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Also this part, The prominence of the stream today doesn’t just make vast chunks of the internet biased against quality – it also means a deep betrayal to the

Also this part, The prominence of the stream today doesn’t just make vast chunks of the internet biased against quality – it also means a deep betrayal to the diversity that the world wide web had originally envisioned. and, The stream, mobile applications, and moving images all show a departure from a books-internet toward a television-internet. We seem to have gone from a non-linear mode of communication – nodes and networks and links – toward one that is linear, passive, programmed and inward-looking. When I log on to Facebook, my personal television starts. All I need to do is to scroll: New profile pictures by friends, short bits of opinion on current affairs, links to new stories with short captions, advertising, and of course self-playing videos. I occasionally click on the like or share button, read peoples’ comments or leave one, or open an article. But I remain inside Facebook, and it continues to broadcast what I might like. This is not the web I knew when I went to jail. This is not the future of the web. This future is television.

Jormundir 11y ago
Beautiful arguments. What's the solution put forward? Being critical is easy, but what's something better we can build with the internet?
- iamcreasy 11y ago
  From the article, Hossein Derakhshan is currently working on an art project called Link-age to promote hyperlinks and the open web. Link-age : http://newmediasoc.com/projects/link-age/ http://newmediasoc.com/projects/link-age/
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- vvpan 11y ago
  Nothing wrong with being critical even when you don't have a solution.
- coldtea 11y ago
  Well, getting off Facebook and Twitter is a good start.
  - aws_ls 11y ago
    Agree. Twitter has been better than Facebook overall. But yes, it has limitations. Recently its pressurized by governments to modify trends, and seemingly it obliges. Recently blockchain based ideas of twitter (like service) was mooted[1]. I guess we all should work on such apps and get Facebook first, and then twitter to just go obsolete. Reclaim the Internet. [1] https://medium.com/backchannel/how-bitcoins-blockchain-could-power-an-alternate-internet-bb501855af67#.7daty693f https://medium.com/backchannel/how-bitcoins-blockchain-could...
  - iamcreasy 11y ago
    I disagree. I think these services have significant values in our life, and switching them off is a bad idea. Instead we need are other services that does the opposite of Facebook. Instead of containing us in a bubble it will help us exploring the diversity of internet; it will take us to the least visited corners of the web and introduce us with new people and new thoughts.
    - coldtea 11y ago
      >I disagree. I think these services have significant values in our life, and switching them off is a bad idea. A lot of people seem to assume that just because something exists and it's used (and does a few things) then life without it would be inevitably worse. Not saying that's your case exactly, but I'm not sold that Facebook offers something net positive long term to the people using it. If it's for communicating with other people, we never had more options: phone, IM, email, Skype and tons of other things besides. I find FB a more poisonous version of these things, based on lifestyle jealoushy, shallow exchanges, and allowing people to "keep up" with others without making any effort -- so, helping isolate them in effect.
      - iamcreasy 11y ago
        True. But if you look across the broad landscape Facebook is doing more then fueling lifestyle jealousy. For example, in many countries political/social activists uses Facebook as their main communication medium. Facebook is just another communication platform. I tend to think it like a phone where you can make really cheap phone calls. Now what the user will communicate is based on their socio/economic/political/life preference. And that surely includes a lots of meaningless noise. And I think that's alright, because freedom is inherently chaotic.
scholia 11y ago
> The prominence of the stream... All I need to do is to scroll Quite a lot of the web has also been converted into streams, thanks to infinite scrolling web pages. Many Google links no longer point to information, they point to information that was visible when the site was indexed, and that you might find if you keep scrolling down for long enough, but probably won't.

Jormundir 11y ago

Beautiful arguments. What's the solution put forward? Being critical is easy, but what's something better we can build with the internet?

iamcreasy 11y ago
From the article, Hossein Derakhshan is currently working on an art project called Link-age to promote hyperlinks and the open web. Link-age : http://newmediasoc.com/projects/link-age/ http://newmediasoc.com/projects/link-age/
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
vvpan 11y ago
Nothing wrong with being critical even when you don't have a solution.
coldtea 11y ago
Well, getting off Facebook and Twitter is a good start.
- aws_ls 11y ago
  Agree. Twitter has been better than Facebook overall. But yes, it has limitations. Recently its pressurized by governments to modify trends, and seemingly it obliges. Recently blockchain based ideas of twitter (like service) was mooted[1]. I guess we all should work on such apps and get Facebook first, and then twitter to just go obsolete. Reclaim the Internet. [1] https://medium.com/backchannel/how-bitcoins-blockchain-could-power-an-alternate-internet-bb501855af67#.7daty693f https://medium.com/backchannel/how-bitcoins-blockchain-could...
- iamcreasy 11y ago
  I disagree. I think these services have significant values in our life, and switching them off is a bad idea. Instead we need are other services that does the opposite of Facebook. Instead of containing us in a bubble it will help us exploring the diversity of internet; it will take us to the least visited corners of the web and introduce us with new people and new thoughts.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >I disagree. I think these services have significant values in our life, and switching them off is a bad idea. A lot of people seem to assume that just because something exists and it's used (and does a few things) then life without it would be inevitably worse. Not saying that's your case exactly, but I'm not sold that Facebook offers something net positive long term to the people using it. If it's for communicating with other people, we never had more options: phone, IM, email, Skype and tons of other things besides. I find FB a more poisonous version of these things, based on lifestyle jealoushy, shallow exchanges, and allowing people to "keep up" with others without making any effort -- so, helping isolate them in effect.
    - iamcreasy 11y ago
      True. But if you look across the broad landscape Facebook is doing more then fueling lifestyle jealousy. For example, in many countries political/social activists uses Facebook as their main communication medium. Facebook is just another communication platform. I tend to think it like a phone where you can make really cheap phone calls. Now what the user will communicate is based on their socio/economic/political/life preference. And that surely includes a lots of meaningless noise. And I think that's alright, because freedom is inherently chaotic.

scholia 11y ago

> The prominence of the stream... All I need to do is to scroll Quite a lot of the web has also been converted into streams, thanks to infinite scrolling web pages. Many Google links no longer point to information, they point to information that was visible when the site was indexed, and that you might find if you keep scrolling down for long enough, but probably won't.