Tom asks three questions. Simple little things, really. Oy gevalt!

Here are stabs at answers to two of them:

First, Tom draws a contrast between my assertion that our Web selves carry on their lives purely in the public of the Web and Doc‘s recent blog about the World Live Web as connected to the real world. Tom asks how we can ever know anything reliable about a RW self based on the Web self. Well, that depends what “reliable” means. If it means reliable enough for a transaction, then a credit card number suffices (and a digital ID is overkill). But that’s not what Tom means. If “reliable” means what it does in RW friendships, then I guess you have to meet the person f2f. (And, in a fit of pointless cleverness, let me do the ol’ switcheroo: How can our knowledge of a RW self tell us anything about a Web self? Or does the fact that that question makes little sense mean that we think the Real self is the Real World self?)

Third, I suggest that the questions of authenticity, etc., arising about weblogs apply to any narrative, not just to weblogs. Tom replies by asking what’s specific about weblogs in general. “But that’s another post,” he promises. I look forward to it. But there is something specific about weblogs that make questions about self and truthfulness appropriate: weblogs are in fact public selves…which is where my initial post started.

(Tom also corrects a link in one of my previous blogs. I’ve back-fixed it. Thanks, Tom.)

Categories: Uncategorized dw