Everything
March 2, 2001 7:19 AM Subscribe
Everything is link, link is everything. The rather fascinating site called "blather" takes hyperlinks and user comments and smushes them together. The end result is a link for nearly every word. Intriguing!
My daughter has been doing this on our refrig with magnet poetry.
posted by Postroad at 8:48 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by Postroad at 8:48 AM on March 2, 2001
Er. How is this useful?
If (nearly) every word is linked, then it would take forever to follow all of them.
And if you're not supposed to follow all of them because they're not all worthwhile, then why do they bother to link them?
Personally, I reserve linking for when I feel it's *really* worthwhile to follow the link, or it offers pertinent background on what I'm talking about.
I guess different folks use links in different ways, of course. Such as the folks at Everything2, who use them in a way which I describe as "masturbatory".
Not that there's anything wrong with masturbation, mind you - quite the contrary. I just don't think that type of linking contributes much to a useful website. Too much damn noise, really.
posted by beth at 9:21 AM on March 2, 2001
If (nearly) every word is linked, then it would take forever to follow all of them.
And if you're not supposed to follow all of them because they're not all worthwhile, then why do they bother to link them?
Personally, I reserve linking for when I feel it's *really* worthwhile to follow the link, or it offers pertinent background on what I'm talking about.
I guess different folks use links in different ways, of course. Such as the folks at Everything2, who use them in a way which I describe as "masturbatory".
Not that there's anything wrong with masturbation, mind you - quite the contrary. I just don't think that type of linking contributes much to a useful website. Too much damn noise, really.
posted by beth at 9:21 AM on March 2, 2001
How is this useful?
It's Jakob Nielsen's worst nightmare.
I don't think it's supposed to be useful. And that's fine by me.
posted by hijinx at 9:23 AM on March 2, 2001
It's Jakob Nielsen's worst nightmare.
I don't think it's supposed to be useful. And that's fine by me.
posted by hijinx at 9:23 AM on March 2, 2001
Repeat after me:
Any word. Click it. Get information.
We can only hope that the corporate world never gets hold of this technology!
posted by dhartung at 9:40 AM on March 2, 2001
Any word. Click it. Get information.
We can only hope that the corporate world never gets hold of this technology!
posted by dhartung at 9:40 AM on March 2, 2001
Too much damn noise, really.
If it's done properly it doesn't have to be. Although cutting and pasting from the site would be a bitch, if every word were a link (and that fact were made known) then the need to identify links would be gone, and it'd be just as easy to read as otherwise.
And you could still highlight "relevant" links if you chose to. I don't know. I'm not going too deep into my favorite idealistic spin, but the 'nets a big ol' interconnected place.
Things like blather, Everything2 et al just take it to an extreme level. Lots of room for everyone to play. :-)
posted by cCranium at 9:50 AM on March 2, 2001
If it's done properly it doesn't have to be. Although cutting and pasting from the site would be a bitch, if every word were a link (and that fact were made known) then the need to identify links would be gone, and it'd be just as easy to read as otherwise.
And you could still highlight "relevant" links if you chose to. I don't know. I'm not going too deep into my favorite idealistic spin, but the 'nets a big ol' interconnected place.
Things like blather, Everything2 et al just take it to an extreme level. Lots of room for everyone to play. :-)
posted by cCranium at 9:50 AM on March 2, 2001
This is a more interesting Blather, with appreciation of Flann O'Brien and Fortean links.
posted by chrismc at 10:32 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by chrismc at 10:32 AM on March 2, 2001
It's quite lovely.
From a glance, I definitely think there's an Ezra Pound thing going on: the idea of a "poem containing history". Without so much of the fascism, of course.
posted by holgate at 12:22 PM on March 2, 2001
From a glance, I definitely think there's an Ezra Pound thing going on: the idea of a "poem containing history". Without so much of the fascism, of course.
posted by holgate at 12:22 PM on March 2, 2001
its worse than you thought dhartung.
NBCi Quick Click
Information from any word, delivered instantly wherever you are.
QuickClick is a speedy new way to get information, so you save time and avoid Web rage! QuickClick lets you:
- click on any word on your screen and get a choice of links to related info
- go directly to the Web page you need - no more endless sifting
- reach the Web's best sites instantly from email, word processing, or any Windows application
say it aint so...
posted by stazen at 3:26 PM on March 2, 2001
NBCi Quick Click
Information from any word, delivered instantly wherever you are.
QuickClick is a speedy new way to get information, so you save time and avoid Web rage! QuickClick lets you:
- click on any word on your screen and get a choice of links to related info
- go directly to the Web page you need - no more endless sifting
- reach the Web's best sites instantly from email, word processing, or any Windows application
say it aint so...
posted by stazen at 3:26 PM on March 2, 2001
Select any word on a webpage and drag it to your Google toolbar. Faster, and I'd trust google way before I'd trust NBCi.
The future is the past!
posted by pedro at 7:16 AM on March 3, 2001
The future is the past!
posted by pedro at 7:16 AM on March 3, 2001
stazen, I was being subtle. "Any word, click it, get information" is the advertising slogan NBCi is using on television. By extension my entire comment may be taken as dry humor.
One would hope.
posted by dhartung at 8:18 AM on March 3, 2001
One would hope.
posted by dhartung at 8:18 AM on March 3, 2001
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But, being a lazy git, I've never gotten around to it.
It reminds me of H2G2 (currently in stasis, unfortunately) or Everything2 but with a conversational spin. Nifty!
posted by cCranium at 8:16 AM on March 2, 2001