I do have a point to make.
With millions of personal web sites and blogs out there, it's rather unavoidable
that people are going to be repeating what others have already said. As I've suggested
in a previous column, that's often part of the essence of blogging. And it's not
only "others". I'm sure that I do so as well, more frequently than I'm
aware, or admit.
And yet, among the many critiques of Web 2.0 that I've read, I don't think I've
read one that emphasizes the degree to which the techies involved in the phenomenon
seem more interested in discovering new tools than in actually making use of them
for something. I also don't get the impression that others have noted that RSS
feeds and various social bookmarking tools are more of a means of confirming our
already established opinions than they are for exposing us to new ideas with which
we can play around. If these columns are my own personal notebooks, I really don't
have to strive toward originality. If, however, there really are others who read
them, then going beyond simply rephrasing what I've found that others have said
has value. These observations at least point in the direction of making some sort
of contribution to the already bloated discussions of this subject that fill the
web.
Go to: Perhaps better never than late, or
Go to: It's just too Oh!