On Sunday, after first hearing about Time magazine's person of the year, I thought about blogging about it. Seeing the cover, with it's iMac image with a YouTube controller, reminded me of the early '80s when the personal computer was chosen as the person of the year. Though, this time, it wasn't actually the computer, but instead, "You." You, in the sense of the users of all the Web 2.0 tools out there -- the MySpacers, YouTubers, Diggers, vloggers, and the like.
And while I wanted to blog about it I didn't. Even yesterday, as I sat and watched the conversation unfold over at Techmeme, Technorati, and via Google alerts.
But like Robert Scoble, I thought everyone would be blogging about it anyway. And then after Darren Rowse, "Time Wins Linkbaiter of the Year Award," became one of the most widely read posts on the topic, I really decided not to blog about it.
So why am I here blogging about it today? Because I realize that while Web 2.0 and user generated content has taken off, and Time has ordained everyone who participates in the culture, there's still a mass of folks who have no idea what an RSS reader is, have never used YouTube, or don't have a Linkedin, Facebook, or MySpace account. In fact, there are many who don't know, or don't care to know what these tools and social networking sites are all about. There are even those, reading this very post, who don't even realize that this is a blog entry and not a daily news report. It is for you -- the luddite, the technophobe, the newbie -- so that you too may know what all of the hype is about, and learn how much the world around you is changing.
Related Stories: | Topics:Work/Life, news + current events, Time Inc., YouTube LLC, Blogs and Blogging, Media, Internet |
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Recent Comments | 2 Total
December 19, 2006 at 4:21pm by roger fulton
...and are probably richer for the avoidance of it. Into the valley of people avoidance. People to people, face-to-face, contacts are what makes the humanity a precious commodity in us all.
What worries me as a school teacher is the isolation of this new "hi-tech" world where people make two dimensional relationships more important via the "box" than a walk in the park with friends, or a vigorous discussion of politics or love over a glass of wine in the local pub.
The children I see are angrier, more isolated, more violent and acting out as a result of the computer, tech-driven 'powered-up' parents who make it isolated in the wwoods mentality driven by "our changing world" and not so happy that all that change is so great.
December 20, 2006 at 10:14pm by Bis
couldn't agree more, the first thing i did was to circulate the TIME article to my frens and cautioned to them against celebration but instead reflect of what we have lost over the last 20 years in personal communication. Instead of taking a step ahead, it seems the technology have guided us to take a step back, contrary to it's orginal noble aim !