Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Not the Only Answer

I'm glad there are some true believers when it comes to tagsonomies and the demise(?) of controlled vocabularies. They are collectively making very good points, though I personally find problematic the assumption that no cultivation of these herds of keywords will be necessary going forward.

Thanks to PeterMe for pointing out this great Business Week story on collective power of "Us." At first glance, this story seems like a pie-in-the-sky, go-go Internet bubble anecdote. But it'’s not. This is the Web actually fulfilling the promise that the bubble hinted at. We weren'’t ready for it then, now we are growing into it - and nicely, thank you.

Still, there are dangers.
Quite often, the best solution to a problem comes from the sudden flash of insight from a solitary genius such as Charles Darwin or Albert Einstein. It would be a tragedy if these folks, sometimes unpopular in their times, got lost in the cooperative crowds. Clearly, peer production has its limits. Almost certainly, it will never build railroads, grow wheat, run nuclear power plants, or write great novels.
Interesting that some of our Darwins and Einsteins would encourage their own demise. I suspect that they are thinking of their own trajectory as well. I'm interest to hear what they have to say about their next iteration.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Kudos & Questions

On the vocational cross-over front:

Victor shows how the design community is "trying" to open up about what it means to be a designer. Of course, the controversy is just as juicy; a skill the design community strives to perfect.

Then, there is this story on CNN.com:
Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen predicts that more people will live in rural settings, with technology enabling them to do almost anything they like, be it work or play, without leaving their homes.

Does it scare anyone else to the core of their being that Jakob is talking about anything other than web page real estate? Furthermore, why can I find almost NO protest on the web? Is no one else listening to Mr. Nielsen at this point? That's too bad.