8 Jorn Barger and Dave Winer: Self-Knowledge, Integrity, and Transcendentalism
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Weblogs 1994 – 2000: A Genealogy Rudolf Ammann A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Department of Information Studies University College London September 2012 [revised version of 8 May 2013] 2 I, Rudolf Ammann, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated. 3 Abstract Using extensive fieldwork in the online archival record, this thesis ac- counts for the descent and emergence of the weblog as a digital genre during its formative period up to the year 2000. The work examines the weblog’s process of genre formation as diffusion of innovation within a heterogeneous discourse network. It describes this process as a series of several consecutive and cumulative reinterpretations of the emerging genre’s form and intended purpose, effected for the most part by the most central actors in the network. 4 Acknowledgements This work owes a big debt of gratitude to Melissa Terras and Claire Warwick for their expert guidance. At various points, Matthew Kirschenbaum, David Nicholas, Julianne Nyhan and Mike Thelwall provided valuable assistance as well. Anonymous reviewers and delegates of the Hypertext 2009 and the Applications of Social Network Analysis 2010 conferences helped improve some of the materials presented in this thesis. This thesis benefited from correspondence with Jorn Barger, Mark Bernstein, Steve Bogart, Dan Gillmor, the late Chris Gulker, Robert Hooker, Dan Lyke, Pete Prodoehl, Scott Rosenberg, Edward Viel- metti, and Dave Winer, amongst many others. David Kornblith and Frank Bennett promptly and efficiently solved the problems caused by the excessive demands my work placed on Zotero’s citation handling. Simon Mahony conducted therapeutic sessions at local drinking establishments. Barbara Dieu, Susan Greenberg and Ernesto Priego contributed valuable discussion and companionship. Toshiko Ito inspired the project. My parents, Ruedi and Lisbeth Ammann, gave me the latitude to explore my own paths. Thanks to all of the above! The errors, omissions and lapses of judgement in this work are mine. 5 Table of Contents 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................10 1.1 A different story......................................................................................................................10 1.2 Chapter previews....................................................................................................................11 2 Literature review............................................................................................................................15 2.1 Jorn Barger’s list.....................................................................................................................15 2.2 Rebecca Blood’s founding narrative.......................................................................................16 2.3 Dave Winer’s evolving narratives ..........................................................................................18 2.4 A brief history of the brief history of weblogs........................................................................20 3 Methodology...................................................................................................................................22 3.1 Discontinuity: the unprecedented ‘native’ genre....................................................................22 3.2 Continuity: Writing space and remediation............................................................................24 3.3 Discontinuity and continuity: Genealogy...............................................................................25 3.4 Discourse network and diffusion of innovation......................................................................25 3.5 Archival fieldwork as information seeking.............................................................................27 3.5.1 Cognitive approach, extrinsic and intrinsic context........................................................27 3.5.2 Opening: Depth exploration and chaining......................................................................28 3.5.3 Orienting: Review and analysis......................................................................................29 3.5.4 Consolidating: knowing enough, networking and incorporating....................................30 4 DaveNet and identity production ...................................................................................................32 4.1 Winer’s early career................................................................................................................32 4.2 DaveNet as network................................................................................................................34 4.3 Identity production as communicative purpose......................................................................35 4.3.1 The WELL and Tom Mandel..........................................................................................36 4.3.2 Identity Production and DaveNet....................................................................................37 4.4 Work narrative as identity production.....................................................................................39 4.4.1 A second act....................................................................................................................39 4.4.2 Work narrative as identity production.............................................................................40 4.4.3 Identity production as open development.......................................................................41 4.5 The Grand Narrative...............................................................................................................42 4.5.1 A cyclical revolution.......................................................................................................42 4.5.2 A retelling........................................................................................................................43 4.5.3 A second act....................................................................................................................44 4.6 Telling the second act..............................................................................................................44 4.6.1 Technology Leader..........................................................................................................45 4.6.2 Cross-platform scripting and web writing for the rest of us...........................................47 4.6.3 Globalisation and identity production.............................................................................48 4.7 Discussion...............................................................................................................................49 5 Scripting News: Current awareness vs. identity production..........................................................51 5.1 Changelogs and current awareness reporting.........................................................................51 5.1.1 AutoWeb: A fork in the road...........................................................................................51 6 5.1.2 Current awareness reporting as communicative purpose................................................52 5.1.3 Clay Basket.....................................................................................................................52 5.1.4 24 Hours of Democracy: A realtime difference..............................................................53 5.1.5 Frontier News: Facing both ways...................................................................................54 5.1.6 The birth of Scripting News: More voluminous and more outwardly directed..............55 5.1.7 DaveNet vs. Scripting News...........................................................................................56 5.2 Differentiation and convergence.............................................................................................57 5.2.1 Software documentation to current awareness resource.................................................57 5.2.2 Ambiguity of purpose......................................................................................................57 5.2.3 The twilight of current awareness reporting ..................................................................59 5.2.4 Committing to the individual voice................................................................................60 5.3 Crisis.......................................................................................................................................61 5.4 Discussion...............................................................................................................................61 6 Genre, exigence, and Robot Wisdom Weblog as network cultivation ..........................................63 6.1 A collector and a classifier (Literature review).......................................................................63 6.2 Story representation and interactive fiction............................................................................64 6.3 Research: Story indexing and Joyce.......................................................................................65 6.4 Network cultivation: Usenet as knowledge commons............................................................66