Overload
Jay Rosen says, “There’s too much happening. The public world is changing faster than we can invent terms for describing it.” Then he gives us a list. Scoble intends to discuss overload at Winer’s BloggerCon 3.
When I was a student working in the library and trying to keep the Library of Congress classification system straight (Heinlein was PZ3 H364…. that was all I needed to know after I finished the oeuvre of Ian Fleming PZ4 F598) I grew aware of the hopelessness of ever absorbing a small percentage of the information in those twelve floors of tightly packed stacks. The PMLA alone would have wasted some years of my life.
There are dozens of bloggers whose work I enjoy, but blogs comprise a tiny subset of what’s published on the web. Plenty of what’s published stays in paper and never makes it into pixels. Chris Locke’s work at HighBeam seems to be opening the door to a lot more printed matter for a price. I’m afraid we may be approaching a point in web publishing where we will get what we pay for.
Worthwhile the blog has morphed into Worthwhile the printed matter. Who knows if what’s available on the website will be available in the ragozine and vice versa.
I’ve met blawgers and med bloggers and journo-bloggers and all, and what I get is that indeed, it’s all too complex. The sum of human knowledge is almost too large for me to grasp, and if it’s difficult for me, well… what does that say about YOUR chances of understanding it all?