Ramblings

Bloviating: to you, from me. Chide me if you will. algot@runeman.org

All photos in this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license, unless specifically stated otherwise. If something written seems worth your time and effort, use it under the same license.

This is an archived blog. Those interested in my current blogging, feel free to visit
Runemanations where new posts will go.

Fri, 09 Mar 2012

Collaboration

I love the Internet.

Today, I saw a tweet from an author I follow on Twitter, Rudy Rucker. He referred to a site that would let me order ePub formatted books for me to read on either my Nook or on my computer. The books are DRM-free. That means I'm not stuck. I can read the book on any gear that supports the ePub format.

OK, he deserves it. Here's the link: Transreal Press

I noticed a small thing about the site that could be improved, not a big thing, but something I knew about, so I sent an email to his contact address. I explained the simple change he could make.

Within a few minutes, I clicked the refresh button of my browser, and the page was updated, reflecting my suggestion. Wow!

A minute or so later, I checked my email. I'm retired. What else do I have to do?
There was an email from Rudy Rucker, himself, letting me know he'd updated the site.

So, why do I like/love the Internet?

• Some fan that Rudy Rucker doesn't know can contact him with a suggestion about a Web page.
• He can make changes in a couple of minutes.
• The unknown fan hits refresh in his browser and gets a charge, seeing the update.
• The unknown fan gets an email from an author he admires, and yells out to his wife to tell her what just happened.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, apparently wanted to make it easy for people to collaborate using the Internet. I'd say he has succeeded.