Time’s Person of the Year and Web2.U
December 17th, 2006Time Magazine will hit the newsstands Monday with the Person of the Year issue. And the Person of the Year is….YOU! Congratulations!! 
Now before you get a swelled head, Time has also decided that I’m the Person of the year as well. In fact, Time’s Person of the Year 2006 is anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web. Time salutes each of us “…for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy…,” and for basically pointing out new ways in which we all can benefit from the Web.
Time also makes certain to point out that “…Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone…But that’s what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail.”
You are Time’s Person of the Year because You are using or creating content for Web2.0.
Web2.0 + You = Web2.U!
By naming You Person of the Year, Time Magazine is attempting to point You towards the ideal that is Web2.U. I’ve been writing about Web2.U for about a year now and invite you to read and comment.
If you want to see what Web2.U is all about, then Digg or Reddit this post. You’ll not only be indicating an interest in Web2.U, you’ll be demonstrating that Web2.U is all about You! Congratulations on being named Person of the Year!
Summum Bonum
I never would have believed it if it hadn’t happened to me over and over and over again. Reddit is not accepting new entries!! Why? The message I keep getting is “you’re submitting too fast.”
Now I know I’ve developed a fast trigger finger from years of Atari2600, but this is silly. I’m betting that the boys from Reddit, after their sale, decided to take a few days off and ‘whoops’ look at what happens when there’s nobody minding the store. Digg is going have a field day with this!
Of course another explanation is that I developed superpowers while I slept last night and even now, while I think I’m only typing at 57WPM, I’m actually clocking in at an amazing 57,000WPM. It only appears usual to me because I must have also developed Super Eyesight. Sheesh.
Great job Reddit, really.
Can someone else test this and confirm??
Looks like the team at Automattic has transmitted ‘cease and desist’ emails to web sites having ‘wordpress’ in the domain name. How do I know this? It was the first story on my WP dashboard this morning! Seems as though Lorelle on WP felt compelled to speak on behalf of the WP developers. She cited a story at Blogging Pro that quotes from a cease and desist email apparently sent from someone at Automattic, Inc. The email was first quoted on Andy Wibbel’s blog and it reads:
Before we consider some potential implications of the email, I’d first like to ask whether or not Lorelle VanFossen was authorized by Automattic to publish her latest blog entry at Lorelle on WordPress. In it she writes:
She isn’t listed as an employee of Automattic, so how can she make such a pronouncement? Is she an authorized agent for Automattic?
Why do I ask? Read on!
To answer that question, we first require some background information. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
The trademarks and servicemarks that Automattic is pursuing are posted at The US Patent & Trademark Office website, which provides the following:
Automattic, Inc., has filed two trademark applications on “Wordpress” in association with “[D]ownloadable software program for use in design and managing content on a website.” One application covers the word, “wordpress” and the other application covers the stylized “W” in the circle with the underlined word “wordpress” positioned next to it.
Automattic, Inc., has filed two service mark applications on “Wordpress” in association with “[S]oftware solutions, namely providing use of on-line non-downloadable software for use in enabling Internet publishing.” One application covers the word, “wordpress” and the other application covers the stylized “W” in the circle with the underlined word “wordpress” positioned next to it.
Ok, now that we’ve got an idea of the marks that they claim to own, let’s take a look at what Automattic might have to show if they plan on enforcing their claimed rights to these marks.
Infringement depends upon whether two marks are sufficiently alike so as to cause consumer confusion as to their source or origin? More specifically, infringement depends upon whether a substantial number of ordinarily prudent purchasers are likely to be misled or confused as to the source of the different products or services. Actual confusion is not necessary, just a substantial likelihood of confusion.
Have you figured out why Lorelle’s blog entry is important to Automattic yet??
Lorelle has the blog name “Lorelle on WordPress.” Additionally, her blog resides at Lorelle.WordPress.com. If she was authorized by Automattic (Note: if the guys at Automattic decide what appears on the dashboard, then it seems there was implicit authorization), then Automattic itself relied on the “WordPress” in her blog’s name and in her domain name to help make their argument that ordinarily prudent consumers will take it as an “official” pronouncement!
Get it? includes “WordPress” and those with a blog name that includes it. As far as I can tell, Lorelle VanFossen is not affiliated with Automattic in a representative capacity and as such, her blog entry is a ruse.
What I find confusing has nothing to do with the trademarks. What’s confusing is whether Lorelle was in fact authorized, or supervised by Automattic? Of course, it’s simply a theory. So I’ll simply ask….
Check back to see if we’ve gotten a response from Lorelle!
And later, we’ll be looking to answer the question: Could Automattic Lose the WordPress Marks Alltogether?It’s an image. It’s an animation. It’s both!!
It’s Imagimation!
The image below may appear to be a 2-dimensional drawing. Hold down your left mouse button and scroll up (or down) and use a little imagimation!
You know you’ve got an imagination, but did you know that you’ve also got an ‘imagimation?’ While most people are well-versed at imagining a static picture, far fewer of us regularly practice imagimating. In fact, it’s must harder to do than most people would think. Why is it that you have to look back and forth at oncoming traffic before making a left-hand turn? Because YOU are limited in your imagimative capabilties.
Fear not though, practice imagimating and you’ll increase your capacity for such heady activity. You might even become happier and more successful! Especially if you use your imagimation ability to inspire you to develop other abilities and talents.
Tell your friends and family that you’ve got imagimation and then explain it to them. Not only will you be helping them to think about things a bit differently, you’ll be having a notable achievement!
Text adventures (aka interactive fiction) provide for Player input in the form of verb-noun phrases. The earliest text adventures only allowed a single verb followed by a single noun (i.e. ‘open mailbox’). Over time, parsing strategies improved and Player input expanded to include whole paragraphs.
Text adventures were little more than an exercise in guessing an author’s vocabulary and way of thinking. Rather than playing the role of protagonist in the unfolding story, the Player played the protagonist in an entirely different story, namely “figure out what the author intended when she created the adventure.”
