Long ago when my hairline was more closely aligned with its original position the web was touted for its ability to bring all this information to the common man. We would all be smarter because now all this information would be at our fingertips. It was a second stage in the democratization of knowledge whose first stage began with Gutenberg and his printing press.

the diversions

Of course, on the way to the information superhighway there were billboards for “naked girls, next left”. There was the maelstrom of online gambling and gaming and general dicking around.

Also, where was all the information? For the most part it was under lock and key. There were dreams of being able to log into libraryofcongress.gov and… you know, read stuff. Having a digital newspaper would be the end of getting our slippers wet as we trudge through dew covered grass at obscene morning hours.

the commerce

Unfortunately, commerce came before the information fire-hose. In the early days no one knew how to monetize the web they just knew they weren’t letting anything go without getting some cash upfront. You’d get all excited about some data repository only to find out it required a $99 subscription to access one article who’s summary gave you a fleeting hope it held the information you really wanted.

something for everyone

Well, those dark days are rapidly receding into the… well, you know. Now, thanks to Google and Digg and Youtube and the blogging community and enlightened knowledge keepers all those fabled bits are really at your fingertips. They’re usually pretty cheap to get at too.

Now, this whole screed was prompted by my discovery of ESAD’s Personal Views series. ESAD (Portuguese design school, I think) has gathered up a large bundle of design folk like Erik Spiekermann, Wim Crouwel, Ellen Lupton, Experimental Jetset and many others to come and talk to a class about a great many wonderful things having to do with their lives and design.

To say that I’m over the moon would be putting it lightly. For a typophile nut like myself this is grand. I would love to be able to sit in a room and hear Spiekermann talk about design. Unfortunately, I’m not a Portuguese design student. Thanks to the internet I don’t have to be. Video of many of the talks has been made available on ESAD’s site and I expect there may be more to come.

cup of tea

Now, you may not give a fig. I suppose it’s possible that more people are like my sister who finds my fascination with type disturbing. But, understand, ten years ago I wouldn’t have been able to see this. Perhaps even five years ago this would have been a rare thing. Today’s internet has so much more to offer to so many more people.

Blogs, pod-casts, magazines, newspapers, and the many search engines are doing their part to make the internet what it was never originally intended to be but that we all have always wanted it to be. It is, more and more, a place for us all to communicate ideas across vast distances to even the most remote location on the most niche topics.

It’s nice to see something living up to the hype.