But the words came first. When an Egyptian citizen was asked why the people were in the streets in protest, he said, "We want the free. We want the freedom." And all wrapped up in that statement is: we want the job, the opportunity for making a living, we want to own, to move about without interference, to express opinions without prosecution, and to choose their leaders who make the laws that make those things possible. And they probably always wanted that. So why now? Along with widespread use of wireless communication and the internet comes global instantaneous exchange of information, a democratization of information. It's the electronic equivalent to the invention of the printing press, times ten terabytes. Instead of people handing out pamphlets of Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense', we can distribute it to millions of people around the world(http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/index.htm), in their language with text, pictures, or video. Words can topple governments when its people are all reading from the same webpage. So what's poetic about that? All the king's horses and all the king's men could not defend/ Against an army of people armed with twitter accounts, tiny url news links, and an electronic pen.
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Or virtual networks, or programmable web, apps, API's, twilio, etsy, facebook, twitter, twillio, Dig, Yelp, Skype, Bing, Zillow, Trynt, mashups, gadgets, widgets, Echo Nest, Fire Eagle, Sound Cloud, Dapper, Kayak, Java, Flash, or a half million other things, verbs, names, that I found, no not in a stack of comic books (although that's where I believe some of these names are coming from) but under this rock: http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?sort=mashups
All living in the ecosystem of open platforms and compatible with your favorite mobile operating system. You don't have to be a network developer, or information technology specialist to see that new words (your words) are being created and accepted as part of the popular culture. A new industry that did not exist 10 years ago and a whole new language of words is being created. Just take a walk down the street to your local app store, you can have one for .99 cents. This creativity may be driven by commerce rather than pure inspiration of expression, but who can question the mother of invention? So where do these names come from? If you read through enough Keats you will find the word twitter(Lamia; "Deafening the swallow's twitter"). Just a thought. Now you can read Keats on a Kindle, or listen on an Ipod, or watch on an Andriod. I wonder what he would do with words like Chevy or TOyota? It is English, right? So what does the binary system have to do with a literary and poetry website blog? Google it. |
AuthorRon Alan -Maryland, The States Archives
November 2021
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