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February 28, 2004
An episode in search of a metaphor
Posted by David Weinberger
Please read the following non-fiction passage and answer the essay questions at the end. Be sure to use a #2 pencil.
Last night, coming back from the airport, my cab driver stopped to pay the $4.50 (!) tunnel toll. "Mikey!" he called out to the guy in the tollbooth. "How's it goin'?"
"Not bad. You?"
"Great, my man. See you later."
"Bye, dude."
As we entered the tunnel, I asked, "A friend of yours?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know him outside of the toll booth?"
"Nope."
"How many times a day do you go through these tolls?"
"Oh, it's gotta be five or six times."
1. Please compare and contrast with various Internet relationships you have had.
2. If the cab driver were to receive an Orkut invitation from the tollbooth guy, should the driver say "Yes, the tollbooth guy is my friend" or not? Explain your reasoning.
3. Are tollbooth attendees the A-List of real-world bloggers? Analyze their traffic in terms of power laws. Be sure to show your work.
4. Does this two-person group constitute an echo chamber? (For extra credit: Is the Callahan Tunnel an echo chamber? Even if your windows are rolled up?)
Comments (5)
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1. Seth Finkelstein on February 28, 2004 7:46 PM writes...
1. Co-workers in other deparments. The relationship is "functional", an interface between tasks.
2. Yes. The driver is clearly on "friendly" terms with the toolbooth guy. Orkut-friend is better though of as "friendly" as opposed to "one of my best buddies".
3. No. Nonsense. They're more like the system administrators of real-world bloggers. They have no power themselves, except to keep a machine running smoothly.
4. Yes, but a very mild one. The Callahan Tunnel would be an echo chamber in theory, but the fans and traffic noise drown out any echoes, so it isn't in practice.
Permalink to Comment2. Tim on February 29, 2004 4:32 PM writes...
LOL.
Permalink to Comment3. George Girton on March 1, 2004 12:47 AM writes...
Some episodes just don't have metaphors. Face it. Maybe you should start to recommend the number 2 1/2 pencil. Harder, sharper, better point. I definitely think you could use a better point.
Permalink to Comment4. Ben Hyde on March 2, 2004 8:44 AM writes...
1. Please compare and contrast with various Internet relationships you have had.
I have yet to just hand any of my internet associates $4.50; instead I buy them a beer. None of my internet associates is obviously the lieutenant of those that own the monopoly enabled by a river crossing; though my sysadmin might does seem to sit in the guard box of on the border of our VPN.
2. If the cab driver were to receive an Orkut invitation from the tollbooth guy, should the driver say “Yes, the tollbooth guy is my friend” or not? Explain your reasoning.
To distill this question down to it's essence: "Is dude@callahan.tunnel.dot.ma.us sexy?" No.
My reasoning? I've been there.
3. Are tollbooth attendees the A-List of real-world bloggers? Analyze their traffic in terms of power laws. Be sure to show your work.
Traffic displays a power-law due to the network topology of the underlying roadways. In the real world geographic bottlenecks often create points where hubs emerge. While these bottlenecks are particularly amenable the establishment of monopolies. The income that generates can be used to increase their hub like nature - building more infrastructure (see Logan Airport). But, over time open-hubs always dominate hubs with a transaction tax.
So for two reasons Mr. Dude is not the equivalent of an a-list blogger. First he is only the employee of the hub's owner. MassPort is the hub in this story.
The second reason? Well Boston is obviously the hub of the universe. MassPort is just the garden wall.
4. Does this two-person group constitute an echo chamber? (For extra credit: Is the Callahan Tunnel an echo chamber? Even if your windows are rolled up?)
Yes.
No. While the tile walls make an excellent echo chamber, the clutter of cars dampen out all the echo and everything just settles down to a dull roar.
Of course from now on when ever anybody says echo chamber I'm going to have to think of the Callahan tunnel. Curse you!
Permalink to Comment5. Christian Hauck on March 2, 2004 8:46 AM writes...
1. got the point.
Permalink to Comment2. A good metaphor is like a diagonal frog (not mine, check edge.org for Kai Krause)
2. I'm most impressed by the specifications of the pencil. More about that? try: http://www.faber-castell.de/bausteine/bausteine/link.asp?id=14507&domid=1010&m1=10328&privatequery=