Zoe

I took our dog on a walk this afternoon. While I was out, I listened to Dave Weinberger's distinguished lecture at the Library of Congress on blogging and knowledge. Several thoughts occurred to me as I listened.

• First I wish the iPod had Bluetooth so that when my phone rang, it would automatically pause. I got called three times and each time I had to pull the iPod out the zippered pocket I had it in, pause it, and then answer the phone. Moreover, since the recording was MP3, it lost its place each time as well and I had to go searching for it.
• As Dave talks about encyclopedias, the Dewey Decimal system, and the quest to create a system of knowledge, I realize that knowledge (the classification and relationship of information) is not something external in the sense that Aristotle would have thought about it, but something that's internal. We each create our own system of knowledge over the course of a lifetime and that more than anything defines who we are. Knowledge is inherently experiential.
• Dave talks about the Internet as a parallel public space. I think this ideas is in his book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, as well. He refers to blogs as the way we populate that public space with selves that have a voice and are persistent. That's a good way to think about blogging, I think. Its how I establish an identity on the Web.

This point about the Web being a place, brings to mind this post by Doc Searls where he contrasts the way the entertainment industry sees the Web and the way others see the Web. I'm convinced this differing world-view is what causes much of the strong feelings on both sides. Do you think Orrin Hatch sees the Web as a place or a plumbing system? I'd bet more the latter.