All posts in ‘The Changing World’
This is a guest post from David Weinberger, originally published at JOHO.
Transparency is the New Objectivity
by David Weinberger
A friend asked me to post an explanation of what I meant when I said at PDF09 that “transparency is the new objectivity.” First, I apologize for the cliché of “x is the new y.” Second, what I meant is that transparency is now fulfilling some of objectivity’s old role in the ecology of knowledge.
Outside of the realm of science, objectivity is discredited these days as anything but an aspiration, and even that aspiration is looking pretty sketchy. The problem with objectivity is that it tries to... Read More
I’m not sure what it is that causes some people to turn into uninspired automatons when they get into “business” mode. (Back in the days of the power tie, I blamed it on lack of blood flow to the brain. These days, with few organizations requiring suits, I’m not sure what the reason is.) It almost seems that there’s some work ethic thing that says “if you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you must not be serious about it.”
I don’t think anything could be further from the truth. I think that if you’re truly impassioned about what you’re working on, you can’t help to enjoy what you’re doing.... Read More
The word Manifesto was carefully chosen. It does have an anti-status-quo property which is partially rhetoric but partially a genuine expression of how it felt to be on the web ten years ago when it wasn’t quite taken for granted. - David Weinberger
Back in 2002, I thought it was modestly innovative to hold a conference where online interactions were a core part of the experience, participants helped to co-create the content, information flowed in and out of the event in real-time, and the subject matter ranged across traditional industry boundaries. Modestly, because those developments seemed inevitable in an increasingly connected world. Yet here we are in 2009, and I still get asked about those features of Supernova, as though they were wild and novel. I haven’t changed my view about inevitability. And frankly, Supernova has moved forward a great deal since 2002.
Today, with so many fantastic online tools and information sources,... Read More
Interesting excerpt in the Technology Review on altruism in social networks. The excerpt:
“How altruistic behaviour emerges has puzzled evolutionary biologists for decades. From the point of view of survival of the fittest, the unselfish concern for the welfare of others seems inexplicable. Surely any organism should always act selfishly if it were truly intent on saving its own bacon.
One explanation is that altruistic acts, although seemingly unselfish, actually benefit those who perform them but in indirect ways. The idea is that unselfish acts are repeated. So those who have been helped go on to help other individuals, ensuring that this behaviour spreads through a group, a phenomenon... Read More
