Blogging with the public intellectual
Web 2.0 era was a highly touted feature is the rise of blogging.Personal Home Page on the Internet at this early stage active, personal diaries and daily commentary column much longer than this time, then there is all this fuss about it?
The most basic, blog is the personal home page diary form.But as Rich Skrenta noted, blog chronological organization, "seems like a trivial difference, but it contributed to a completely different transmission, advertising and value chain.
One cause of these differences is that the technology known as RSS.RSS is a self-awareness of the early hackers to CGI can be used to create database-backed web site since the Internet-based system, the most significant progress.RSS allows people to not only link to a page, but subscribe to it, every time a page changes, there will be notice.Rich Skrenta called "additional (incremental) Internet", while others called the live web (live internet).
Of course, "dynamic site" (that is, database support site, there are dynamically generated content) in the past 10 years, instead of static pages.Live web is not just talking about dynamic pages, but the link.Point to a weblog link may point to a page that constantly changing, each entry is an individual has a permanent link (permalinks), each change has notice.So, RSS feed, or bookmark individual pages than link to a powerful and more links.
RSS also means that the browser is no longer the only tool for browsing the web.Some RSS aggregators, such as bloglines is based on the network, the other is a desktop client, there are some portable device allows users to subscribe to constantly updated content.
RSS is now used not only to publish a new blog entry notifications, also used a variety of data updates, including stock quotes, weather data and photos of effectiveness.This application is actually a return to the origin RSS: RSS was born in 1997, from Dave Winer's Really Simple Syndication technology, generally used to push the blog updated.Netscape's "Rich Site Summary allows users to keep updated with the data stream to create custom Netscape home page.
Later, Netscape lost interest in the technology pioneer by the blog company Winer Userland continue to develop.In the current application, we see that, although it is the heritage of both parents.
However, RSS is different from the common blog feature of the page.Tom Coates permalink significance on the statement.It seems trivial, but it functions, but it is so easy to blog from a publishing phenomenon into a community dialogue overlap confusion (a conversational mess of overlapping communities).It allows others to directly express a very clear post on the site the first time become relatively easy, and discussion.Discuss the formation, the formation of a chat.The results, friendship formation, or become more established.Permalink for the first time, the blog is the most successful attempt to build bridges between.
In many ways, RSS, and NNTP permalink joint to increase a number of features, the HTTP network protocol.Blog ring can be understood as something new in the early Internet, the equivalent of peer, such as Usenet, BBS and session pools (conversational watering holes) and so on.Not only can people subscribe to each site, easily link to individual comments in a page, through trackbacks mechanism, when other people link to this page, they can see and respond to, whether by link or increase each other comments.
Interestingly, two-way link is the goal of early hypertext systems such as Xanadu.Hypertext purists (purists) to celebrate trackback, that this is a step leading to two-way links.Note, however, trackback is not a complete two-way, they actually (potentially) one-way link is symmetric, the effect of creating a two-way links.Differences which may seem small, but in practice is high.Social networks - such as Friendster, Orkut and LinkedIn, they asked for the recognition of the recipient to establish the links - they lack the same scale of Internet scalability.As flickr co-founder Caterina Fake who pointed out, the interaction of attention just a coincidence.(Flickr set up this way allows the user to monitor the table - any user can subscribe to other users via RSS photographs. Attention is intended to be notified, but not link)
If one of the core web 2.0 is harnessing collective intelligence, a sense of the Internet into a global brain, the forebrain blog is constantly circle the equivalent of raving, we hear in the brain.It may not reflect deep-seated brain structures are often unconscious, but it is the equivalent of conscious thought.As a conscious reflection of thought and attention, blog lap has a strong impact.
First, because search engines use link structure to help predict useful pages.And the most prolific and timely linker similar, blogger search engine results in the amendment have asymmetric roles.Second, because reference to their own blog too dependent on the community, blogger exaggerated concern about the visibility and ability to others.Critics condemned the echo chamber (echo chamber) is also an amplifier (amplifier).
If this is just the amplifier, Blog will become boring.But like Wikipedia, blog also used as a kind of collective wisdom of the filter.James Suriowecki called "popular wisdom" began to produce effects.PageRank produces better results than any other personal document analysis to be good, blog collective attention of the decision loop values.
Mainstream media may believe that the personal blog a competitor, in fact, they lost courage really is: their competitors is the blog ring.This is not just a competition between sites, but the competition between business models.Web 2.0 world is Dan Gillmor / call "from the media (we, the media)".Here, the audience had to decide what is important, not the background of the minority.
