Web 2.0

I find the argument about whether Web 2.0 is a good thing or if it is "ruining" things to be fascinating.  I don't care what side you're on.

It’s exciting that XML and Web 2.0 are here to allow us to share the web, the world and our ideas around the globe.  Essentially, we have become a global society or our culture has become international/global/flat etc, etc.  Read Friedman if you want to dig into more globalization and how it ties into the web, climate change, globalization etc.  

One of the foibles to this new “society” is anonymity in posting. Sometimes people forget their manners when they post anonymously, but I don't necessarily think that’s always bad thing.  At times an anonymous comment is enough to start a strong initiative for change and more dialog.  Other times it's completely damaging to (as this article puts it) reputations, livelihoods, relationships etc.  I always try to be respectful if I am going to post on a message board, but sometimes it takes me so long to draft a comment that i just give up and move on to another article.  Some people look at responding on message boards as a job.  The article brings up the 90-9-1 ratio and compares the 1% to the heavy users of fast food.  the 1% is the most tracked and the fast food industry does anything they can to find out as much as they can about this "measly" percent.  Anonymity makes it harder to track these posters on the internet. see Pareto principle.

As I said above, I enjoy how things are changing and I'm interested to see what adaptations and changes will take place in human interaction in the future.  I hope I'm ready for the generation below me who grow with better and better technology at younger and younger ages.