Saturday, August 13, 2005
Blogging is the next step in the creation of Homo sapien informaticus
(I may be a little incoherent in expressing my thoughts on this, but you should get the gist of what I mean)
As I was reading Ethan Zuckerman's research on African names and Google keyword pricing yesterday, I had an outstanding revelation. It was so great...it was earth shaking (you probably felt the tremor where you're staying). It was the answer to the question I asked a couple of days ago on why we blog.
We blog because we are driven by our very nature to add to Mankind's store of information.
The drive that leads us to blogging is the same drive that leads us to writing autobiographies and diaries.
We know that we are not going to live forever. We also know that mankind will advance, with or without us. So we are driven to make our contribution - to "leave our mark" so to speak - to the development of mankind.
Look at it this way...by reading Ethan's blog , I was able to benefit from research I didn't carry out myself.
(It's the reason why the Internet was invented in the first place - a network linking institutions of learning).
Think back to the dawn of time, when men were still living in caves and hunting in packs. In order for men to share knowledge, they developed a common language. This language was not universal because all humans were not living together, having split into different groups and clans.
Each clan developed its own language for communication amongst members. Some clans split into sub-clans and had their own version of the clan language. Some clans migrated and mixed with other clans and so their own languages diluted with the language of the foreign clans.
[This is probably the reason why Africa has a unique place amongst the nations. As the cradle of civilization Africa probably had (and still has) more clans and subclans than any other continent. This explains why Africa has so many languages and diverse peoples.]
Throughout our history, man has been striving to improve communications and communication methods. Starting with the development of languages, the invention of writing, old technologies like letters and telegraphs, newer technologies like email, cell phones and the Internet.
The primary reason for all this was TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE.
Think of it, if every scientist kept what he learns to himself then science would never advance. In fact the technologies of today would never have existed. Imagine Thomas Edison locking up the secret of the lightbulb in his safe!
Next, imagine every person on earth having a blog! All the thoughts, discoveries and comments of EVERYONE at the disposal of ANYONE! It's probably the closest thing to reading minds that is possible for now.
But sharing knowledge is not as easy as it seems. Let's say I want to find out what a "Spitfire" is. In the old days I would have to go a library, today I go to Google. In both cases a problem exists. Namely: how to obtain the information I need from the large amount of data available.
As technologies advance, and it gets easier and easier to share and store information, the amount of raw knowledge available to sift through increases greatly. Technologies like blogging only add to the pile.
Have you noticed that as information and communication technology advance, so does the technology needed to store information? Storing larger amounts of data in smaller amounts of media led to the development of hard drives and optical drives like CD's and DVD's, and technology is not stopping there either.
Improving storage technology is not enough. We also need to improve the way we sort through all this data. That is why library books are indexed and sorted, and why search and indexing technologies like Google are million dollar industries.
"We are the information age." You've probably heard that over and over again but have you given a thought to what it really means? How about the popular saying (popular on CNN anyway): "You are what you know"?
The fact is that in the "information age" whoever controls the flow of information controls the power.
So next time you make an entry in your blog, remember...you're contributing to the developement of mankind! So blog on, the world blogs with you!
-David Mends
University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
As I was reading Ethan Zuckerman's research on African names and Google keyword pricing yesterday, I had an outstanding revelation. It was so great...it was earth shaking (you probably felt the tremor where you're staying). It was the answer to the question I asked a couple of days ago on why we blog.
We blog because we are driven by our very nature to add to Mankind's store of information.
The drive that leads us to blogging is the same drive that leads us to writing autobiographies and diaries.
We know that we are not going to live forever. We also know that mankind will advance, with or without us. So we are driven to make our contribution - to "leave our mark" so to speak - to the development of mankind.
Look at it this way...by reading Ethan's blog , I was able to benefit from research I didn't carry out myself.
(It's the reason why the Internet was invented in the first place - a network linking institutions of learning).
Think back to the dawn of time, when men were still living in caves and hunting in packs. In order for men to share knowledge, they developed a common language. This language was not universal because all humans were not living together, having split into different groups and clans.
Each clan developed its own language for communication amongst members. Some clans split into sub-clans and had their own version of the clan language. Some clans migrated and mixed with other clans and so their own languages diluted with the language of the foreign clans.
[This is probably the reason why Africa has a unique place amongst the nations. As the cradle of civilization Africa probably had (and still has) more clans and subclans than any other continent. This explains why Africa has so many languages and diverse peoples.]
Throughout our history, man has been striving to improve communications and communication methods. Starting with the development of languages, the invention of writing, old technologies like letters and telegraphs, newer technologies like email, cell phones and the Internet.
The primary reason for all this was TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE.
Think of it, if every scientist kept what he learns to himself then science would never advance. In fact the technologies of today would never have existed. Imagine Thomas Edison locking up the secret of the lightbulb in his safe!
Next, imagine every person on earth having a blog! All the thoughts, discoveries and comments of EVERYONE at the disposal of ANYONE! It's probably the closest thing to reading minds that is possible for now.
But sharing knowledge is not as easy as it seems. Let's say I want to find out what a "Spitfire" is. In the old days I would have to go a library, today I go to Google. In both cases a problem exists. Namely: how to obtain the information I need from the large amount of data available.
As technologies advance, and it gets easier and easier to share and store information, the amount of raw knowledge available to sift through increases greatly. Technologies like blogging only add to the pile.
Have you noticed that as information and communication technology advance, so does the technology needed to store information? Storing larger amounts of data in smaller amounts of media led to the development of hard drives and optical drives like CD's and DVD's, and technology is not stopping there either.
Improving storage technology is not enough. We also need to improve the way we sort through all this data. That is why library books are indexed and sorted, and why search and indexing technologies like Google are million dollar industries.
"We are the information age." You've probably heard that over and over again but have you given a thought to what it really means? How about the popular saying (popular on CNN anyway): "You are what you know"?
The fact is that in the "information age" whoever controls the flow of information controls the power.
So next time you make an entry in your blog, remember...you're contributing to the developement of mankind! So blog on, the world blogs with you!
-David Mends
University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
# posted by David @ 4:09 PM 
Comments:
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Absolutely, David. And this is the revolutionary aspect of blogging.
For individuals to be able to share stories in an open medium is one thing; for them to assist in community, nation and world evolution -- through information that drives innovative products, lifestyles, healing, etc. -- innate human passions and desires come to the forefront.
And it's a great way to have your grandchildren know a lot about who you are and/or were. ;-)
For individuals to be able to share stories in an open medium is one thing; for them to assist in community, nation and world evolution -- through information that drives innovative products, lifestyles, healing, etc. -- innate human passions and desires come to the forefront.
And it's a great way to have your grandchildren know a lot about who you are and/or were. ;-)
Came over to your blog today via a post at EZ's blog. Welcome to the Blogosphere and its good to see someone with such a fresh and positive attitude.
We've come a long way since our ancestors of 60,000 years ago started fanning out down on the African continent. Blogging is simply the modern-day equivalent of cave drawings our more creative and talented ancestors used to do back in the Old Days.
We are not only living in the Information Age, we are the information. We are The Web!
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We've come a long way since our ancestors of 60,000 years ago started fanning out down on the African continent. Blogging is simply the modern-day equivalent of cave drawings our more creative and talented ancestors used to do back in the Old Days.
We are not only living in the Information Age, we are the information. We are The Web!
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