The living human web, circa 2004

The web of connections that ties us to each other and to the rest of creation is now a consumer product: social networking.

As partial and distorted as it may be to reduce our relationships to a commodity, the perspective is changing the way people look at themselves and each other:

"When you look at the world as a networked world, it's a very different thing," Jonathan Abrams, founder of Friendster, said this month at the SXSW04 interactive conference.

"What Friendster does today is very global. What if it were very personal. . . . What if you could see your global personal rating. How does that change the utility to you -- and how does it affect your ability to screw up? It's the Web of trust concept, but it's also the Web of influence. When you think of your social network as a filter to stem information overload and prevent abuse, a lot of things become possible."

.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, March 16, 2004

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Celebrating the thunder at the heart of the universe, Spondizo explores pastoral theology, spiritual formation, and the vocation of caring for each other and the whole of creation.

The site is written and published by Duane R. Bidwell, Ph.D.

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© 2004-2007 Duane Bidwell. All rights reserved. Photograph courtesy of Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection, Indiana University Archives (P15776).