Weinberger

I thought the overall message of this article was pretty interesting, and it offered a different way to look at how the internet functions as a way of bringing people together. The concept in itself that the internet brings people together isn’t necessarily original, but Weinberger’s descriptions of the various ways that the internet brings people closer really illustrated this point and gave me a better appreciation for just how powerful the internet is as a tool for bringing users closer together.

From a personal standpoint, I’ve seen this first hand how small communities can be formed through various outlets on the internet. I’ve played games online where I’ve formed mini-friendships with people and talked to them almost as casually as I would talk to a friend in real life. I’ve also known people who posted on message boards where they formed actual friendships and ended up becoming friends in real life as well. Weinberger does a good job of describing how this has come to be and how it is continuously spawning new communities and bring people with similar thoughts and interests together.

To me, the most interesting part of this article was the opening section where he describes how he connected and discussed the events surrounding 9/11 in real time with people who were feeding him news as it happened about events that were not covered by the mass media. He also expressed a feeling of intimacy with his fellow group members and email senders that was much stronger than the relationship he felt with people giving him the news through other sources of media. I also really enjoyed his analogy of the internet as being the opposite of a grenade thrown into a crowded market, in that it serves as a powerful force that brings people very close to one another. In total, this was a more colorful and interesting read than the past couple articles we’ve looked at, and I thought it did a good job describing the connective powers of the internet.