A Connection Between People

A Connection Between People

Dave Winer [1] wrote this [2] in February of 1996:

Putting your thoughts on a web page is an invitation to anyone to take your hand. It's an open medium. A link is a connection between people. A web page is an open hand.

A link is a tunnel. It connects two places that weren't connected. It allows new flows to build.

Dave linked to it in Scripting News [3] the other day.

What I like about this statement is the clean, pure, openness of it, and the simple truth of it, as well. When one publishes on the web one engages in an interactive medium. Use of links, combined with the ability to post comments or to subsequently exchange e-mail in further discussion is what makes these electronic media a more open form of communication. It can be one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.

Thereís a great deal of passionate and heated discussion of late with regard to just what exactly constitutes a Weblog, a Wiki, and the natural extension of that might ask the same about newsgroups, pages, sites, and the many other sort of applications and methods available to those making use of the net.

Much of the discussion is somewhat annoying. The righteousness is ridiculous. This space [4] is a blog. Does it meet the criteria of the various opiners? Does it even matter? A blog is a blog. Need there even be self-righteousness and indignation over style, content, manner of presentation? I think not.

This is like arguing about just what constitutes a book. A book is a book. If it is bound and has pages, it is a book. All sorts of opinion can be bandied about with regard to content, types of binding (spine, staple, loose-leaf, hard-bound or soft, whatever), but a book is still a book.

And a rose is a rose is a rose.

The annoyance is actually trepidation. This stems from the conservative mood of the powers that be [5], the paring down [6] of personal liberties [7] and freedoms [8], and the move by big government to kiss the ass of big business in the form of expanded, concentrated media ownership.

Imagine what would happen to blogs, wikis, and news sites if the FCC chose to limit freedoms and the open, participatory nature of the Internet. This is why I have this fear that MicroSoft and Clear Channel will merge, and they will appoint Michael Powell to some key position.

Of course, I also fear a second term of the current president. Wesley Clark, we need you. And that is said by a guy named Dean.

CONSOLIDATION - FLOODGATE: AN UPDATE

"Radio consolidation has contributed to a 34% decline in the number of owners, a 90% rise in the cost of advertising rates, [and] a rise in indecent broadcasts. If ever there were a cautionary tale, this is it." --Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings D- South Carolina

I took that one as a cutínípaste copy from the header at John Rookís page [9].

Frank Ahrens in The Washington Post continues his excellent coverage [10] of the Powell FCC ìFloodgateî story. When you click over to that link, check out the sidebar on the right. The Post offers excellent background and source material. Looks like The Post is the key news gathering and reporting authority on this story. The NY Times comes in second, but not a close second. We do give the Times extra points for Bill Safireís essays on the matter.

The last sentence in the Ahrens article may be the most important fact of all: Yesterday, Commerce Committee member Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said he would invoke the little-used Congressional Review Act in an attempt to vacate the FCC's rules when Congress returns from holiday recess on July 7. The act allows Congress by joint resolution to overturn regulatory agencies' rules.

Many papers carried the AP report including Dorganís plans. You can read the San Jose Mercury News carriage of the AP story here [11].

The entire Report and Order of the Proposed Rulemaking can be found here [12] on the FCCís site.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelsteinís erudite dissenting comments are posted [13] on the FCCís site. This is a very good read. It is encouraging to know that not **all** the Commissioners are of a mind to bend over and kiss the posteriors of the BIGCOs that fund their junkets and attempt to buy the Commissionersí favor.

The San Francisco Examiner published an editorial [14], Congress Must Fight Mega Media on June 26th. Very succinct, and right on target.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans published a very well thought-out editorial [15] today, Preserving Free Discussion on big media, cross-ownership, and media concentration. The Times-Picayune is part of the Tribune Company, which makes this well written think-piece that much more of an achievement.

In Jonathan Adelstein's dissent (read it!) he takes note of the overwhelming public response to this FCC proposed rulemaking. Over 2 million comments (e-mails, letters, etc.) have been received. Of course the vast majority are in opposition to Powell's ill-designed move.

FOOTNOTE

Grace note? Side note? Well, of note: I was disappointed to see fewer hits than usual to a post from the other day, Linka-Dinka-Doo [16].

Was it linka-dinka-don't?!

The traffic patterns to this blog are confusing and peripatetic at best. But I suggest, since you found yourself all the way here at the bottom of this entry, that you click over [16] and check out that one [16], from a few days ago.