The Web and The Good Things
February 27, 2004 | 
17 Comments
I’m going to end this rather stressful week on a positive note.
Lately I’ve been posting about the bad things I see every day on the Web. I do this to help raise awareness and hopefully effect positive changes. The Web is perhaps the greatest invention (if you could call it that) during my lifetime. It has so much potential and brings boundless opportunity to make the world a better place in so many ways, but it’s got problems. Big ones. Problems that need to be addressed.
Many people don’t respect the Web’s potential. The treat it as a dumping ground for superfluous thoughts, marketing spiel and porn. They use it to trick, manipulate and take advantage of others. E-mail spam, comment spam, referrer spam, pop-ups, scams, poorly designed and written Web sites, hoaxes and all the rest do their best to keep people wary and ignorant to the full potential that could be achieved with the Web. At the same time making it very hard to use and basically mucking it up for the rest of us, especially those of us who are called to make a living building the Web.
It’s sucks at times and makes me mad as hell, but hey, it’s their Web too I guess. The Web is open. It’s about free and unfettered communication — for everyone. It puts the power of expression into the hands of millions of individuals, groups, schools, corporations and much more. It enables those people to connect all over the word. It brings people together. All of that, and lots more besides. Get past all the bullshit and we’re talking about a very good thing, even if you don’t agree with everything that is published or some of the tactics people use.
The Web has, is and will continue to change the world. We have to take the good with the bad. That’s a fact of life. With so many people using the Web, many are bound to use it for personal gain and to take advantage of others. I guess that’s human nature to some degree and the Web takes all kinds.
Many will simply misuse it from a lack of knowledge — this is where those of us who build the Web can help most. We can bring to light those things that are wrong with the Web, and effect changes to make them better. We can help those who need it.
For those of us who work on the Web and use it every day we take the little things for granted. At times we need to slow down and realize that the vast majority of people using our beloved WWW don’t have the frame of reference we do. To many people, Flash is the Web(!) and something as simple seeming as e-mail is a miracle. Just ask my grandmother, who lives in Florida. E-mail the main thing that keeps us together on a regular basis, and has provided a great way to keep in-touch with family I rarely see.
They don’t know what makes a good site good, or that pop-ups are just plain wrong. They take what we give them and don’t realize all the work that goes into it, nor should they. It’s not their fault. Much of the Web is broken or obsolete and it’s our responsibility to sort it out.
We’ve got a long way to go and while I don’t enjoy every minute of it, I do enjoy most, it’s exciting to be a part of something this big. We’ve got a long way to go, but I feel the journey is one worth taking and one that I know, in the end, will help make the lives of people all over the world better. I honestly and truly believe that.
<hippystuff>A quick example. Bringing people of diverse background together in discussion, as I do with this site, is one of the great things the Web enables us to do. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of discussions, on every topic imaginable, and you have begun to create a positive social change. I’m sure not every discussion is conducted with respect, and I’m damn sure not everyone agrees, but for every relationship that’s not created, thousands are created. This brings everyone closer together and I can’t see that as a bad thing.</hippystuff>
I always say I’ve got a passion for the Web, but technically that’s not true at all. I’ve got a passion for people. That, my friends, is what is the best thing about the Web.
The people.
Filed under: Web General
Comments
1. Andrei Herasimchuk said:
Good way to end the week. 8^)
Posted on February 27, 2004 04:10 PM | #
2. Stefan said:
Amen Keith :)
Very nice thoughts/text for the end of the week …
Posted on February 27, 2004 04:27 PM | #
3. patricia said:
In an anthropology class recently we were discussing online communities, online dating services, chat rooms, etc. There were a great many people who still thought communicating with people online is a crazy notion. To me, that kind of thinking is so outdated. I started a Web site because I wanted to pick up a little HTML knowledge. I’ve done that along with a great many extra tips and tricks, but I have to say that this little curiosity turned into a hobby because of the people I’ve met online. If it weren’t for the ability to share ideas I probably would have given it all up ages ago.
The people, indeed.
I don’t particularly think you’ve been all that negative, but this was a nice way to cap off the week.
Posted on February 27, 2004 04:55 PM | #
4. avianto said:
Thank you, Keith. Thank you for giving me hope =)
Posted on February 27, 2004 05:12 PM | #
5. Grant said:
When I think about how much I depend on the Internet to find information about where to eat, how to get there, product reviews, bargain purchases, email, and countless other daily chores I can’t imagine my life without it. How does all that content get there? People post it, or create applications for me to grab that information. So I guess it really does come down to the people.
