RSS feedI was speaking with my sister this evening, who wanted to check out my beetroots (yes, we’re a strange family), and she seemed surprised that not only did I have a web site, but putting “kashum zipworld” (my account and ISP names) into Google brought up a whole list of sites, and she wondered how other people could have sites so close to such obscure names. I was flattered she’d even tried to look me up through Google.
Well, I checked out the first page of results, and aside from one that linked to an old version of my wife’s radio show, they’re all either my sites, or pages that link to me. She was stunned when I explained this, and then just happened to mention that I’ve had a personal web site in one form or another since about 1993. (See Old home pages on the left side of this page, for the ones preserved by the ever wonderful archive.org)
Well, she told our folks, and now they’re all wanting to see my site. It’s not like I actually kept it from them, it’s just that back then nobody cared, so I just never mentioned it. I assumed they would have guessed already, considering the work I do.
But what it did remind me of, was that for the majority of the population, a personal web site is still a pretty big deal, and weblogs even bigger again. Sure, millions have them, but we’re still “deep linked” into the IT world, and much of the mainstream population is oblivious to it. Like, who would want a personal web site, right?
Recently, I talked about RSS vs. Atom on my work weblog, and how the personal publishing revolution is about to begin. But to be honest, that’s a blinkered view when it comes to the person on the street who is not into computers or information technology. The big challenge for the revolution, is to provide the world’s population, especially those not at the bleeding edge, access to all the information (opinion, journalism, humour, fiction etc.) they’re interested in, without having to be a geek, or understand what a computer is. Or more specifically, without their brother having to tell them what is possible.
My sister now tells me she’d like to have a go at weblogging, so stay tuned for the lady who makes FNQ news editors weak at the knees, and who has a rather low tolerance, unfortunately much like me, for ineptitude.
Perhaps my own family revolution is about to begin.