I'm Wary of Mash-Ups

The theory is excellent. If one could reuse and combine Internet data from various sources in one place, the results could be efficient and effective. Yet, I must've lived too long to be so trusting. What if a repository site went out of business? Just because it works at the moment, doesn't mean it'll last. Unfortunately, I take perverse enjoyment in the idea that data contained in this blog will be available down the road. It is clearly the archivist in me that keeps me adding an entry a day.

Net things surely come and go. The original form of GeoCities wasn't as permanent as initial users might have expected. Flickr has supplanted Webshots as my place for storing images. For heaven's sakes, I once had an @home.net email address. So although web velocity has slowed, I have a hard time thinking of anything as very permanent. A mash-up is no good if a part ends up falling by the wayside.

This may be why I've been slow to get all giddy about YouTube. If I want to spend my time watching videos, I'd prefer it be created professionally. I really can't imagine getting all excited over someone's dog doing something stupid. I doubt anyone could create two minutes of anything that I'd kill for. Most importantly, until today, for the reason above, I've avoided mashing up their vids here.

I generally 30-second-skip past television commercials because of the PRV. Yet, somehow, particular TV ads become such favourites that I may want to showcase one. For example, I loved the Stella Artois pig commercial so much, I copied it and tried to tie it to my eJournal and images. That was a lot of work and took a lot of space. More recently, I saw a PBS promo advertisement that I thought was very cool. Of course, it is on YouTube, so here goes something new:

I might love this as there are two goldfish on the desk near my monitor. I would certainly support the darlings if they decided to jump out the balcony door and into a puddle on the Columbia Street SkyTrain station. Then, if they somehow crossed over the roof of the Army Navy Department Store and rail tracks, they'd happily dive into the Fraser River. I can almost picture them fighting the rapids in a fish ladder at Hell's Gate. Go babies, go!