Jeffrey Zeldman wrote today about Glassdog's transformation from an "experimental narrative powerhouse" to a mere blog. Under the provocative title The saddest music in the world, Zeldman's piece was a reflection on how The Web has not lived up to its original promise:

"Oh, little child. Long ago, before you were born, some of us dreamed big dreams. We thought the simplicity of HTML and the low cost of web hosting would produce a worldwide creative flowering. A second Renaissance, every person an inventor and publisher. Magazines, communities, visual experiments. New narrative forms. Interactive jam sessions. In-depth explorations of every imaginable topic, from Leadbelly discographies to single parent self-help resources. This we envisioned. This we soldiered for. And what did we get?

Blogs, Gmail, and Friendster."

This topic has been simmering in my own mind, like heroin on the boil, for some time now. Coincidentally I came across an old Tim Berners-Lee document earlier this week, entitled Realising the Full Potential of the Web ( from December 1997). This quote nicely complements Zeldman's point:

"I want the Web to be much more creative than it is at the moment. I have even had to coin a new word - Intercreativity - which means building things together on the Web."

I've long been a fan of Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the Web, particularly his principle that the Web should be read/write and not read-only. The original web browser that he created back in 1990, called WorldWideWeb, was designed to browse and edit. You've heard this spiel before from me, so let's cut to the chase: Zeldman is absolutely spot-on, The Web in 2004 is suffering from a dearth of artistic creativity. 

Renaissance

Zeldman uses the term "Renaissance" to express the ideal that he and others strived towards in the early-to-mid 90's. Renaissance means "cultural and scientific rebirth" according to the Wikipedia. Another definition of Renaissance that I like is this:

A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor

So Zeldman is lamenting the lack of artistic creativity on the Web - "visual experiments", "new narrative forms", "interactive jam sessions" and so on. But is it fair to pin the blame on blogs? Are blogs boring? Matt Mullenweg pointed out that weblogs are revolutionary because they drastically lower the barrier to writing on the Web. That's true. But the content on most blogs isn't very revolutionary, at least if you compare it to literature and art in the English Renaissance (for example).

I think Zeldman may even be saying the blog format, maybe even the whole blogging zeitgeist at this time, is restricting creativity. And it's a fact that the vast majority of weblogs follow the same format: reverse-chronological, short and pithy posts, loads of linky love within each community, blogrolls, linkblogs, and so on. Most bloggers conform to these things. The same is true of web design as it relates to weblogs - you see a lot of 2-column, fixed width and centred designs. There are variations on that theme, but they usually don't deviate far.

Stasis

That's the word for it. And the Dictionary.com definition of stasis touches on the theme of this post:

A condition of balance among various forces; motionlessness: "Language is a primary element of culture, and stasis in the arts is tantamount to death" (Charles Marsh).

In another coincidence, I've been thinking about stasis lately as it relates to my life in the real world. Every morning, Monday to Friday, I catch a bus from my home to the train station, then I catch a train into Wellington city to my work. Before I arrive at work, I buy a muffin at the cafe just down the road. Then I go into the office and sit down at my desk. I turn on my computer, read my emails, check my weblog for comments, eat my muffin, browse Bloglines for a bit, go and get a coffee (filtered), go back to my desk - where I sit and work for the next 8 hours. When my working day is over, I take the train and bus back to my home, spend time with my family, and then spend a couple of hours in front of my home computer - reading Bloglines and writing on my blog.

That's my routine during weekdays. And I'm feeling the stasis of it. I know this because deviations in the bus and train schedules make my palms sweaty. I rely on the two to be on time you see, otherwise my bus misses its connecting train (or vice versa). And that throws my routine off, which makes me stressed. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to spend the rest of my life working in an office 8 hours a day. Stasis.

Synchronicity

I think we need more synchronicity in the Web world. This is just a hunch right now, but I have a feeling we've gotten too comfortable with our RSS Aggregators. We rely on them to find content to read, when we should be venturing out into the wider Web, or the world of multimedia, or the musical or literature realms. Here's the Wikipedia definition of synchronicity:

Synchronicity is a term used by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the alignment of universal forces with one's own life experience. Jung believed that some, but not all, coincidences were not mere chance, but instead a literal "co-inciding", or alignment of forces in the universe to create an event or circumstance. The process of becoming intuitively aware and acting in harmony with these forces is what Jung labelled "individuation." Jung said that an individuated person would actually shape events around them through the communication of their consciousness with the collective unconscious.

Synchronicity is "magical thinking" and we need more of it on the Web.

I want to align myself with the creative forces on the Web, and in my life. Sing to the tune of I want my MTV:

I want my, I want my, I want my synchronicity {Repeat, ad lib to fade}