I'm convinced that the Web is making us crazy. The www.thatthing.com has become a household mantra and is being bandied about as if it has the force of God's 11th commandment, one concocted expressly for the 21st century. "For more information about this story, check out our Internet site at www.abcnews.com" is a typical chorus that follows most TV news stories these days. Quick, let's rush over to the computer that's parked in the den to follow the dribble behind the "sound bytes" we just witnessed in the living room TV. Uh, oh, here's a flash news bulletin on a special the network is putting together around the subject in the original news story. Gotta make sure I set the VCR to tape that one. And on and on.
It seems that the myriad ways of presenting information, especially news, are making us reactive rats in a Pavlovian-response experiment. Is there ever a sense that just enough news is enough? Never. But for thinking people-and I consider EE Times readers to be in the highest level of that strata-news is only as important as the trust established between the reader and the news provider. It's like going to the library. If you know that you can find reference books for kangaroos under the Dewey decimal system, you will look under zoology, not romantic novels, because you trust the library's numerical index.
Whom do you trust on the Web for news? Well, before the Internet became ubiquitous in 1994, the answer was, no one. Now that every news outlet has a site-and there are more news sites about technology than anyone can rationally handle-you need to reflect on the source of the site. Can you trust that source to supply you with the information you need to make decisions in your everyday tasks? If you can, you'll keep coming back for "the news that's fit to post" as often as necessary.
Unfortunately, technology has not evolved to the point of allowing a comfortable way to seek in-formation on the Internet that's as trustworthy as the library's Dewey decimal system. Until it does-indeed, even after it does-you will have to rely on the established news brands, in the hopes that the trust you bestowed on their print page does not get abused by their Web site's light-speed turnaround of news stories.
At the recent @d:tech conference on online content and technologies, Arthur Sulzberger, chairman of The New York Times, drove that point home. While this is a crazy time for experimenting on the Web and a lot of technologies allow a lot of people to do so, Sulzberger said that in the end it's the trust instilled in a faithful audience-driven by proprietary content that's put in perspective by respected journalists-that wins the day for Web surfers' satisfaction.
EE Times has continued to provide high-technology news in print and online, covering a dynamic industry in the best traditions of reporting. It's about building trust, not just technology making the news. Do yourself a favor: Don't go crazy!
-Nicolas Mokhoff is executive director of the EDTN Technology Center and editor of special issues for EE Times.
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