its not all about the microchips and web standards...

i usually start my posts with a quote, though it might cliche i feel as if it sets the tone and subject of the discussion early on in the game....

"The personal computer and the Internet would not exist as they do today without extraordinary collaborative enterprises in which acts of cooperation were as essential as microprocessors." (Rheingold 47).

keeping this blog entry short and sweet i feel as if sometime we tend to overlook the fact that its not the technological innovations and software advance which has brought the Internet to where it is today...its you....its me...its nearly every computer user throughout the world. Whether we look at the commerce that online community has bread through online retailers like Amazon, auction websites like eBay, and community commerce such as CraigsList...or we just look at news, blog, and other community supported web developments. What I have gained from reading this passage in the Mobs book...is that everything, including the blog for this class has only become what it has because of the users whom interact and make the internet what it is today. Without social networks and niches within the blogging community and virtually anywhere on the net....the internet and the accessibility given to its users would not exist today and would certainly not have brought the full value which it does to our lives on a daily basis. whether I'm searching for a product on eBay or amazon....or looking for the latest car information...the information i request or seek would not be available to me today if it weren't for the users throughout the world. though microprocessors and broadband connection does speed the process up, without social networks and e-communities, the internet would not be as successful and vibrant as it is today.

after watching the optional panel videos from the university of santa clara...i truly believe in this final statement:

"The foundations of the Internet were created by the community of creators as a gift to the community of users (Rheingold, 48)."