Posted on February 27, 2004 06:00 PM | #
6. Nollind Whachell said:
Can I hear an AMEN brothers and sisters! Hehe! I agree, excellent close to the week Keith. Everyone have a great weekend.
Posted on February 27, 2004 07:02 PM | #
7. Aaron Schaefer said:
Well put Keith. The web mirrors real life in so many ways, it’s sometimes hard to remember that it takes all kinds of people.
The fact that I turn to the same “device” to play games, find movie times, get job advice, learn new design techniques, and chat with people around the world, just boggles my mind. It’s a tool that enables us to eliminate distance as a factor in touching people’s lives, and I wholeheartedly agree that “the journey is one worth taking”. For those very reasons, I, for one, am proud to be involved in creating my small part of the web. With other developers out there having the same mindset, I’d say that things can only get better…keep it up!
Posted on February 27, 2004 07:08 PM | #
8. phathima said:
What comes most to mind is Rurdyard Kipling’s seemingly snooty belief that voting should not be open to the masses. He was of the opinion that to leave the future of the nation in the hands of so many people who may be ignorant was dangerous.
I don’t agree with him but I can see where he was coming from and I think the Web is analogous to that.
Often though, these mistakes that irk us so much are the baby steps of beginners. But unlike the process of walking, the Web does not require you to develop yourself. Not necessarily. People develop their skills based on who their Net-clique is.
I know that back in the day TalkCity was home to me and I’ve come a long way since then baby. It’s defenitely as you say - things are getting better and they will.
Then again my biology prof told us that humanity is in danger of dying out in the next 12 generations…
Posted on February 27, 2004 08:03 PM | #
9. andreas said:
I agree. And as Grant said, I couln’t imagine studying and working and living without the web because I get so many things so easily from it.
One of the reasons I started my site was that I felt the urge to share something because what I take from the web is often content shared by other people.
With weblogs, the Web has taken a whole new turn. Three months ago I didn’t know about weblogs. Now I read thrity or forty of them on a daily basis, run one myself and have learnt an incredible amount of things from all the diversity.
It’s the people and the ideas they put up.
Thanks, Keith, for your inspirational thoughts.
P.S. Now perhaps that was a tad pathetic. But nevermind ;-)
Posted on February 27, 2004 11:25 PM | #
10. Todd said:
That was a great post. It’s really nice to hear something positive and a sunny outlook on things when everything else seems so grim.
Posted on February 28, 2004 06:49 AM | #
11. Scrivs said:
I didn’t realize so many people lost hope in the Web. Now that I think about, why should you place any hope in the web? Life is and always be what you make of it. If you make a friend through snail-mail, telephone conversations, or the web it’s because you put the effort to do so. The major problem with the web is that people get so attached to it that they forget to look out the window and see the “other” world surrounding them.
If you ever start getting depressed about the web or any technology then stop using it for a while. Go outside. Play. Meet people who can actually see you. Meet people who actually want to touch you ;) But by all means make your life YOUR LIFE and not the web’s.
Keith, you should be an inspirational speaker.
Posted on February 28, 2004 01:21 PM | #
12. Mike P said:
Nice post Keith, and nice comment too Scrivs! All too true.
I echo the sentiments of andreas: weblogs have, for me, made the internet twice what it used to be.
Forums too are great communities, but (for me) weblogs are like well developed characters in a book.
Posted on February 28, 2004 01:38 PM | #
13. Laurie said:
Amen. It’s good to see that there are other people who value the same things about the web, and have the same aspirations for it, that I do. We love the web for what it can be, not for what it is.
Posted on February 28, 2004 04:42 PM | #
14. Nollind Whachell said:
I agree and disagree with you Scrivs. :)
I totally agree but I would go a step further and say try balancing your life like this on a daily basis, not just when you get depressed about it. I mean what if you aren’t depressed, think the Web is amazing, and have your head stuck in it 24/7, with very little time left over for the “other” world? More than likely then your “view” of the world is just that “window” your looking thru and while it may be a very powerful “window”, it still doesn’t represent the real world, especially if your major source of news is primarily the media sites.
