll get back with you
Seriously though, I think we’re still understanding how the web is re-writing our civilization, 17 years later. Look at Twitter and Iran – it was both predictable and totally unexpected.
New and Useful: Listened to this doing morning exercises. (found through who I follow on Twitter). Thought provoking quality content! (BTW: Benjamin Franklin catalogued over 200 words for drunkenness).
Needs Improvement: YouTube video is not compelling transfer medium for this communication. Between Skype fading in and out on the original version, the audio compression, and the jerky nature of streaming vs. buffering audio, using valuable brain cycles to filter the noise from the signal, makes it harder to imagine all the wonderful implications David mentions. An audio podcast would have been better. (Normally I would put this kind of comment in the same bucket as the transparency purists complaining that government’s first attempts at transparency data sites need improvement, but in this context, it’s metameme.)
Charles:
Agreed, Skype, bandwidth and internet gremlins significantly reduced the video quality of this interview, however, it was worth making sure what David said got out to the public, rather than trying for a do-over and potentially missing the points he made.
I could go off about why we don’t all get high quality video signals wherever and whenever we want, as I’ve been doing desktop video projects since 1993, and it still has problems, but I’ll leave that for another post about bandwidth as a gating factor to the network age.
Thank you for commenting, and we’ll keep working to do better on video quality.