Drop the network
From Eric Meyer and Tantek Çelik comes XFN - XHTML Friends Network: "...a simple way to represent human relationships using hyperlinks. XFN enables web authors to indicate their relationship(s) to the people in their blogrolls..."
At Juicy Studio I read an interesting critique + comments on this new standards compliant link-loving: "It's probably a cultural difference, but the usefulness of XFN relationships is lost on me" says Juicy Studio and "Agreed the importance is probably cultural. Without intending to make sweeping statements, Americans do tend to place emphasis on people they know, and how well they know them," says 'Will' in the comments.
I do not want to make this a USA vs Europe debate, but I find the cultural angle fascinating. More so than the semantic or technical discussion. It cleared up a sense of unease I've felt over the years concerning the act of name-dropping.
I've noticed how 'who you know, how well you know them' has always been of importance to the Indonesian side of my family. Name-dropping isn't frowned upon, it's encouraged. Knowing the right person commands respect. Even now my uncle asks me whether I've met 'important' people in broadcasting.
It annoys me when my relatives do this, although I'm not entirely immune to it myself. But in Dutch culture, name-dropping does not impress too many people. Far more worth is placed on your own achievements and even these should not be emphasized. Everyone's 'equal'. ( Consequently, no one has or gets any respect at all. )
Moving between worlds (Dutch, Indonesian, English-speaking) I've felt culture clash of this sort on many -- sometimes embarrassing -- occasions. In real life and on line. But in future I will tell myself it's alright, it's just a 'cultural difference'.
What is important in your culture: who you know, or what you've achieved?
since most of the bloggers i have as links use blogrolling, until this is implemented to work with such apps as blogrolling, or other such utilities, i don't know how widely used it will be. good idea tho', nevertheless.
Don't think I'm a name dropper (other than astonished "Guess who I saw...").
People who namedrop annoy me, as they are usually trying to make themselves look better somehow..
As for XFN, I'll need to do some digging before I comment (right now I'm heading for 'couldn't care less' ;-)
test
Never been interested in the blogroll, preferring to do it myself instead. The new app leaves me with a big who cares.
(runs away and hides at the very idea, having tried to understand the page; I just prefer to like, er, keep a list of blogs I visit).
Couple of thoughts:
Perhaps the makers of XFN (which is not an app, it's a 'relationship datatype') should not have used the word blogroll.
Am a little surprised at the comments as I was going into the cultural aspect, the thinking that lead to the creation, not the implementation of XFN.
I definitely wasn't talking about blogrolls and whether or not to 'roll your own'.
Funny, I was discussing this with Liz (she lets me drop the "Your Highness" stuff when it's just the two of us) only last night.
My own interest in this technical standard is (of course) systems-oriented, in its widest sense. I'm interested in relationships, networks and maps - the connections that we make between things. XFN provides another tool to document these, with the whole "six degrees of separation" thing thrown into the mix.
On a more pragmatic note, I think that in many circumstances name-dropping can be benign. Don't we always try to find an element of commonality with new people who we meet? It's part of the way we make friends - we exchange favourite music, books, films, sports, etc. Identifying (genuine) mutual acquaintances is another part of that process and the only realistic way to do this is to name names.
What I dislike is the dishonest type of name-dropping, using your relationship to someone else in a way that lacks integrity. It's all about context - how well you know the person, what type of relationship you have, when and where you mention their name. Also, probably most pertiently, about what you intend to achieve by mentioning them. If it's to bolster your self-esteem, self-confidence or self-importance, you should probably have kept quiet.
"If it's to bolster your self-esteem, self-confidence or self-importance, you should probably have kept quiet."
In Northern-European culture.
Yes, fair point. I side-stepped the cultural aspect of it, not having enough objectivity to be able to comment. I was focusing on "Do you name-drop? Does it annoy you?" instead.
I do want to make another point - one I should have made in my last comment. I have had sites (different incarnations and urls) for over three years. In that time, I've seen communities spring up, change, go away, and some have remained through it all. I think anything that bolsters a good sense of *community*, is, undoubtably a good thing. Now that friendship goes beyond those with whom one sits in a coffee-shop, and instead includes those with whom one chats online, it could be a good tool for connectivity. I hope that thought made sense!