Data is the Next Intel Inside, every major Internet applications, so far, supported by a dedicated database.Google's Web crawler, Yahoo! the directory (and web crawlers). Amazon's product database, eBay's products and business database, MapQuest's map databases, Napster's song library.As Hal Varian in the last year talking about a personal conversation, sql is the new html.Database management is a web 2.0 company's core competencies, to such an extent that even we sometimes use "infoware that these companies, not the software (software).
This fact raises a key question: Who owns the data?
In the Internet era, one can find many examples, control of the database to control the market and reap huge profits.Network Solutions (later sold to Verisign), who initially approved by the government monopoly on the domain name registration, becoming one of the earliest Internet companies big money.We have already discussed and approved the commercial advantages of the control software API, which is more important in the Internet age, control the data source is not, especially if those who create the data source is very expensive or have the responsibility of increasing returns through the network.
Look MapQuest, maps.yahoo.com, maps.msn.com, or maps.google.com, and other map site copyright notice at the bottom of each map, you will see this line: "Maps copyright NavTeq, TeleAtlas" orthe new satellite image service providers, "Image copyright Digital Globe".These companies have done a lot in the database business investment (According to reports, only NavTeq company invested 75 million U.S. dollars to establish the street address and direction of your resume database. Digital Globe spent $ 500,000,000 launch their own satellite to improve satellite images provided by the Government.)NavTeq and even imitate the intel inside Intel's logo: a car with navigation system, leaving "NavTeq Onboard the mark. data indeed these applications Intel Inside, those from the open source software code, or the basic system improvedthe only source.
Market competition the current map shows that failure to understand the importance of core data with the application level, and ultimately reduce its competitive position.MapQuest mapping service since 1995, is a pioneer in the industry.Yahoo and google when Microsoft decided to enter this industry, they only need to obtain permission from the same data, can provide competitive services.
However, in contrast to the amazon position.Barnesandnoble.com and other competitors and is similar to its original database came from ISBN registration provider RR Bowker.But with the MapQuest difference is, amazon adds data, such as cover images added, directory, index, and sample materials, the data provided by publishers.More importantly, they use the data user comments.10 years later, amazon, not Bowker, became a major source of bibliographic information, but also many readers, scholars and librarians in the reference resources.Amazon also introduced their own property with the corresponding ISBN sign-ASIN.Amazon thus effectively contain and extend their data providers.
Imagine, if you do the same thing mapquest, maps and directions to the user comments, add value.Only the basic data by issuing permits, will let competitors enter the market more difficult.
Google maps and data for application providers to compete with the seller to provide a fresh laboratory.Google plans to model lead to the production of many value-added services in order to appear in combination with other data sources with Internet access links to google maps.Paul Rademacher's housingmaps.com, put the google maps and Craigslist apartment rentals, home buying up the data combined to create an interactive housing search tool, which is similar to the mashup (annotate: seems to be interpreted as combination) of the outstanding examples.
Currently, most of these innovative pilot mashup, completed by the hackers.However, the activities of entrepreneurs followed.It found that, google has at least one type of data source developers took the position, and put them into their own as the popularity of the intermediary.With the data providers and application vendors recognize that certain types of data will become the basis for web 2.0 applications, we will see them in the next few years of fighting.
Competition in our own certain types of core data: location, identity, public affairs calendar, product identifier and its own namespace.Spend huge sums of money to create a lot of cases the data may have the opportunity to make the Intel Inside mode operation, only one data source in the case.In other areas, the first via user aggregation, the company will reach the critical size is the winner, and aggregation of data into system services.
For example, in the status area, PayPal, Amazon 'of the 1-click and millions of other users of communications systems, will be to establish network-wide database as legitimate competitors.(At this point, Google recently tried to use Gmail as cell phone numbers as identifiers may be the step into the telephone system.) Meanwhile, Sxip Identity and other companies are exploring the potential for federal, trying to find something that can provide seamlessweb 2.0 identity subsystem distributed 1-click.In the Calendar area, EVDB participating agencies through the wiki-style, try to create the world's largest shared calendar.
On the data, it should be noted that another point, which is user concerns about privacy and data rights.In many early web applications, copyright is very loose.For example, Amazon think (but not compulsory), any comments submitted to the site, people can post in other places the same content again.However, as companies begin to realize the control data may be their main source of competitive advantage, try to control will be increased.
And proprietary software (proprietary software) caused an increase similar to the free software movement, we hope to proprietary databases in the next 10 years could lead to a free data movement.We have areas, such as Wikipedia, Creative Commons and other open source software such as data programs and projects Greasemnkey found early signs of this trend.