The big murmur

the abstract they did not want

The Web is essentially made of signs: of graphical patterns, of pictures, and most importantly, of written text. And these signs are organized into “microcontent” that is forming clusters, clouds, threads, and loose patterns of all kinds. The Web is not just a publishing medium, it is creating very special kind of semiological dynamics.

… The Social Web will finally be looked at as a “big murmur” in the sense of Foucault, where the people speaking are “erased like faces drawn in sand at the edge of the sea”. The questions Foucault had brought on for the far more static texts, statements and discoursess of the Gutenberg Galaxy will be transferred to the Blogoshere and the Web 2.0: What are the modes of existence for each statement? Where can they be used, how can they circulate, and who can appropriate it for himself? What are the places in them where there is room for possible subjects?