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David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

bbc.co.uk

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Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#21

Post by pygy_ »

asveikau wrote: post #15
pygy_ wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was not faulting him for possibly not knowing the full history of the internet. Pre-1997, the internet and the web were both very confidential. It started to become a thing in the public mind around that time, and seeing it, in 2000 (apparently the proper date of the interview) as an alien life form is very insightful.

I don't disagree that characterizing it as an "alien" would not have been out of place at the time. However, it was not "confidential" in 1996. That is simply a ridiculous statement.

s/confidential/not broadly known/ ?

I'm a tech head (learned programming in elementary school in the 80's) that grew up in a non technical family, and I discovered the internet, as most people, around 1996, when the TV news started talking about "the information highways".

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#22

Post by cpwright »

xbryanx wrote: post #4

It's scary to think about how ephemeral some of these early internet experiments are. Wayback Machine is great for static sites, but I'm amazed that enough of this interactive media/software was captured to even report on. I hope that the Bowie camp has some smart archivists who will preserve this unique material.

I worked on BowieNet in around 2000. He was really very involved in the site and content. The biggest draw was the members-only concert.

Regarding the content. There was another company that did the design work, a bunch of it in flash; but also in HTML for the message boards and stuff that we integrated into our PHP forum that had all the actual messages stored in MySQL. I'm not sure what would have happened to any of that when VillageWorld (the company that did the backend at least initially) went bust in 2004; or if it was migrated away or shut down before that.

The live chats were either IRC with a Java web client or we also had an NPH script that we could of used, but I don't remember which ended up being "real" at this point. There were definitely some that were organized and others that were not.

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#23

Post by wodenokoto »

dirtyaura wrote: post #19

The interview is gold. (I shared it earlier but it didn't garner enough attention https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10883028 ) He perfectly summarized the relationship between the art and the internet: "That gray space in the middle (between the artist and the audience) is what the 21st century is about" Also it is fascinating how certain he was that new mediums will emerge and how different they will be from what…

Did he bank on it in any way? I've never noticed Bowie doing anything particular social media, youtube exclusive, pay what you want or other similar new media age kind of things.

As far as I know, he did news paper and TV intervews, released albums, played live shows and acted in movies. Doesn't seem very "social broadcast media" to me.

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#24

Post by tremon »

pygy_ wrote: post #12
jccc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much doubt that he thought the Internet was invented by Gore in 1997. Expand your time scale to the level of the point he's making, and yes it did just arrive.

I was not faulting him for possibly not knowing the full history of the internet. Pre-1997, the internet and the web were both very confidential. It started to become a thing in the public mind around that time, and seeing it, in 2000 (apparently the proper date of the interview) as an alien life form is very insightful.

I don't think that timescale is correct, at least for my youth (in The Netherlands). 1997 was about the year that we started to get always-on Internet access at home (with cable and adsl). Dial-up was already well-established by then.

Me and my classmates were well-aware of the Internet before that. I remember browsing for FastTracker 2 samples my second year in highschool (1995 that must've been).

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#25

Post by k-mcgrady »

wodenokoto wrote: post #23
dirtyaura wrote: post #19

The interview is gold. (I shared it earlier but it didn't garner enough attention https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10883028 ) He perfectly summarized the relationship between the art and the internet: "That gray space in the middle (between the artist and the audience) is what the 21st century is about" Also it is fascinating how certain he was that new mediums will emerge and how different they will be from what…

Did he bank on it in any way? I've never noticed Bowie doing anything particular social media, youtube exclusive, pay what you want or other similar new media age kind of things. As far as I know, he did news paper and TV intervews, released albums, played live shows and acted in movies. Doesn't seem very "social broadcast media" to me.

I read yesterday he started his own ISP (BowieNet I think).

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#26

Post by aaroninsf »

asveikau wrote: post #15
pygy_ wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was not faulting him for possibly not knowing the full history of the internet. Pre-1997, the internet and the web were both very confidential. It started to become a thing in the public mind around that time, and seeing it, in 2000 (apparently the proper date of the interview) as an alien life form is very insightful.

I don't disagree that characterizing it as an "alien" would not have been out of place at the time. However, it was not "confidential" in 1996. That is simply a ridiculous statement.

It's only ridiculous if you willfully overlooking the context of the interview... which is not history of arpanet 101.

From the perspective of the Time magazine reading consumer middle class, yes, the internet just arrived fully formed, with only Compuserve and its ilk as hobbyist forerunners with hardly more uptake than CB or ham radio.

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#27

Post by drzaiusapelord »

cpwright wrote: post #22
xbryanx wrote: post #4

It's scary to think about how ephemeral some of these early internet experiments are. Wayback Machine is great for static sites, but I'm amazed that enough of this interactive media/software was captured to even report on. I hope that the Bowie camp has some smart archivists who will preserve this unique material.

I worked on BowieNet in around 2000. He was really very involved in the site and content. The biggest draw was the members-only concert. Regarding the content. There was another company that did the design work, a bunch of it in flash; but also in HTML for the message boards and stuff that we integrated into our PHP forum that had all the actual messages stored in MySQL. I'm not sure what would have happened to any o…

Live chats with Bowie?

Care to give more details, stories, etc? BowieNet sounds fascinating to me.

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#28

Post by abannin »

pygy_ wrote: post #6

Bowie: I don't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the Internet is going to do to society—both good and bad—is unimaginable. I think we're on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying. Interviewer: It's just a tool, though, isn't it? Bowie: No, it's not... no, it's an alien life form [laughs]. It's just arrived from Mars. 1998?

'Just' is not in reference to a time frame. This statement is more in the feel of 'it just came from nowhere'.

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#29

Post by Arnt »

wodenokoto wrote: post #23
dirtyaura wrote: post #19

The interview is gold. (I shared it earlier but it didn't garner enough attention https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10883028 ) He perfectly summarized the relationship between the art and the internet: "That gray space in the middle (between the artist and the audience) is what the 21st century is about" Also it is fascinating how certain he was that new mediums will emerge and how different they will be from what…

Did he bank on it in any way? I've never noticed Bowie doing anything particular social media, youtube exclusive, pay what you want or other similar new media age kind of things. As far as I know, he did news paper and TV intervews, released albums, played live shows and acted in movies. Doesn't seem very "social broadcast media" to me.

Bank on it... in a way, yes. He sold the rights to his albums. People gave him ready money in exchange for the future income from his albums.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_bond

Re: David Bowie, an Internet pioneer

#30

Post by jobu »

wodenokoto wrote: post #23
dirtyaura wrote: post #19

The interview is gold. (I shared it earlier but it didn't garner enough attention https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10883028 ) He perfectly summarized the relationship between the art and the internet: "That gray space in the middle (between the artist and the audience) is what the 21st century is about" Also it is fascinating how certain he was that new mediums will emerge and how different they will be from what…

Did he bank on it in any way? I've never noticed Bowie doing anything particular social media, youtube exclusive, pay what you want or other similar new media age kind of things. As far as I know, he did news paper and TV intervews, released albums, played live shows and acted in movies. Doesn't seem very "social broadcast media" to me.

Given his interest in technology it's a bit surprising to me that he didn't get involved much in social media or YouTube.

As for banking on it, he hasn't had to worry about money for a very long time - he's been one of the richest artists/musicians in the world for at least the last two decades.

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