A metaphor for the Web
July 20, 2009 4:00 AM   Subscribe

If could compare the Web to something tangible what would it be? Do you find any metaphor suiting the Web as it is, as it developed and what it might become?
posted by fifigyuri to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: This question might qualify as chatfilter, but a fair number of people compare the internet (or the web) to a city: "My own private metropolis", "Wikipedia: Exploring Fact City", Stephen Fry quote, etc. You might also be interested in the answers to this question: Is it possible to get lost on the internet?
posted by dreamyshade at 4:21 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


The field of Web Science (disclaimer: indirectly affiliated) was set up to study, understand, even guide the development of the Web. There may be something in the publications there that talk about this, I've heard references to biological systems, evolving networks, etc.

City works well though, man-made structure that takes on a life of its own. Also see xkcd's map of online communities :).
posted by paulesque at 5:38 AM on July 20, 2009


There's a Chappelle's Show skit that compares the internet to a shopping mall.
posted by electroboy at 5:43 AM on July 20, 2009


Response by poster: Thanks for the ideas for metaphors. I add one more. The Web Trend Map maps the Tokyo metro system to the technologies and popular services of the Web. They started with a poster, but it is becoming a changing map based on the shifts on the Web... This metaphor becomes thus living. :)

I think more such visualisations might emerge and will be helpful for better understanding of such huge dynamic system as the Web.
posted by fifigyuri at 5:54 AM on July 20, 2009


I know this is a vast over-simplification, but I introduce people of my mother's generation to the Web by comparing it to an Advent calendar... "See? The link is like the little door on the Advent calendar. Open it, and you see something else. On the Web, what you find is another Advent calendar."
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:54 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


A web?
posted by rongorongo at 6:58 AM on July 20, 2009


I'd say I think of it as I would a rapidly expanding microorganism or virus. It's got it's good (like penicillin) and its bad (like influenza). Ultimately, you learn a lot by experiencing it and being around it. Plus, it can't be stopped, only contained.

Not sure if that makes sense.
posted by reenum at 7:01 AM on July 20, 2009


It isn't called the "web" for nothing. >>>> Spiderweb.
posted by JJ86 at 7:03 AM on July 20, 2009


A series of tubes.
posted by jgunsch at 7:18 AM on July 20, 2009


i kinda think of it as a library in my computer.
posted by lester at 7:25 AM on July 20, 2009


Best answer: I've always though of the web (and the Internet in general) as being similar to a flea market or bazaar. Anyone can set up their own shop (server), you can go there just to look around with no particular purpose (surfing the web), you can buy stuff there (ecommerce), some of the goods are not legally licensed (p2p file sharing), you can meet your friends there (social networks), you might get pick-pocketed if you're not careful (phishing), etc.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:56 AM on July 20, 2009


I used to think it was more like a "web"... but that seemed so static and unchanging. The internet is more dynamic than that. New connections (links between pages or real-time conversations) are being created all the time, and old connections/pages are being deleted/disconnected all the time. Definitions, meaning and relationships change dynamically as those connections change. Now, I think of it more like a brain. Daily experience(s) change the structure and inter-connection of our neurons,.. and the internet is very much like that. The fascinating difference is that our brains are singular (All of the data we absorb as we experience and learn is a very much locked inside ourselves) .. whereas the Internet is a meta-brain. There are millions of people interacting (whether they know it or not) with each other as they use and contribute to the overall World Wide Web.
posted by jmnugent at 8:20 AM on July 20, 2009


The web is like a town square. There are shops. There are signs full of interesting information. There are crazies shouting about their pet projects. There are people standing around engaging in conversation.

The only difference is that this is the town square for the entire world.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:52 AM on July 20, 2009


That should have been "pet causes".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:52 AM on July 20, 2009


The web is like a town square. There are shops. There are signs full of interesting information. There are crazies shouting about their pet projects. There are people standing around engaging in conversation.

And porn, lots and lots of porn.
posted by electroboy at 10:32 AM on July 20, 2009


The ancient great Library of Alexandria, was perhaps more like what we today would think of as a university than a library, but in addition to being a place to meet others, research, etc. it (allegedly) had a useful trick - those passing through the port were required to lend to the library any scrolls or books in their possession, wherein the library scribes would copy it, add it to the library, and return the original to the owner. (Or return the copy, depending on who you ask). Thus (and through other well-funded means) the library accumulates the knowledge (and the cruft) of the world, and its lodgings as status as a nexus of travel, and other facilities, allow it to facilitate the meeting of minds, and so on.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:52 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


Humans use their environment as an axillary brain. From grocery lists, to electronic schematics - these things to complex to be reliably figured out in the mind, and so are worked out in small chunks in the mind, and those chunks are assembled outside the mind into the final result - but the final result is still too complex to be held in mind, so it is held in the external mind, via notes and diagrams. If someone puts too much of their mind in one external place, and then loses it, it can be very disorientating (eg some people, even when easily able to replace the device, are very disorientated by a stolen cellphone or PDA)

The web is what happens when our external minds start to get linked together?
posted by -harlequin- at 12:03 PM on July 20, 2009


Best answer: The web is like Houston or Bangkok---a loud, sprawling, teeming metropolis that technically includes roads and other infrastructure, but lacks urban planning and zoning, so the infrastructure emerges on an as-needed basis. If you don't know your way around, you will feel lost and scared. The prevalent laissez-faire attitude affords it a great deal of character and unexpected diversion. Also, an abundance of shady characters and sex-trade businesses.
posted by safran at 5:08 PM on July 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


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