A Web of my own
Tuesday, 6. November 2007, 05:44:03
Here's an interesting progression:
I am neither complaining nor bragging about this. Heck, I'm probably one of the less active people out there. And yet my digital identity is scattered over the Internet. That is, just the way I like it.
(It's a good idea, too: when I redesigned the SPAG website, I made a point to send the original vector images with the banner proposals. Lucky me. Turns out I had not otherwise backed up those files. Had I not given them away when I did, I would have lost them. Granted, they weren't very important.)
Being the self-counscious individualist that I am, I spent quite some time wondering what makes me so in tune with the Internet. After all, I grew up in a world of linear, noninteractive media, yet the first time I sat in front of a Web browser I felt like a fish in the water.
Then, one day, it struck me: I just can't think linearly! Perhaps that's why I'm so poor at storytelling (and much better at programming). To me, the whole world is a network. Society, life, the Universe, everything is a web of dependencies. I'd read an article, open a link in the background, then I'd get bored with the current text and go read the other one for a while. If both are long, I end up switching back and forth several times. And then I also turn to the text editor from time to time, in order to write another sentence or two. Add instant messaging to the mix (with 2.5 conversations going on at once, on average) and you'll see why I love modern technology. There's no way I could learn so much and do so much offline.
As always, finding a good ending for an essay is a difficult task for me. (That, at least, is much easier with fiction.) Let's just say the story goes on. And I promise to settle on a regular schedule for this blog. Just not right now, OK?
- 1992: my first computer;
- 2000: my first programming job;
- 2006: my first weblog;
- August 2007: my own domain name;
- September 2007: my second weblog (this one...). And a tumblelog. And contributions to various others. And...
I am neither complaining nor bragging about this. Heck, I'm probably one of the less active people out there. And yet my digital identity is scattered over the Internet. That is, just the way I like it.
(It's a good idea, too: when I redesigned the SPAG website, I made a point to send the original vector images with the banner proposals. Lucky me. Turns out I had not otherwise backed up those files. Had I not given them away when I did, I would have lost them. Granted, they weren't very important.)
Being the self-counscious individualist that I am, I spent quite some time wondering what makes me so in tune with the Internet. After all, I grew up in a world of linear, noninteractive media, yet the first time I sat in front of a Web browser I felt like a fish in the water.
Then, one day, it struck me: I just can't think linearly! Perhaps that's why I'm so poor at storytelling (and much better at programming). To me, the whole world is a network. Society, life, the Universe, everything is a web of dependencies. I'd read an article, open a link in the background, then I'd get bored with the current text and go read the other one for a while. If both are long, I end up switching back and forth several times. And then I also turn to the text editor from time to time, in order to write another sentence or two. Add instant messaging to the mix (with 2.5 conversations going on at once, on average) and you'll see why I love modern technology. There's no way I could learn so much and do so much offline.
As always, finding a good ending for an essay is a difficult task for me. (That, at least, is much easier with fiction.) Let's just say the story goes on. And I promise to settle on a regular schedule for this blog. Just not right now, OK?
WIDGETIZE
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