To fully experience the world on a daily basis, you need to get up, get outside, look around, and interact with the environment and others around you. In doing so, I think you’ll start seeing things in a different light and have much more appreciation for the “little things” that you normally don’t think about, especially in light of what society deems as “important”. Even more so, you’ll start realizing that these little things have much more of an impact upon your life than you ever thought possible. From my own experience, I’ve been rediscovering how much I love nature. As I kid, I remember walking with my dog in the fields near our acreage north of Edmonton, Alberta. Over the past ten years though, I’ve had my head stuck in a computer monitor. I worked and played in there and I loved it, or so I thought. When the dot bomb occurred, my point of view got rattled and nothing seem “right” anymore. So, as you said, I got up, got out of the house, and starting walking at the beach near our home where I live now in Vancouver, British Columbia. In doing that, I rediscovered my love for nature that I had when I was a kid and that I had left behind when I started doing major computer work back in the early ninties. Now looking back, I’ve realized what an idiot I was, especially in light of the fact that if you ever been to Vancouver, you know that the city is pretty much a mecca for outdoor activities. If I ever get around to getting a fully fledged site up, I hope to post some of the pictures of nature and the outdoors around me as well, similar to what some other people have done. In doing so, I hope I can help just one other person remember the “little things” that they may have forgotten from years ago as well. :)
I place hope in the Web for the same reason that I place hope in others. The Web is about people connecting and communicating in all its forms, good or bad. The important thing is that people are connecting and communicating. In doing so, change can occur. It is when people shut themselves off from others and stop communicating, that is when things go wrong. You can’t shut yourself behind a wall and expect to live a normal life. People need to start pulling down these walls, starting communicating with others, start realizing that even though we are all very diverse, we are all very similar in our wants and needs. The truth really can be found within the paradox (cue X Files music here, hehe).
I mean one of the things that I love most about the Web is that it helps to promote change on a scale never seen before. It does this because it gives the ability for a single individual to communicate a message to the world. If communicated properly, that message can spark awareness in others and with that awareness, change can occur on a global level, not just on a local one.
It’s somewhat funny that some of us have been complaining about how long it takes for things to change for the better (i.e. web standards) but we forget how rapidly things are actually changing compared to even ten or twenty years ago. Technological advances are evolving at an astonishing rate and things will continue to change at an ever increasing rate. Actually some people are worried about this because the world of tomorrow may be a dizzying place to live within (if it isn’t dizzying enough already). And yet, I truly believe that the Web can help us in this matter. I think in connecting and communicating on a global scale, we can “ground ourselves” from this dizzying effect by sharing and realizing all of the “little things” that unite us and bring us all closer together as a people. In doing so, I think every one of us as a whole can help shift what society perceives as “important” today to what is truly important tomorrow.
To be honest, I think this shift is already occurring as we speak. It just isn’t happening fast enough for us to notice it. It is what I call the “gentle nova” effect, where massive changes approach mostly unnoticed due to occurring so slowly over time.
Posted on February 29, 2004 10:41 AM | #
15. andrew said:
me: we should flesh out the company web site with some sales information - we have a shopping cart, now lets convince your visitors to use it
boss: no, its not worth our time, the web site is just an order form
me: we’re getting at least 30 visitors a day to the cart, and they arent buying anything, shouldn’t we address them?
boss: in our business (recording media), everything is based on price - if they don’t see the prices, then they wont order, it’s that simple.
me: but it can’t hurt… we have the information, we can get some more tech specs on the products
boss: nah, it’s just one more thing we’ll have to maintain…
me: ok, how about we get the sales people to check our prices out, and compare them to other online retailers?
boss: nah, they’re busy selling things over the phone.
we get along well, but at some point im going to have to spell it out: “mr boss-man, you are now LOSING business because of your web site. joe user shows up and says, ‘hrm, looks good, and the prices are reasonable, but why order from them? why try a new dealer?”
clickety-click, and he’s off to the next website.
Posted on March 1, 2004 08:31 AM | #
16. Akrofi Robertson said:
I have loved the net too. It’s given me a lot of wisdom and knowledge since I started using it. This include christian site and many mails I have received from friends. It’s indeed an innovated new way many a friends can interact to make the world a global village. I want any good friend around to send me a good mail arund the world who loves Christ Jesus. E-mail:rakroson@hotmail.com
Posted on April 5, 2004 12:50 PM | #
17. Jana said:
Nice view this to
Algo Web
Posted on October 1, 2005 07:55 AM | #
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