 |
 |
 |
|
Doc's take on ManilaA couple days ago a reporter asked me to tell her what I liked about Manila. I don't think what I said ended up anywhere, so I'm putting it here. — Doc Searls
Manila is two things: 1) the first site processor; and 2) the thinnest client ever created. In both respects it does something few of us imagined could be done: it adds enormous value to the Web itself. The Web was created as a publishing medium. The publishing metaphors we employ betray that legacy: we "author" "documents" that we "publish" as "pages." Manila makes good on the ultimate promise of that legacy, which is to give anybody a way to write, edit and publish on the Web: anywhere and anytime — without the aid of a word processor or any other authoring system. With Manila, you literally write on the Web itself. Call it the World Wide Write. That's more than cool. It's profound. Manila also serves another virtue that gets scant respect, except maybe from Cluetrain (which is why we wrote the site and the book), and that's voice. Manila gives the author a way to speak with his own voice, through his own medium. Better than that, it gives the author a way to discover his or her voice. That's what we've been doing with The Cluetrain Weblog. What do I say when I write this way, in this medium, with this much ease? How do I say it? How is it different than speech or email? One thing is clear: I can begin to sense when I'm being too formal (e.g. sounding like a brochure or a press release), or too self-consciously informal (e.g. lapsing into profanities). It's interesting work. Another thing. I don't know if you've noticed (and if you don't follow the Linux world you've probably missed it), but the new primary sources of news are Weblogs run by individuals. In my own professional world — the Linux and open source movements — the top news sources are Slashdot and Linux Today. Both are weblogs by individuals. What makes those sites interesting, compelling and trustworthy is the degree to which they are personal, and expressed in the voices of their authors. That's what Weblogs do best. And that's what Manila does better than any other Weblogging system.
|
