Comments on: They’re on Our Side http://blog.markwill.com/2005/09/26/theyre-on-our-side Life consists of what a man is thinking of all day. - Emerson Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:55:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Jim http://blog.markwill.com/2005/09/26/theyre-on-our-side#comment-26 Jim Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://blog.markwill.com/?p=30#comment-26 Mark,<BR/><BR/>Just thinking about what you were saying about sports... and also about Simon of Space.<BR/><BR/>I think one could argue that the difference between the experience of reading Simon of Space online and reading a normal book is kind of like the difference between watching a football (or basketball, whatever)game live with thousands of fans or watching it home alone, on TV. The second is very passive; in the first, you are actually a participant. In a very real sense we have become "fans" of CBB; with each installment, we split our time between high-fives and "play analysis"! All that was missing was the competition.<BR/><BR/>Hmmm... could writing someday come to be a sport? With writing tournaments? (kind of like nanowrimo, but with actual "fans" cheering writers on!) Finally a sport for the geeks of the world! <BR/><BR/>oh well ... I'm just rambling again. but I've been struggling to find an adequate analogy to what seems to be a new paradigm that CBB has created. Or maybe it was just a one-time fluke! <BR/><BR/>take care! Mark,

Just thinking about what you were saying about sports… and also about Simon of Space.

I think one could argue that the difference between the experience of reading Simon of Space online and reading a normal book is kind of like the difference between watching a football (or basketball, whatever)game live with thousands of fans or watching it home alone, on TV. The second is very passive; in the first, you are actually a participant. In a very real sense we have become “fans” of CBB; with each installment, we split our time between high-fives and “play analysis”! All that was missing was the competition.

Hmmm… could writing someday come to be a sport? With writing tournaments? (kind of like nanowrimo, but with actual “fans” cheering writers on!) Finally a sport for the geeks of the world!

oh well … I’m just rambling again. but I’ve been struggling to find an adequate analogy to what seems to be a new paradigm that CBB has created. Or maybe it was just a one-time fluke!

take care!

]]> By: Mark http://blog.markwill.com/2005/09/26/theyre-on-our-side#comment-27 Mark Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://blog.markwill.com/?p=30#comment-27 That's pretty good stuff, man. I can see that connection quite clearly. I'm sure there must have been at least one smaller version of this phenomenon before Simon of Space. Maybe not. It amazes me how many folks seemed to truly enjoy it and appreciate what was happening. You spend four months with a group of people, you're going to form some ties. The story was great and a wonderful springboard for conversations that I dare say most of those people would not have had otherwise. Sure, there were some folks who were already well-read, but I believe many weren't particularly avid readers until they stumbled upon something like SoS, the perfect melding of literature and the community-building atmosphere of the Internet.<BR/><BR/>You know, anthropology was my absolute favorite class in college. My wife and I walked together from our crackerbox one-bedroom apartment to that class three mornings a week. I remember discussions from religion's origin to why certain races have one type of ear wax versus another. In a southern state in the middle of the Bible belt, it was a lively class to say the least. Our professor was a US Army nurse in Vietnam, who later spent quite a bit of time living on a Navajo reservation. She taught other classes that I took when I could.<BR/><BR/>How about Kansas's board of ed. looking at putting Intelligent Design in the public schools? I'm sure as a Kansan and a scientist you have paid close attention to that.<BR/><BR/>Wow, talk about rambling.<BR/><BR/>Later,<BR/>Mark That’s pretty good stuff, man. I can see that connection quite clearly. I’m sure there must have been at least one smaller version of this phenomenon before Simon of Space. Maybe not. It amazes me how many folks seemed to truly enjoy it and appreciate what was happening. You spend four months with a group of people, you’re going to form some ties. The story was great and a wonderful springboard for conversations that I dare say most of those people would not have had otherwise. Sure, there were some folks who were already well-read, but I believe many weren’t particularly avid readers until they stumbled upon something like SoS, the perfect melding of literature and the community-building atmosphere of the Internet.

You know, anthropology was my absolute favorite class in college. My wife and I walked together from our crackerbox one-bedroom apartment to that class three mornings a week. I remember discussions from religion’s origin to why certain races have one type of ear wax versus another. In a southern state in the middle of the Bible belt, it was a lively class to say the least. Our professor was a US Army nurse in Vietnam, who later spent quite a bit of time living on a Navajo reservation. She taught other classes that I took when I could.

How about Kansas’s board of ed. looking at putting Intelligent Design in the public schools? I’m sure as a Kansan and a scientist you have paid close attention to that.

Wow, talk about rambling.

Later,
Mark

]]> By: Dave http://blog.markwill.com/2005/09/26/theyre-on-our-side#comment-28 Dave Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://blog.markwill.com/?p=30#comment-28 *L* Great post Mark!<BR/><BR/>It's great seeing the world through not only your eyes, but Bens too! *L* Great post Mark!

It’s great seeing the world through not only your eyes, but Bens too!

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