sances.info

Via a noisy and half-useless e-mail list I came upon a website called NASPIR, Network of Activist Scholars of Politics and International Relations. An article on that site discussed a book called Disciplined Minds; I visited the website and was very interested by the introduction reprinted there. I checked the book out of the library last week. It's a great read, and I was struck in particular by the opening anecdote.

'No two people are allowed to read the same thing,' I said above the noise, gesturing toward the other passengers on the crowded subway car. My out-of-town visitor glanced around the clattering train. Indeed, the commuters hurtling toward their jobs in Manhattan's office buildings, restaurants, shops and other workplaces were reading such a wide variety of material that my joke almost held up. That typical weekday morning found riders engrossed in all kinds of magazines, paperback books, the Daily News, the Post, the Times, office documents, a software instruction book and, yes, the Bible. Those who weren't reading were listening to headphones, talking to others or, apparently, just thinking.

Seeing this every day on the subway set me up for a surprise one morning when I went to catch a suburban commuter train to Manhattan. I had stayed overnight in Westchester County, an upscale New York City Suburb where many executives and professionals live. I would be riding into the city with lawyers heading for big corporate law firms, financial analysts going to investment banks, editors bound for publishing conglomerates, as well as accoutants, journalists, doctors, architects, engineers, public relations specialists and a host of other proessionals. Boarding the train felt something like entering a library. There were no conversations even though nearly all the seats were occupied. Almost everyone was reading. But the dozens of passengers were reading only two things: the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I could have formulated another joke about allowed reading matter, but the scene was too spooky, like the aftermath of an invasion of the body snatchers: everyone dressed the same, in suits, sitting silently in neat rows and columns, each holding up a large newspaper, absorbing the same information. (Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined Minds, 9)

That "joke" sounds a little chilling reading it the third time here, that no two people are "allowed" to read the same thing. In general the image is reminiscent of the Beat the Press discussion I transcribed in my previous post.

It also made me think of a (2007) book manuscript on Internet politics by Matthew Hindman I just finished reading. Hindman to a large degree downplays the impact of blogging on politics and the media, arguing that the top political websites in terms of hits are big media sites such as the New York Times; and those bloggers that do receive a lot of visits tend to be former or current journalists, lawyers, white and male. I enjoyed his analysis, but thought he might be overlooking the aggregate hits of all lesser-known blogs and how that compares to the top 10 sites. For example, how many combined hits do the bottom 90 blogs get compared to the top 10? Isn't the point of Web 2.0 decentralization?

Then last week I read this article on Google releasing a new version of its RSS reader for the iPhone. I was particularly struck by the last paragraph, about who actually uses feed reader software.

Google Upgrades iPhone Reader

The newsreader offers many of the same features as Google's desktop version, but optimized for smaller mobile phone screens.

By Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek
May 13, 2008
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=2076032...

Google has released a new beta version of its newsreader for the Apple iPhone.

Google, which released the first mobile phone version of its reader in 2006, said the latest version is for the iPhone and other smartphones with advanced browsers. The iPhone uses Apple's Safari browser.

The new reader, launched Monday, is designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop version, but with shortcuts for acting on items on the smaller mobile phone screens. People who have used list views in readers should find the interface familiar, Google said.

In scanning items, a person can simply tap on the one of interest to get an expanded view in place. Starring, sharing, and keeping unread items are also done in place, so a person never has to leave the list view or refresh the page. "We think it's a very fast way to power through your reading list," the company said in its reader blog.

People who have added the reader homepage module to their Google personalized homepage can access the reader by visiting google.com on the mobile phone's browser and clicking the link to "Personalized Home." Google launched a discussion group to get feedback from users.

Web-based newsreaders are used for checking blogs and story updates on a variety of news sites. RSS, or really simple syndication, is the content format news sites and blogs use to publish updates over the Internet.

A study conducted about a year ago by Web metrics firm HitWise found that newsreader users in the U.S. were mostly businesspeople and the technology savvy, not the typical Internet user. While the report was not conclusive, indicators showed that most people headed directly to the blogs and news sites for the latest info, rather than using an aggregator.