The next 6,500 days

By Michael Fraase

Sunday, 09 November 2008 02:18PM CDT

Section: Internet

Semantic webIt’s been about 6,500 days since Tim Berners-Lee published the first page on the web. 6,500 days. Everything that’s happened on the web has happened in the last 6,500 days.

Earlier this week, Kevin Kelly spoke briefly—but deeply—at the Web 2.0 Summit on what’s likely to happen with regard to the web during the next 6,500 days.

I’ve followed most of what Kevin Kelly has done for the last 20 years because he’s a completist—he does something until it’s done and then moves on. He thinks deeply and completely. And he’s at it again.

Kelly begins by pointing out that what’s happened on the web in its first 6,500 days is impossible. “There’s not enough money in the world, 6,000 days ago, to accomplish all the things that have happened already,“ said Kelly. We have to start thinking differently about what’s impossible, he says.

First, we linked data and shared packets. Then we linked pages on the web and shared those links. Throughout both of these phases we were concerned about the sharing piece of the equation. We’ve mostly gotten over these concerns.

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Nielsen on writing styles

By Michael Fraase

Tuesday, 10 June 2008 07:56PM CDT

Section: Internet

Leonardo's notebookThe web is not television, we’ve been told over and over. Television, Jakob Nielsen reminds us, is a passive medium. The web, on the other hand, is an active medium. Different mediums require different content styles.

But the web isn’t print either. Nielsen, using an example from the New York Times, argues that the job of print headlines is to draw users into the work by enticing them. On the web, however, the job of a headline is to carry specific information. The online headline alone, Nielsen writes, “must provide enough information scent to let users predict what they’ll get if they follow the link.“

Online writing, according to Nielsen has to be specific, yet comprehensive. Ratings, charts, lists, and graphs are all more useful than narrative online because web content is searchable. Searchability results in the rise of specificity. Rather than providing a narrative about the problems encountered by tall people when traveling, for example, Nielsen maintains that online writing should be actionable: outline which specific flight departing from San Francisco has the best seating configuration for tall people.

A narrative approach on the web, Nielsen says, just gets in the way of users. Leave the storytelling to print.

Brevity is indeed the guiding principle for web writing. Give users the information they’re looking for as quickly as possible and let them move on.

I’m not sure I completely agree with Nielsen on this; or at least I’m hoping for an alternative in the future. Writing for the web is definitely different than writing for print—no argument there. And certain exposition on the web begs for brevity. But I think narrative—especially brief narrative—can work well on the web (take boingboing.net, for instance). And I suspect that as screen technology continues to advance, correspondingly longer narratives will become acceptable.

At least I hope that’s the case. I very much regret the way the web has accelerated the writing—and the reading—process. I look forward to the leisure, considered web that parallels today’s lightning-quick actionable one.

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Comcast reverses policy, pledges to treat all packets equally

By Michael Fraase

Saturday, 29 March 2008 10:30AM CDT

Section: Internet

Coax cableKnowing which way the wind is blowing is important in business. This week Comcast took a wind reading and made a quick about-face with regard to its policy of blocking BitTorrent packets on its network. The company’s packet-blocking policy drew the wrath of both netizens and policymakers, including an FCC hearing in February. Until now, Comcast has steadfastly defended its actions as necessary network management. The Associated Press is reporting that Comcast will no longer block BitTorrent traffic and will treat all types of internet traffic equally on its network.

Going even farther, Comcast announced it will collaborate with BitTorrent, Inc. to develop better ways of transporting large files over the internet, recognizing the legitimacy of the BitTorrent protocol.

One option Comcast acknowledged exploring is delaying the file transfer activity of heavy users—those that are using close to the unlimited bandwidth for which they are supposedly paying. If this comes to pass, it will mark the end of “unlimited” use pricing and tiered pricing, based on bandwidth usage, will likely become the norm.

Tiered pricing may prove to be yet another failed strategy on Comcast’s part. The Associated Press report notes that Verizon has said that “such traffic is legitimate and that its FiOS network can handle the flow.“

At any rate FCC chair Kevin Martin isn’t completely sold on Comcast’s epiphany:

“I am concerned, though, that Comcast has not made clear when they will stop this discriminatory practice. It appears this practice will continue throughout the country until the end of the year and in some markets, even longer. While it may take time to implement its preferred new traffic management technique, it is not at all obvious why Comcast couldn’t stop its current practice of arbitrarily blocking its broadband customers from using certain applications. Comcast should provide its broadband customers as well as the Commission with a commitment of a date certain by when it will stop this practice.“

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