This brings up some interesting philosophical points about web
development... Perhaps we should rummage about on this a bit.
> ideas -- I see more and more evidence that the big players (portals,
> magazines, e-commmerce sites and so on) define the Web as the
> demographic cohort equaling "US resident, age 25-40, university
> educated, family income $50,000+" This cheeses me off.
> The past couple of days were a good example. It seemed that every
> news, portal and magazine site I visited had prominent features about
*** Visit, verb, to go to.
> Thanksgiving this-that-and-the-other thing... well, here's a late-breaking
> news flash -- of the 200-odd countries on earth, Thanksgiving was
> celebrated in exactly one of them this week, the US. So Thanksgiving-
> related news was utterly irrelevant to anyone else on the Web.
(1)
> One of the most appealing aspects of the Web in its earlier days was its
> truly transnational flavour and composition. I remember much brave and
> optimistic talk about how the Web was going to dissolve international
> borders, dilute ethnic enmities, and all that.
One of the nice things about the 1950's was that the family would
drive around, visiting all these quaint little hamlets here and there.
Today, if we go anywhere, it is to the shopping malls. Why on earth do
they have to build those ugly shopping malls! They should build more of
those woods and mountains we use to, what was that word, Visit.
Visit, verb, to go to. End point of a travel, usually undertaken
by conscious decision, often for specific purpose.
Perhaps you chose to visit those sites today, instead of exploring
the little thematic hamlets and occasional looney bins on the net? Was
that because you took the easier pathways, rather than going off on the
little roads? Or simply because there were so few Malls back then to go
to? Perhaps the roads you chose were better paved because more people
tend to visit the places where the shopping malls were built?
> But if this US-centric trend continues unabated, I foresee the Web
> becoming the equivalent of America telelvision: a mass-entertainment
Perhaps you only visited US sites?
> octopus dominating culture and marketing in nations around the world, at
> the expense of distinctive regional culture and voices. Just the sort of
> intellectual imperialism the Web (at one time) semed poised to do away
> with.
Let me don my Lithuanian hat for a moment. What Americans do best,
is make "things", including web pages expressing their points of view.
What others do, is not make as many web pages, and look at us more and
more as a kind of reference standard for what can be done.
> Former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau made a droll comment
> about Canada's proximity to the American goliath; he said it was "like
> sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is
> the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
Is it the elephant's fault that it is big? Is it the elephant's
fault that you chose to sleep with it?
Perhaps Alerica is an elephant. Perhaps, out of sheer random chance,
most of the places you selected were in America. Perhaps you were not
browsing in French, German, Lithuanian, or Swahili. Perhaps you started
your journey in an English speaking page, and just followed the links you
could understand.
If you started in a Lithuanian web-town, you would have likely chosen
to follow Lithuanian links, and thought it natural that the web is
Lithuanian, except for a few links to English pages, many of which look so
much better because the American web craftspeople have more experience.
Is it the fault of the American webcrafters that they are better, or of
the Lithuanian webcrafters that they are not as good, have not, how you
say it, invested the money in web infrastructure? Is it their fault that
many of them mirror their culture, in as much as they can, rather than
follow American graphics art norms? Or is it their fault that many do try
to mirror American norms? http://www.is.lt/ . Or search Lietuva, or
tinklas, or Kaledas, kugelis, koldunai, Kaunas, Vilnius, or for our great
artist, Ciurlionis. Of course, you may have to use AltaVista's babbling
translate feature to get some idea of what is written in this old relative
of Sanskrit. Lithuanian is the oldest continuously spoken language on
this earth. We are on the tinklas (web), too. You just have to look.
The web is web or paths. As with any other system of paths, if you
stick to the well trodden paths, you will end up following the paths of
commerce in people's daily and recurrent physical needs. Th spiritual
Guru is upon the mountain because there is no highway for seekers seeking
him, and because it is a low rent district, more compatible with his
ration of spiritual to economic activity.
If you chose the paths of intellect or spirit, you will have to make
more decisions as to which path to take; for it is not that all paths lead
to Rome, but that all paths lead to Loam (and Fodder of daily life.)
-J- (C) 1998, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------- http://www.mall-net.com/javilk
--- Laugh at yourself, Our Creator loves company -- and You! ---------------
--- After all, we wouldn't want our Creator to cancel the show, would we? --
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Another Javilk (tm) brand post, <a href="http://www.mall-net.com/javilk/">
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