David Weinberger’s Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web has been on my ‘to read’ list for a while. I heard someone quote the book title when referring to the use of technologies like RSS to reuse content from multiple sources in dynamic new ways. And it illustrated their point so well. I really enjoyed his most recent book Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
I was not disappointed. Now the book dates from 2003, which in internet terms is ages ago. In the early part of the book the age shows. Many of the references feel dated, and the revelations no so revelatory. But stick with it, or skip ahead to the Knowledge and Matter chapters. There were the stand-out chapters for me. Here are some tidbits I saved out:
Knowledge on the web is a social activity. — from Matter
A page without hyperlinks is literally a dead-end… documents get at least some of their value not from what they contain but from what they point to… the web is the interrelationship of things. — the web is exciting not because it gives us the efficiency of databases, but because it gives us the punch of a good joke. from Knowledge
He divides internet activity into two broad areas: database type information — when is the next flight to Phoenix? –and joke-type information. And no, by joke he doesn’t mean those annoying email from Uncle Harry. A “joke reveals what you didn’t expect…lives in a context.” The sudden AHA moment when some bit of information clicks a new realization for you — that’s what Weinberger means by a ‘joke.’ And it is an interesting way to differentiate information from knowledge. Knowledge is social, it arrives within a context, you gotta be there to get it, and it helps if other people share the experience with you.
All of which nicely sums up for me where all the excitement is coming from the whole social web movement. Not a bad bit of foresight from the perspective of 2003!
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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