what is the web

[Susan Rabe]

At 3:14 PM -0500 4/11/97, Joe Schallan wrote:
>PS.  A few days ago I raised the issue of the nature of the
>web and our professional response to it.  Whether it is
>a single, multifaceted resource, a collection of resources
>that can be viewed as being "selectable," or a sort of data
>pipeline for which we serve as a telco-like carrier are questions
>that cut to the heart of our difficulties with the web.
>
>I was astonished and disappointed that there has been *zero*
>discussion of this.  So everyone out there has quickly decided
>exactly what it is and how it should be handled, eh?

My personal opinion is that we, as a society inflate the value and
over-romantize technology.  I'm definitely in the "sort of data pipeline
for which we serve as a telco-like carrier" group as you will see below.

My 75 year old mother recently asked my brother and  I to "explain the
Internet" to our 81 year old father.  I knew we could give a long
explanation that he wouldn't really understand or we could simplify with an
analogy.  The analogy I used was that the Internet is just like the phone
system except there are computers instead of phones at the end.  You can
connect to the computer across the street or around the world, just like
the phone system.  You can get good information or bad information, talk on
a party line, leave or get messages, get no answer, or get a wrong
computer.  The Web is just something that lets you get pictures and sound
with text.  The value or lack of value is in the files that people have put
on a computer and made available.  AND, just like a phone call, some of
those files are valuable and useful and some are the equivalent of the 14th
credit card offer you've received in one evening.


Susan M. Rabe
Collection Resources Bibliographer
Center for Research Libraries
6050 S. Kenwood Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637-2804
Tel: 773-955-4545 x323
Fax: 773-955-4339
Email: rabe at crlmail.uchicago.edu