The Value of Time & Community
Internet stocks are essentially darlings because of two drivers: TIME and Community.
TIME: The entire premise behind the growth of this revolution is somehow rooted in the belief that participants will be more productive, efficient, profitable and, in the end, have more time. Through history, the desire to "have more time" has been rooted in the background of all progress.
COMMUNITY: In "net" terms, I like to think about this as the many new ways in which the collaborative use of this "new time" expresses itself around the energy of new ideas and the availability of information and people to virally support, spread and continuously add value to those ideas.
Peter, I'll try to answer your questions as I proceed along this track.....
>>The message of CONTROLLING your own information would start great debate/discussion - even if digitalme can't at this time provide the type of control we would think is necessary. It would bring hope to people that it could evolve/develop into something that could. This alone would be worth a lot in terms of mindshare and attention.>>
When I think about all this I have an image of people planting digital stakes within bandwidth around their ideas. But the reality is that the world is full of people walking around with good ideas. Too often, however, the vast majority of people believe their ideas are essentially worthless: the more energetic faithful may take the leap of faith and believe that at least all of them and a cup of coffee perhaps might entitle them to a visit to Trinity Church at the West end of Wall Street.
Why this lack of faith, energy and belief??
I think it all comes back to the repetitive droning background noise of a world which says "you don't have control, the giant companies and government have got this locked up so why bother...."
If I could use some NDS-fired app that's tied to Digital Me which could identify the "interstate highways of ideas/thought" in this world I would be in a much better position to feel as if I had some control or stake in the process of discovering of where these highways might lead and where new highways might be constructed.
Forget about the leaf analogy for a moment. The state of the Internet today is perhaps similar to the state of the US highway system in the 30's and 40'. Narrow, two-lane roadbeds, sharp turns, unsafe exists, poorly mapped, etc.
All Yahoo, Lycos, Excite and the other portals have done is create the first crude roadmaps. They are essentially the equivalent of the yellowed Rand McNallys of yore.
Novell's directory technologies will go far beyond the Yellow-page analogy. NDS provides digital versions of these roadmaps which extend right into every home, every business, every family, every person who has a heartbeat in this world, whether they are on the Internet or not.
NDS will provide hooks which will allow developers to build apps which allow us to more intelligently seek out, factor, weigh and CONTROL the information we receive. With NDS, the Internet's new roadmaps will extend into the realm of thought, ideas, belief, faith and purpose.
I see mankind developing a unique system of generic terms, codes and sequences which, when organized/macroed or scripted, will allow us to intelligently seek - like a laser - the thought beams or ideas which map with our inner "vertical interests".
We haven't even scratched the surface of this new trend which will be part of this ongoing revolution that will allow individuals to expresses more of their inner sense of freedom and purpose in this world.
But damn, we all HAVE these jobs, responsibilities and families to address, support and come to grips with. And, damn....we just don't have the time for we are all too busy. I can hear the cries: "there is no answer. Just make more money, get a better job, lock in those benefits and take advantage of continual opportunities to learn."
But I think there is an answer, a way out of this box of too little time, too little energy, too little belief and not enough money.
It all has to do with the development of COMMUNITY, both inside and outside our virtual worlds. Community that gathers together, shares together, lives together, etc. The people who are mapping the Internet model in their day to day lives will be the next leaders of this world - not in the traditional - i.e., political/economic - sense of the term.
The leaders of the next millennium will be the builders of these virtual Communities. And they all will begin with a simple thought. Their thoughts are far ahead of today's actions. It all takes MINDSHARE, TIME and COMMUNITY.......
GO!! |
