The article that I read this week was “Where the
Counterculture Met the New Economy” by Fred Turner. It discussed the development and evolution of the WELL and
the Whole Earth Catalog. I found the article very
interesting. However, I had never
heard of either the WELL or Catalog,
so I decided to do some background research. I found this page on the WELL’s main website that describes
its history. I also found this
page about the Catalog’s history and availability
of the catalog online. Once I really understood what the WELL and Catalog entailed, I had a greater
appreciation for the article.
One of the quotes that stuck out for me was:
“In
its pages, the Catalog both depicted
the products of an emerging counterculture and linked the scattered members of
that culture to one another. In that sense, it became a ‘network forum.’”
It is interesting when you think that the reviewers were spread
out geographically and connecting through the Catalog to share their thoughts and opinions. This formed the web of the “network
forum.” Web is an interesting word
to use to describe a network forum because things get caught in webs and are
held there. I think this is true
of network forums. Peoples’
opinions are held in the forum waiting for other users to browse through and
find them.
I thought this article did a good job presenting the WELL
and Catalog to an audience who had no
background knowledge on the subject, like myself. I constantly use online forums, so it is fascinating to see
where they have evolved.
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