(2003-07-29) Weinberger Groups And Identity

David Weinberger in reaction to Clay Shirky (2003-07-06-ShirkyGroupWorstEnemy) and social networking services. So, if groups are important but are under-served by Internet and if the Internet lets us innovate on the edges, then there's a market opportunity for group services... Friendster asks me to be binary about one of the least binary relationships around. I'm not suggesting that Friendster made a poor design decision. I'm suggesting that there is no good design decision to be made here (2003-07-25-FoafRelationships)... Perhaps groups can't write a constitution until they've already entangled themselves in thick, messy, ambiguous, open-ended relationships. Without that thicket of tangles, the group doesn't know itself well enough to write a constitution.... We all know how ugly constitutional discussions can get. In order to have such a charged conversation, the group needs a web of good will.