Sunday, January 16, 2005

Watch this space for an interesting announcement.  

Pictures from the WW II, Lincoln, Korea and Vietnam memorials. 

David Weinberger clarifies a point raised in yesterday's Trippi interview. 

Chris Nolan: "This, my friends, is spin. It's positioning. It's politics." 

Why blogging? Can't trust the pros 

My main message for the pros at next week's conference. If it weren't for the callous lack of credibility of the pros, there never would have been a need for blogs.

At the time I started blogging, the pros were reporting that there was no new Macintosh software. I would call these reporters and point out that there was lots of new Mac software, they were using it, they knew about it. They would respond by saying Everyone knows there's no new Mac software.

I don't think knew they were being dishonest, by then reporting wasn't about facts, it was about conventional wisdom. If CW said there was no new Mac software then the reporters would report that. This meant that competitors didn't actually have to win in the market, that's much harder, they just had to convince the reporters that they had. This leads to not only a very wrong place, but a dangerous one, because the reporters had come to have so much power. With no accountability, no way to vote them out of office, we were totally controlled by them. That's why blogging came about, as a counter-action to the corruption of the professional system.

Of course it's not just in software and technology that the pros are so dishonest, it's in everything. Even the mighty NY Times apologized for its coverage of the lead-up to the war in Iraq. I can't get out of my mind the coverage of the US taking of Baghdad. On MSNBC, a moment of gratitude, with a picture of President Bush on screen, with the huge word VISIONARY underneath.

This isn't the system that the advocates of the pros get teary-eyed over. The system they talk about doesn't exist, reporters don't do in-depth reporting, they don't have a passion for truth, they serve some other cause, a cynical and self-preserving one.

This is a demo 

I'm doing a demo at corporate headquarters of EchoDitto. Literally 1/10 of the staff of the company is observing my demo. It's getting kind of crowded in here.

Harish says: "I love you Dave!"