Pollard’s list
Posted on:: January 17th, 2005
Dave Pollard lists the 10 most important ideas of 2004: Blogs and the Internet. Good list. I’d point out that #10 and #6 are not in perfect harmony, but maybe #10 is the goal and #6 is a present reality we need to fix. (Dave accurately cites me as disagreeing with #6. I think #6 — forming “echo chambers” — is a temptation but that we should be careful not to call all conversations except arguments “echo chambers.”)
I wish I could compile lists. I’m terrible at it. In fact, I once had to ask my boss to stop calling on me at meetings when he would ask everyone to list things like the three biggest threats facing the company in the next five years. Instead, we agreed I could send him a memo.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
ah yes, lists. It seems there are two types of people in this world – the bullet heads and the tale tellers.
Bulletheads use bullet points, lists, essays, graphs, quotations and pie charts to make their points. I’m not sure their understanding of any subject doesn’t come before they begin both the exposition and investigation.
Tale tellers use the elements of story, nuance, metaphor, juxtaposition, aphorism, and implication to convey their point – singular – and also to come to terms with things. I’m not sure their understanding of any subject doesn’t emerge during the telling and even during the composition of the tale.
I was asked by a reader to make a list of my ten favorite philosophers. I can’t. I just can’t. With anything. Music, films, novels.
I think, David, you are a perhaps a bit of a story bum and a tale teller and there’s no changing that. Pollard – who I read almost daily – blows me away. Not alone for the breadth and depth of the writing, but in his use of lists and charts – the ordering of things, and his determintation to get things done. The linearity and sharp edges are impressive to someone who sees himself and life as essentially a mess, a stew, a knot.
I imagine that when eating a meal Pollard does not allow the green vegetables to touch
the potatoes to touch the meat. That he would never touch a stew, unless he prepared it himself from a list of ingredients, following a set recipe.
I’m not sure that this idea can be put to test but it says something that you would prefer to write – even a memo – than make a list.
A list of questions might be in order here: do you travel with a set itinerary? do you shop for a groceries with a list?…
…It’s usually here at about point two or question three where my mind wanders – seeking diversions – whether I’m sitting through a presentation or compiling research.
In certain methodologies the aberrant is sought to be eliminated, in others to be illuminated. Not that declarations are in order or even useful. Just a thought.
And so in summation…end of story.
The 10 Most Important Ideas of 2004: Blogs & The Internet
Via Weinberger: How to Save the World’s list of the 10 most important ideas of 2004, blog/Internet style. My favorite: “The blog is a journal, and online journalism is our game.” Or as we like to say: “Journalism is history…