I don’t deny web content is being geared towards the aggregators but you could substitute the word corporation and it would STILL be accurate. If I have any quibble, it would be that at some point the aggregators would plateau-this would be true if content and websites stopped being created-but they’re not. Not by a long shot. As long as there are new sites popping up there will always be content to be combed through.

One of the reasons i started a small press was because mainstream publishers weren’t putting out the books I wanted to read. With the advent of POD technology doing that is much easier than ever. We’ll never get sales like Viking or Simon & Schuster, but its work we can be proud of.

I mention that only because you touched on the “David and Goliath” syndrome a bit, and I see the internet fragmenting. Big corporations like google and Apple spoon feeding you the sponsored content they want you to have, and those who haven’t forgotten what the internet was designed for: information, not commercialization.

Nothing was actually meant by the format of this post – it was written as a personal exploration of the ideas in it, and posted because – why not? I stand by it. (Edit: I actually think it’s an awful wall of text, but I was lazy and didn’t create any visual illustrations or other design elements, again, it’s not meant to be self-referential.)

But to address your assertion – I would not say that newspapers and magazines are struggling because we find content on the web superior. We do find the discussion superior, but I don’t believe that the way we do things now will be the way we continue to do it forever, and I also don’t believe it is necessarily the best way. I simply don’t take that for granted.

I posted this as-is because it was my complete thought. To me, to break it into pieces would create something less than the whole. Yes, because of this, fewer people will probably take the time to consume and discuss it, but that’s OK. I also post lists of stupid jokes – I’m not some stuffy buffoon who believes the internet must always be Serious Business, I just think that it could be more fulfilling.

I have stated that I don’t think current models will disappear – I simply believe that new models will arise which treat information differently. They can coexist, but what I would very much not like to see is the environment swinging too far in one direction – in this case, toward ultimate aggregation and searchability, the loss of authorship and context, and the devaluation of all information and individuality.

The internet is great because I am free to post this, or anything else, and you are free to respond to it, and we are free to have a discussion about it. I am not disputing the fundamental glory of free communication. I am disputing however, that the current models are the end all, and that they exist because intellectual natural selection caused them to exist – that has certainly played a part, but so have entrepreneurs. Other entrepreneurs will create new models, and other human desires will be met in different ways, maybe with fewer trolls, less outrage, and less sensationalism.

But hey, who knows? I probably should have prefaced this post with what some might call a cop out, but with what I think is realistic: This is an analysis of what I’ve seen and a few theories about where it could go. It is by no means a perfect representation of reality or a perfect prediction – ideas in their infancy, and especially predictions, can be changed entirely if just one piece is missing. But I think it’s great to discuss them.

(You may also note that I take a jab at piracy, yet have posted links to mp3s here. I am not unaware of my glass house, but I’m thinking about it.)

The basic issue is that you have some idea of what is human-oriented and what is machine-oriented, that may not be correct. The only evidence besides personal feeling is what humans do. What we have done is created and embraced this model of information-sharing you condemn as inhuman. Newspapers and magazines ect are struggling because humans have found something they like better.

There was a big story in the news a few days ago, some guy got the left side of his body cut off, luckily he was all right.