The Inspiration of Independent Content
As a result of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, literally millions of us dashed to our computers to find out up-to-the-second news, to read firsthand accounts, to find out if our loved ones were safe. Many of us wanted to help and found ways to do so via the web. Webloggers were posting around the clock, uploading photos, videos and stories about what they'd seen and what they knew. New independent content sites sprang up everywhere.
News sites were clogged in the initial hours, quickly dumping their usual graphics and paring down to ease the load on their servers. Millions were turning to the web to get the latest update and to connect with others. Google created a special search page for news and information about the attacks that included news sites and weblogs. Webloggers, though, were posting away, typically providing what many have seen as the most up-to-the-moment coverage of real life through the attacks and its aftermath.
Weblogging tools have tremendously eased the process of creating content and publishing it within seconds. The entire world saw how we could use the web to share our stories, to check on each other after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., with a lot of it quickly published with some type of weblogging tool or other content management software.
While so many of us on the web with our own sites have known the value of online independent content for years now, even journalists and mainstream news media are taking note after the events of Sept. 11. It's about time.
We have also discovered a new way to share and explore creativity, whether in words, photography, illustrations, Flash productions, or whatever else the imagination unfolds before us. And we're still only in our infancy. This amazing new creativity, sharing and exploring of this medium has been an awe-inspiring adventure. Being a part of it has been exhilarating to me, and an honor.
The web had its 10th anniversary not long ago. So what will the next 10 years bring? It's hard to even imagine where the technology and our creativity will take us. I do imagine the speed increasing, interactivity with sound commonplace, more ways to wirelessly connect with ease, and the web becoming an increasingly integral part of our lives and daily routine. I see the world depending on the web's ease and speed for communicating and sharing more than ever.
With that evolution will come the continued growth of our now infant independent content sites. Much like raising children, there will be struggles and challenging moments, but the reward, meaning, and connection is truly unsurpassed.
