Dave Winer just posted his "First Essay of the Year" on scripting.com. I always enjoy Dave's thinking and passion, so this is a good new year treat. In his essay, he ponders how far we've come with the Two-Way Web through advances in XML-based content publishing and syndication, the growing role of weblogging for everyone, new approaches to digital sharing through mobile blogging, and questions about the role of commercial software and personal data.
The question it really provoked for me, and one that has been lurking in my mind for the past few months, is whether weblogging as we know it will truly become a mainstream form of personal communications and sharing, rather than it's current perceived niche as form of personal or independent Internet journalism.
Often, when smart people hear about weblogs/blogs/blogging they really ask -- isn't this just the web? Isn't this just web publishing? Indeed, it is, and as Dave responded to someone in his essay, it's the promise of the web but just made easier (and more sharable). So what makes it different and how could it be transformed into a mainstream phenomenon?
From my perspective, weblogs are revolutionary because:
- They make publishing to the web really simple --- they are very simple, consumer-level content management systems. No HTML, no scripting, no knowledge of web servers, page layout, etc.
- They fulfill the promise of the semantic web (partially) by ensuring that your content is well structured (it's all XML!), and shareable (through RSS) in a standard way, and even well-described so their content can be harvested (RSS 2.0 in action will take is there)
But they're also very constrained in terms of what consumers will ultimately want if they are to become mainstream forms of personal communications, equivailent to email and the written word. For weblogs to become mainstream they need to:
- Break out of the calendar journal or narrative metaphor. While the time-based approach to personal content makes sense often, it shouldn't be the only one. Weblog software should harness the power of RSS 2.0 category metadata and namespace extensions to enable weblogs to store and render a much wider variety of content -- Dave gives some great examples of what some of these might be (medical histories, family trips, meeting minutes, etc.).
- Embrace richer forms of expression through graphics, audio and video. While it's quite possible to do these things today by hyperlinking to media assets, it's not deeply integrated into the creation and publishing experience. Content creation and communications tools need to support the MetaWeblog API, and these tools need to provide simple means for someone to share thoughts and expereinces with voice, or plug-in their webcam or camcorder or digital camera and transmit real life visual experiences into their personal spaces. Aren't photosharing applications just bitmap-based weblog tools? There's an invevitable collision here and in that weblogs can become much more valuable to consumers.
Like Dave, I look forward to 2003 and what it brings for the two-way web.
2:52:13 PM
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