I actually think this is quite brilliant. We focus so much on context - like it is something that can be encapsulated in a document or a profile. It is more likely that each document, posting or other knowledge nugget is merely a snapshot capturing one moment (or concept) in an otherwise long string of knowledge. Decius wrote: ] ] The content available online is much less important than ] ] the manner in which it is delivered, indeed, the way the ] ] Web is structured. Its influence is structural rather ] ] than informational, and its structure is agnostic. For ] ] that reason, parental controls of the sort that AOL can ] ] offer gives no comfort to conservatives. It's not that ] ] Johnny will Google "hardcore" or "T&A" rather than ] ] "family values;" rather, it's that Johnny will come to ] ] think, consciously or not, of everything he reads as ] ] linked, associative and contingent. He will be ] ] disinclined to accept the authority of any text, whether ] ] religious, political or artistic, since he has learned ] ] that there is no such thing as the last word, or indeed ] ] even a series of words that do not link, in some way, to ] ] some other text or game. For those who grow up reading ] ] online, reading will come to seem a game, one that ] ] endlessly plays out in unlimited directions. The web, in ] ] providing link after associative link, commentary upon ] ] every picture and paragraph, allows, indeed requires, ] ] users to engage in a postmodernist inquiry. ] ] The media is the message. RE: CTHEORY.NET : Why the Web Will Win the Culture Wars for the Left by Peter Lurie |