In case you missed it, this is a pretty clear telling of how the Internet as we know it came about.
It’s interesting to think of the ramifications of the work we do. None of the people that worked on the beginning pieces had any idea what their work would become.
That should inspire all of us to work with:
humility to know when we are wrong, hear the critique, and make change
imagination so we can even begin to conceive of vision and unintended (or intended) consequences
love so that we can seek the betterment of society through what we do
It’s why we should all be excited about emerging web technologies. Here’s why:
We will no longer have to wade through the mire of content packed into tight, unsearchable places.
The old way
Jam lots of content into a printed newsletter. Force people to have to read though everything to find the pieces of content they actually want. Make sure none of this content is ever accessible again. Do not leverage this content outside the scope of your current audience. Oh, and spend lots of money to print and mail it.
The newer way
Put all of your content online – text, pictures, audio, and video. Allow users to see titles, summaries, categories, and tags to find what is useful to them. Make all this content searchable, both so that it can be found in the future and so outsiders might find something valuable to read. Store all this content for free (regardless of how many people see it). Allow folks to comment, share, link to, and otherwise engage your content.
The web lets us spread out information. It allows us to find information on demand. It’s like a proxemic white space.
It allows us to find those needles in the haystacks.
It allows us to breath.
It also levels the playing field of influence… but more on that in Part 3 next week.
We’ve been using Dropbox for months now. It’s awesome. Our team works in collaborative ways everyday. Having the same files in the same places on everyone’s computer (and iPhone) has helped us serve our clients in effective (and often invisible) ways.
To learn more about what Dropbox is and how it can help you, watch this:
Also, Brody was on the local news recently. WMAR-TV (Baltimore Channel 2) brought him in as a social media expert to talk about the plague of over-sharing on Facebook. Despite the horribly dumb look on Brody’s face at the beginning of the interview, it’s a good discussion on some social media theory.
