Geodog

Were those the golden years?

I just finished reading Kottke's new piece, A whole new internet?, and it reminded me of a moment in 2002, sitting in a basement at a great conference organized by Kevin Werbach in the depth of the tech recession. While around us were depression, unemployment and nay-saying about the internet, in that room was amazing creativity and energy -- people like Mike Masnick, Ben and Mena Trott, Dan Gillmor, Marc Canter, Dave Sifry and many others all excited about the ideas they had and the things they were working on, and all eager to share them. Now, except for the irrepressible Mr. Cantor, the projects have become businesses, and the proprietors much quieter. People are still working on cool stuff, but they are talking and sharing less, except for marketing mode. I know my writing has suffered, both because of constraints on what I feel comfortable writing about here, and just because of the lack of time to write.

Business is booming, but it is less fun. Is Kottke right, and will we look back at 2002-2004 as the golden years of the internet, pre-Web 2.0?