This is from David Berlind via Doc Searls. Do you know the person who’s lost the iPod that David found?
Which reminds me. I have always wanted to change the way people “procure” software, using blogs. Why can’t I just post “Is there someone out there with something that does this?” and see what happens. Relationship and conversation before transaction. Intention Economy compresses search and transaction costs. I’m sure there are a million reasons why I can’t, but I’ll keep looking into them. And one day….
[An aside: what kind of industry are we? Why do we use terms like procurer and user? ]
JP, allow me to change my postmodern hat for a Freudian one; and let me stick with “user,” because I am more familiar with its context of use. In the world of literary theory, “user” is a trope; but it has been adopted by a community whose understanding of the concept of trope is probably limited to some trivialized gloss on the work of George Lakoff. (Yes, I know that sounds a bit nasty; but I had a hard time with a call center today!) I would thus side with Freud and argue that, when a trope is applied by a speaker who does not realize it is a trope, then it is an act of the unconscious. From this we can conclude that the IT business is essentially a community of wannabe drug dealers! (I am sure we can come up with all sorts of additional supporting evidence, but then people might start to take this proposition seriously. Then we would have to start looking for connections between your other favorite word, “procurer,” and the concept of “value proposition!”)
Your blog is great! I like it, I want to make friends with you