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Bronzie's 5Q Capsule-linkweaving System
Without the connecting tissue of context, meaning and relationships, data is merely information of limited use, available to a limited number of consumers. Mid 20th century, data scientists and dreamers came up with the concept of hypertext. As IT evolved in the second half of the 20th century, we saw various technically smart implementations of the concept, to varied effect and penetration (hypercard, anyone?). But if hypertext is about knowledge navigation, then it is of course also about interconnections (derrr - kinda integral to the concept, no?). Early (and late) BBS systems understood the social layer required to transform data into knowledge, and the power that knowledge gave to community. But that model, as delectable as it was, was limited by its reach and the proprietary nature of its implementations.
When Timmy Berners-Lee in the early 90s saw visions of a user-hackable reduction of SGML, and dreamt it up into the fever-dream of the web, he invented the killer-app of that decade. In the spirit of FOSS, eager propagators sprayed the potent, standardised html/http seed across the internet, and the newly multimedia-capable nodes occupying the net's evolving networks ate it up, sites multiplying like weeds, and users like rabbits eager to sup on the fresh shoots of blossoming knowledge. Between http download of pixelated person-bits, and pasting "under construction" gifs on our new tilde-urled html sites, the ideas we posted into clunky non-responsive web forms were about sharing knowledge and connecting communities, and noble things like bettering mankind and breaking down barriers. And cats.
What the dream evolved into, of course, (see web 2.0+) was a better way to fleece the masses, a sterile marketplace adept at picking your pockets and poisoning your mind as you cross the threshold into its kafkaesque disneyland of commercial-volume dross. Discussion spaces have evolved into toxic cesspits of pejorative discourse and ad-hominem retorts. The web has become much more a space for mindless consumption and expoloitation, than sharing, growth and community building. This modern web is both mindblowingly rich in amazing technologies, and terribly dissapointing in what it is populated with. It's not that quality content and discourse is extinct on the web, it's just that the signal-to-noise ratio is appallingly low, and the chances for making quality connections are in fact inverse to the massive availability of data and accessibility to the medium.
The gemini and modern gopher "smol" net is a contemporary response to that, and interestingly it calls out to those of us who were around for the beginnings of the existing web. Its philosophy of guarded minimalism, and architectural/positional resistance to colonisation by commercial entities is both refreshing and promising. I for one look forward to meeting you on the snolnet. To that end, Christyotwisty has encapsulated the spirit of the smolnet with her '5 Questions' series
This series recalls the intimacy and sense of connection we felt in those early days, and proves that on our own un-co-opted smolnet platforms, we can have that environment back again. Like fediverse, the tildeverse, SDF and other smolnet spaces, gemini provides a fertile and minimal environment in which big things might flourish. Inspired by Christy's efforts, I will contribute to the interactivity by creating the "Bronzie's 5Q Capsule-linkweaving System", my own take on the 5-questions system of engagement. Very manual, but completely interactive ;P
Bronzie's 5Q Capsule-linkweaving System
Thanks Christina for your inspiration and your efforts.
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♻️ (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Bronzie Beat
Updated 20200820