Wednesday 28 July 2010
internet becoming like the M40
i was just thinking that it was like that, or at least motorways in general... you get on it, with an idea of going somewhere, and you can only get off at the big junctions - you miss out on all the stuff inbetween, the stuff that it has been planned that you don't see... possibly, the GOOD stuff. But you do get there fast, probably where you wanted to go. That's what google does - who actually clicks on anything that isn't on the first page? It means you are channelled into a series of decisions - it doesn't increase your freedom, it decreases it. The car and the internet are only expressions of freedom if you actually take that dodgy little back road, or flick to page 84 of the search results... otherwise, you are just going backwards and forwards between Reading and Birmingham.
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Having lunch at work so keeping it short.
ReplyDeleteI found your highway mataphore quite interesting:
It made me see the internet as a space ship sold as a flying car.
When you're travelling at the speed of light does the journey really matter? (Pollution etc. maybe) ::BUT There are loads of ways to edit your navigator to find the things/places you want to. My Firefox "adds art" onto any ad space, which is a feature I really cherish. And I guess I wanted to point out the obvious, that the whole internet is "free form" and easy to edit. A database, tho yes, full of road signs to popular hits and towards the mindless and endless entertainment\information\money making or spending 24/7supermarkets. Bla bla bla bla.
Hope life is good! I just bit into paper and have the taste of orange in my mouth. YUK.
TAKE CARE
ReplyDeleteNick Humphreys 29 July at 10:38
hey hon! hope its all going well at your job...
I'm interested in some aspects of the internet, especially after I read Paul Shepheards Cultivated Wilderness... with all this "augmented reality" stuff, it seems to be adding to the landscape in a digital way, that you can't necessarily see (like having a mobile phone signal when you are standing on top of a mountain... makes it NOT wild anymore)
I'm doing some work, layering new walking routes onto google earth for a health organisation who are trying to promote walking to make people fit. Its interesting and I get to analyse a lot of landscape... but it makes me think it actually limits you in some ways... you are set a route, and if you were out in a field it would tell you that you must follow this path... not wander...
I'm not criticising the internet in the blog, i think i was starting it as a general thing I want to write about, I was criticising how the huge corporate groupings engineer it to guide the majority in general directions... its fair enough, google will make more money like that, and that's what they are there to do, but its up to the user (or the motorway driver!) to be adventurous and try and find new routes, avenues... question things basically, rather than accept...
Something like that...