Review on Small Pieces

I admit that I was not really looking forward to learning about Web 2.0. Yes, it is an interesting concept but I was not quite sure it was worth the time. I believe I blew it off  because it is a concept that is completely knew to me, and although I love to learn, I hate to feel stupid, and when you are learning something for the first time, you are going to feel stupid first. But this book truly helped. It actually made sense. The analogies that were used had me saying every fifteen minutes, "I get it!"

He discusses four main points: space, time, self, and knowledge.

"Space: The geography of the Web is as ephemeral as human interest." The space of the web seems to be infinite. Just look at eBay and its endless about of pages filled with information regarding thousands of products.

"Time: Real-world time is a series of ticks to which schedules are tied." They way Weibnerger describes it, time spent on the Internet is not measured in units of moments but our interest in what we are working on. For example, he gives the example of shopping on eBay. While he was shopping, his son came home, so he stopped what he was doing on the Web to spend time with his son. Later that night he was able to get right back on the leave off where he started.

"Self: Unlike real-world selves, these selves are intermittent and most important, they are written." Weinberger discussed what has come to be known as "Internet Intoxication." He gave the example of Michael Campbell who in 1999 used AOL to talk to Erin Walton, a student from Columbine High School. During their chats he warned her not to go to school the next day because he didn't want "her blood on my hands." Campbell was arrested and was taken to court. Campbell tried claiming that he was just trying to take a new role and be like his favorite actor, John Malkovich.

Although Campbell is a unique and extreme situation, Internet users do use the Internet to try on new identities. Especially when we are chatting with other people online; we are able to sometimes speak our minds more freely.

Knowldge: The Web is full of knowledge! Weinberger discusses how much he learned about quilting from just browsing the quilts he was looking to buy on eBay.

The main concept of the book is that the Web isn't put together in one smooth line. It's made up of "small nuggets" that are loosely connected to other "small nuggets."

"... The Web gets its value not from the smoothness of its overall operation but from its abundance of small nuggests that point to more small nuggets."

Most importantly the Web does not just connect the different pages but it also connects us as humans. We are able to communicate and connect with other people half way around the world in seconds.

It discusses how the Web breaks traditional publishing by being more open. In the past, publication was about control. No one could add. No one could contribute. Because of this openness, the Web has been able to grow into the phenomenon that it is today.