I guess while this is interesting and inevitable, I don’t approve of it on a couple levels.
One level is that they are using old-school organizational techniques that conflict with the generative nature of the web. It seems apparent that any attempt to formalize the process of web study will be fated to obsolescence by the time the processes are cemented.
Now, stepping over the initial hurdle of technological innovation and development outpacing the establishment of standards, there is another area of contention with this initiative; does anyone need this?
Many of the greatest innovations on the web have their roots in illicit activities that generally stay clear of any sort of regulatory bodies. For example, porn arguably drove innovation in web video in the 90s and piracy and peer to peer technologies usually utilize the cutting edge in file sharing.
I guess on an even more esoteric level, I don’t feel that the human mind is really capable of organizing and shaping the growth of the web. It’s a distinctly organic growth that is a sum of it’s parts.
The mission statement of the WSRI:
- understand what the Web is
- engineer its future
- ensure its social benefit
“engineer its future”, seems appallingly arrogant to me. Seems suspiciously like a bunch of armchair quarterbacks (just like me) trying to put something into a box they can understand.
One may of course set a standard for scientific web searching and studying, they have every right to do so. From a different perspective it might be constructive for a traditional science community. But the web is the wild west of our times, and the real movers and shakers frequently eschew and disregard formalization.
