Chapter 2 is a discuss from Dave Weinberger, who followed this book up with a solo project called Small Pieces, Loosely Joined, which expands on the idea that the underlying architectures of the Web and Internet are built "broken" so that others may easily build upon it. His book + site take on the first question he poses: What is the Web For?

This is an important metaphorical construct to consider when building your sites: how can you build something that is functional, yet continues to allow people to build their OWN ideas upon it? It's a dance that is difficult to conceptualize, yet one that is necessary as you begin to sift into social media.

Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don't be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time. -- John Jay Chapman, commencement address to the graduating class of Hobart College, 1900

What is the Web For?

There are two important questions that arise from this chapter, which gives insight into Weinberger's thinking about the Web and social media:

1. What is the Web For?
2. Who is the "we" that uses it? 

Being Managed

There are hurdles you will face as you begin to sift through social media and Web culture, both from a personal standpoint and from a professional standpoint:

1. Risk Aversion
2. Make it Work Smooth
3. Make it Fair
4. Make Control Easy

There are traditional ways of thinking about these four ideas; however, the Web has opened up a new way of thinking in these terms.

How to Hate Your Job

For many years, there has been a separation of work (professional) and home (personal); these constructs are breaking down with social media (see the Four Hurdles from the previous section). There is push-back from some because of these

Social media breaks this down. Here are examples of how my life operates with social media, using this class as an example:

• I followed Facebook posts about FTP'ing the WordPress blog software to Lamphost; ad hoc groups formed easily and formed around specific problems, not arbitrary working groups. The answers were where the answers were.
• A blog discussion happened on The Dudeman regarding the Wiki, how it worked and how I wanted the site structured; ad hoc groups formed, snarky yet informative discussions happened and the problems were solved WITHOUT the intervention of the "expert"
• Nick and I emailed and sent texts back and forth regarding the tutorials that needed to be ready for Monday's lesson; on Friday, we had real-time interaction as he upgraded the lab computers

The social media allowed me (the "expert") to remove myself from a self-appointed position of power and instead allowed the bases of knowledge collect and form as needed. 

Questoin: So how then does that answer the Four Hurdles from above? Or does it?

Our Voice

We are more than willing -- at times -- to cede control of our voice in exchange for a well-managed, well run system (work, home).

Voice can't be managed, which leads to the Four Hurdles:

• Our voice is individual
• Business is homogenized

The question you must always ask yourself: when is the best time to use each?

Creating a web property in this image, homogenized, means it will fail; the Web has to be broken and dirty. That doesn't mean that you must cede ALL control and centralization. Refer to the 3 examples from the class in the previous section. How do those jibe?

The Longing

We don't know what the Web is for but we've adopted it faster than any technology since fire.

Questions you may want to address:

Why do you use the Web?

Why do we want our own pages to personalize? Why do we have personalized cases for our hardware? Why do we have ringtones? 

The Web is fundamentally a gathering place, a bazaar; but it's a "new" kind of committee, one that is asynchronous and not geo-located.