Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: What's the deal with Third Voice?
Author: Jacob Savin Posted: 10/1/1999; 11:59:13 AM Topic: Windows apps on Linux: the real reason Msg #: 11680 (In response to 11650) Prev/Next: 11679 / 11681
...once a page is delived to my browser I can do anything I want with it (consistant with copyright laws, including "fair use"), including translate it to another language (as with Bablefish), or add annotations (as with Third Voice).Hmmm. This has got me thinking. Annotations are great. It's like letters to the editor but with no space constraints. It's also like making notes in the margin of a text book. Ever pick up a book in the library that someone has done that with. I've found It's pretty interesting to me to read what other people take notes about...
So why is the experience of TV so different? Why do people use it like graffiti? It brings up all the same old arguments and pushes all the same buttons as the freedom of speech issue vs. the porn industry, or the TV (television";->") violence issue. I think It's the content creators who hold the responsibility for the quality of their content.
That said, who wants to deal with content you didn't ask for? I don't really want to have to look at a sidebar about Beverley Hills 90210 while I'm reading an article in Scientific American about detection of neutrinos. Not that I have anything against BH90210, but It's not relevant to that space. I want even less to read inflamatory exclamations in the margin of a magazine I just bought, or a book I'm reading at the library. That's not only irrelevant, but just downright annoying.
Just musing here, but I think it says something about people that they use TV like this: that they are often extremely lazy, possibly not very intelligent, and usually needing very badly to be heard and acknowledged. Is this why the Internet had been such a boon? There is so much static. There's even more static on usenet, and mailing lists than in web pages. Has our soceity really so demoralized and alienated us, that all we want to do to get attention, is to spray paint eat me on a wall, start flame wars on mailing lists, watch all-star wrestling on pay-per-view, and plaster other people's web spaces with inane and degrading comentary? Are we really that lonely?
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