Deja Vu

This thing seems familiar somehow. If only I could remember what it resembles. It is as if an earlier concept, one which had been laid to rest, has returned from the grave replete with the accoutrements of the Undead (those consisting primarily of rotting flesh and a frightening demeanor).


Okay, so it's not as bad as all that. The stuff I read as "research" came primarily courtesy of Michael Stevens, of Tame the Web fame. This guy is, shall we say, very enthusiastic in his adoption of the whole "2.0" phenomenon. I never did like that term. I spoke about it in some detail here, but I want to say more now. Given that the current state of networked computers represents a fundamental shift away from an earlier paradigm, it is certainly not the second iteration. Unless one counts ARPANET as "Web 0.x" or something. And what ever happened to "Web 1.1"? "Web 1.3.153"? Even Windows had a 3.11. Either way, we've got to be up to "4.x" by now.


I seem to have lost my focus. Tags, right? On Flickr?


As previously mentioned, tags allow regular people to find things based on a common idea. Take, for instance, the Platonic ideal of a table. That's a tag, isn't it? The photos uploaded that carry the tag "table" vary widely in form, but all nevertheless display some recognizable table-ness that allow the tags to work. They also allow you to find pictures of tables. Or birds. Or whatever. And also find and possibly connect with the artists (term used loosely) who took the photos.


Is this important? Sure, if you're a voyeur. Or a stalker. Otherwise, it's just kinda neat.


I'm more a fan of deviantART anyway.