Conversations vs. Information

I posted this as a comment on http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/06/23/conversations-vs-information/ today. Yes, I like to blog and would love to converse more than currently does occur. I am struggling with how, why this is and what I (at least in my own way) can make a change. I had posted previously on a different way to count readership/audience. This generated some conversation but not enough to gain traction so I have put it aside for now. Your posting (Keith's) connects to a quote I found this morning from Kathy Sierra I don't want to read too much into this, but what the hell - I will anyway. I think it means that after years of being enamored solely with the technology itself, and the various methodologies and approaches to crafting it, the geek world is starting to look at the larger sphere around the use of the technology. In other words, not just the content but the context in which technology is created and used. That means caring about the quality of our lives, as developers, as well as the quality of our user's lives and the role we play in that. And I don't want to get too excited about what that means, but what the hell - I will anyway. I think something important is happening, and it can only be good. Maybe we've finally stopped saying our secret stock option prayers at night (Please oh please God bring back the bubble and this time I won't piss it away I promise) and decided to focus on what we have, and what we can do to make things better. The whole idea of Getting Things Done is about being able to spend more time in flow, the very thing we believe leads to passionate users. For all of Kathy's posting So what does this mean? I think we must slow down. Instead of attempting to cruise through the RSS feeds of 200 or so blogs, we should focus on a select few, and have a conversation on topics within those blogs, amongst those folks. Will the conversation stale over time? One hopes not. If the company is diverse enough there should be enough fodder for a goodly number of conversations. If it does stale, then one can always move along (and then come back). If ones focus is generating readership, then that may preclude generating real conversations. If ones focus is on conversations, then readership will be fully engaged and that is what matters to a good conversation. Thoughts?