The logic of X~N.g

I have been reading this book by Axel Bruns - "Blogs, Wikis, Second Life and Beyond" (http://snurb.info/) . I will probably review the book at some point of time, since I think it is exceptional. Unlike some of the popular books on these topics, here is a book that provides a deeper conceptual framework. Even though the frameworks I came up with are probably not in the book, they were clearly prompted or provoked by it. Several other recent books have provided what now is starting to form in terms of a more complete understanding of what is going on. A book called "The difference" by Scott Page is among them as is Infotopia.

One outcome of this understanding - a new cryptic thing I included in my signature block today. X~n.g. Replace X by Web and n by 2 and you will perhaps start seeing what I mean. What is intriguing is the '~' sign. Why would you say Web~2.0, when the world says Web2.0. Let me suggest you try something else. Replace X with "Enterprise", or "Supply Chain", or "fashion" and you might see what I am trying to capture here.

The n.g might become something else tomorrow - 3.1, 4.0.... Perhaps the 'g' should be replaced by '0', but that doesn't really add significantly to the meaning of what I am trying to convey. Whatever be the stage of evolution of the technology (it could infact be any other driver), what we are interested in is the intersection of that development with something else, the "X".

The "~" communicates something more too. I believe it incorporates in its waviness a certain ambiguity, an openness in terms of the potential of the intersection. The intersection of a particular stage of evolution of a technology, a certain paradigm, is different for different X'es. The X'es we are interested in are typically complex systems themselves. Which is one of the reasons that the intersections are interesting. I will touch upon this aspect some other time, but I think that itself, the notion of understanding systems, and their dynamics, and particularly their dynamics in the context of the intersection is what we really need to grasp, in order to make complete sense of any new phenomenon.

One last point - going back to the "~" - in its indeterminacy the symbol is in my mind loaded. It incorporates in the interesection dynamic, our frameworks, heuristics, beliefs and preferences. This Point of View (POV), has its own role to play in the shape this intersection will take.

Much has been written about the Web 2.0 phenomenon. A lot of the literature communicates awe and revels in overwhelming the reader with the cornucopia of forms and terms. Social bookmarks, tagging, folksonomies, collective intelligence, the wisdom of crowds, hive mind and so on. You are then left to make sense of it all. There definitely are some who go beyond this populist approach and provide insight. I think Axel Bruns is one of them.

Human Sociality has certain fundamental attributes. Several of those traits remain foundational, even as new forms emerge as we move sociality to new virtual spaces. An understanding of Sociality therefore is a must, before we start understanding the intersection.