Answering John Robb
John Robb wrote: ""First we build the tools, then they build us" – Marshall McLuhan How are weblog tools changing us?
John, I can give you one answer to that question:
This morning I read the queryof a seeming thirty-something founder of a massive communition tool. A man I live no where near. Just before I had edited a post on my daughter's blog. Her Photos and milestones are recorded in almost real time and served up for family members living thousands of miles away. This morning my staff arrived and opened my work blog to get needed information as soon as I have it. All work requests filter up using the same blog. In a corner of my desktop I have the ultimate news filter. My friends scan their local papers and blog interesting stories which I read on FeedDemon. Using that same tool I am privy to the musings of average people Earth-wide as I work to lose my NorthAmerican-centric naivety.
Before weblogs I was passive. I read the news, some of the news, news from a single source, with a single viewpoint. I talked a bit with a few neighbors, co-workers, maybe a stranger or two. But we all lived in Middle America. We all had Middle American values and concerns. Even me -- often the lone "liberal/anarchist/agnostic/protestor/nut" of the crowd.
John, weblog tools have enabled me to become better connected in almost real time to fellow human beings -- intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. I feel as those I've developed another sense.
Sometimes, I worry how I will feel if that sense is lost.
