Everything is Miscellaneous is not your average text book. It reads as if it's written by a once incredibly bored college student who knows how boring he could be, but chooses not to be. While reading the first two chapters, I even laughed to myself; I felt like the kid in high school that I told myself I never wanted to be. I guess if you're writing a book about how writing is changing, the end product is bound to be more exciting to read then your American History text book.
The idea of "everything is miscellaneous" really showed through in the first chapter, and Weinberger did this by making example through relevant websites that most readers would actually know of, such as Flickr.com. The idea that the solution to an overabundance of information is to add more information is comical and true. We sort picture now by adding more information instead of tucking it away in a single photo album.
The comparison of Flickrs tagging system, or googles search engine to the Library of Congress make me think about how many late assignments I would have if it wasn't for the Internet. Where would I be if I couldn't quickly search Wikipedia for information on some artisit for a pointless AE-credit class 10 minutes before that class actually start? At this point, probably not still in college. Instead I'd have to go to the library and actually READ a book about this artist, which takes more time, as Weinberger points out towards the end of chapter one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment