Connecting Comments

Have you thought about what it is that draws you to the web? You probably have.I have too, and I had some interesting thoughts upon reading this post on "This Blog Sits at the . . " So I added this Comment:

One of the great values of thinking about connections is the "Grand Ah-Ha!'s" our brains get from making sanity of insanities. Seeing patterns, making connections, discovering synchronicity makes many of us bubble. I get these pleasures because my brain is organized in boxes where info bits get stored by category. The benefit is sense making or discovery. The risk is stereotypical thinking. I loved your graphic! And I visit your blog regularly.
Posted by Carol Gee at April 26, 2005 05:53 AM

Years ago, and earlier this year, I wrote on this same subject. I called my little essay:

The Web
Rock and Roll was a web.
The Internet is a web.
There is a subterranean quality to them both.
And there is an aerial quality.

Webs ensnare you.
Webs connect you.
Webs separate you.
Webs shelter you.

That was the way it was with Rock and Roll and me. Something in me said I couldn’t join. I had responsibilities. Other people needed me. And that is the way it is with the World Wide Web. But I am drawn to both the Web and Rock and Roll. It must be the side of me who is intrigued by connections. And it is definitely the side who is fascinated by the way simple things can connect, evolve and become more complex.
As the musicians matured, Rock and Roll was that way. All the different music streams diverged, connected, flowed toward each new version. The World Wide Web also flows, undammed as the music was. Regulators have tried to dam it but they cannot. It has a direction of its own, rules of its own, and its own wisdom.

Unfortunately, commercialism also plays a part in both the Web and Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll songs might “go platinum”or fail, and in both cases, it may have been due to the quality of the music, the composition, or just the promotion by a disc jockey. Web sites have no way to really make money unless they sell advertising. But there seems to be a quality of pure self-expression to many of the Web masters’ offerings they just want to express themselves in a way where they are widely known. And they must LOVE to receive feedback on their work. That is why I often “talk” to these unknown people to let them know how enriching their art or other works have been for me. And the Web is free, except for the monthly charges.
The knowledge stream, or the sewer? Art, or merely the banal? Noise or music? All, unfortunately, are parts of the Web. Was it that way with Rock and Roll? The regulators would say it was. But The Web and Rock and Roll have been integral parts of the times. They have been perfect signs of their times. May 8, 1998

Today, January 13, 2005 is 6 ½ years later. And I return to these musings after another of countless explorations of The Web. It holds endless fascination for me. In it, I feel very connected to what is most current. I also feel mostly like an observer, though having my own blog makes me an actual participant. Even if it is for my eyes only, it is theoretically public. I like the way I look when I’m “published.” Blogs opened up another whole world for public thought and discourse and seem to have a certain relevance to the way things go in the world. There is freedom of expression there, and a certain group discipline that comes into the better ones. I like that part. I also like it that women blog, too. But they seem less frequent contributors. Maybe they contribute, but have non gender-specific screen names. That is what I would do if I joined in. I am assuming there is still a certain amount of sexism in the blog world, but I could be wrong. To summarize it is all out there . . . searchable, documented forever, traceable, real, yet unreal (still only 1’s and 0’s).