Yes, it is true: I am attracted to words. Certainly single words pique our interest (see my students' list in the sidebar), but used collectively words wield a particularly seductive power.
A certain turn of words, a particular phraseology, the way some words come trippingly off the tongue - ah, that is true bliss. Go ahead, roll your eyes the way my students do (Or perhaps you are among those who nod silently or proffer a slight smile of agreement?)
I am not ashamed to admit my love of language, but I will concede that it does cause a certain blindness at times. Take, for example, the language used in the introduction to Thing 14: Technorati is described as "a portmanteau... of technology and literati...". Those words alone were music to my ears: portmanteau! literati! Could it be true? A thinker's approach to blogging?
Don't get me wrong - I am no great intellectual; in fact, each day I grow more and more aware of how little I really know. But, I do think it is important to discern between the truly important and that which I refer to as "mind candy". (Do you know how long I have been waiting to use those words ???) So, getting more directly to the point, based on the language used to describe it, I thought that Technorati would help elevate Internet above the influence of pop-culture and its associated forms of idiocy.
Well, I did admit that words could be seductive, didn't I? Only time will tell for certain, but I'm afraid that I may have been lured by the Sirens' song once again...
The two clips by the brain trust at Technorati offered the first glimpse of the conflict between theory and reality. Their own discussion, peppered with the language of democracy - the voice of the people, the authority of the people, rarefied versus regular people, the raw and uncut human experience, the voice of the regular guy bubbling up from the bottom - these words suggested that Technorati offered a portal through which the masses could be heard! Can't you just visualize Thomas Jefferson nodding in approval?
The problem is that, at least as indicated through my morning's sojourn through the site, the contributors to Technorati address the same topics that any other website does. Yes, it does allow the voice of the huddled masses to be heard, but we just don't have much to say...
Or am I wrong? I acknowledge the tendency to speak before I think, so please let me know if I am misguided. Maybe I just haven't given it a fair chance? Or have I been been foiled by words once again?
PS - Just so you don't think I'm completely close-minded, I've spent the last 36 hours mulling over my comments, and I have to amend my stance. (Go figure...) So, what follows is my confession. Should I sit behind a darkened panel for this, or is the relative anonymity of the Internet enough? At any rate, here it is: My assessment of Technorati was ill-informed, biased, and unfair. I operated out of a rigidly preconceived notion of what the site would be, and then when it wasn't what I expected I dismissed it with a sniff and huff. In doing so, I missed the point... Well, I didn't miss it, but I didn't fully appreciate the democratization of the blogosphere and how it completely changes the traditional relationship between knowledge users and brokers. It wasn't until this morning's readings associated with Thing#15 that this change really caught my attention. I won't divulge all of the details here: I don't want to spoil the activities for you. However, if you want another perspective of Technorati, one that really seems to synthesize the whole schmere (sp?), take a look at the link below.
2 comments:
WOW! I like our shelf. Can't wait to get to this item. You are entirely right, so much as been said about the same old, same old. We keep repeating ourselves, but we invent new words to say the same thing. Key to it all is to share with others. I get confused with professional jargon (in this case educational jargon) for simple things that have always worked in the classroom that some insist on reworking (actually renamning). Then there are the fundamental things that cannot be excluded if the student is to learn :)
Okay. I just want to say that on Technorati today at the bottom of the page in a row of what seemed to be important newsfeeds was a link to some article about Jessica Alba's boobs. NEED I SAY MORE???
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