Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 28 February 2002

Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
 

From: Rus
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Net Stars

BBC online had an interesting article a couple of weeks ago
comparing a "star" designer (some Brit - can't remember his
name :-) and Jakob Nielsen (of http://www.useit.com fame),

It was a great read for the counter points each made of he
others work - and Jakob is well known if you are
really "into the web" for his views on useability,

Also Lance Arthur (of http://www.glassdog.com) could be
considered a "star" - check his site out if you haven't
before,

As to NZ'ers - how about you Bruce....? Or Mat Buchanin
(sorry Mat - I've lost touch) or Russell Brown perhaps...?

Anyone have any other NZ stars...?




From: Matt Poole
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: NZ's very own 'net media blooperstar?

There's always Donny da'Hack, I s'pose.




From: Kane
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: What about "dotcom guy" ?

What about "dotcom guy" ? lived online for a year, without
going outside, bought all food etc etc online, broadcasted
using the good old web cam.

Site was www.dotcomguy.com (no longer around - "flash in
the pan" maybe)




From: Camryn Brown
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Internet Media Stars

Since the internet isn't a broadcast medium (ie. there
isn't just one stream of content you have to receive) it's
hard for individuals to become stars known to the entire
audience.

However, I'd suggest Phil "Pud" Kaplan of
www.f***edcompany.com would be quite close... it was a
major site for a while there, all based around his take on
things / journalism. Also, I don't think there'd be many
serious net users that haven't at least heard of Matt
Drudge's "Drudge Report".

Then there's the famously weird category - the Peter Pan
guy being an example.




From: Steven Heath
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Internet Stars

I think you have missed the plot this time...

Internet is NOT one to many (like radio, TV and movies) and
unlike those media it is easy to ‘get your message out’.

The Internet is used as a many to many communications
device with no control/producer/network suit sitting
between the creator and the consumer. A better comparison
is 'where are the telephone stars?'. Do we have famous 0900
people, or customer service reps people call just to ‘oh my
gawd I spoke to him!’

To compare The Internet to ‘mainstream’ media would be to
compare it to student radio or community cable or ham
radio. Lets compare apples to apples here Bruce.




From: Ewen McNeill
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Internet Stars

Philip Greenspun (http://philip.greenspun.com/), founder of
 ArsDigita, the vision behind Photo.Net
(http://www.photo.net/), and one pushing much of the early
community-oriented websites (in the sense of people using
the website in a dialogue), as well as travelogues (eg,
Travels with Samantha, which I believe was published as a book).

Joel Spolsky (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/), author of a
long running weblog focused on user
interface/programming/software business issues.  He was
awarded "Blogger of the Year" by Dave Whiner (Userland.Com),
and a well desserved award I think.  Indeed Dave Whiner
probably qualifies himself, for Scripting News
(http://scriptingnews.userland.com/), and for pushing the
web usability vision.

These last two are perhaps less well known outside the
programming community.  But Philip Greenspun is fairly
widely known by a wide range of people.  All of them are
known for more than "building the web" (which they've all
done), because of their weblogs, travelogues, etc.  They're
personalities on the Internet.




From: Jonathan Dodd
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Internet stars

Oh come on, you're just hanging out for someone to
say "Bruce Simpson", ain'tcha??? But I'm only HALF kidding
there.

For this sort of thing I believe you need to look at the
commercial communities or e-zines which are focussed around
select editors or faces.  So my votes are for...

* Jenene Crossans of NZGirl
* Nigel Horrocks of Netguide.
* Peter Sinclair

My vote goes for Nigel and Peter - people who have really
connected with newbies and techies alike, and dramatically
enhanced people's online experiences as a result.

Aardvark Responds
If you ask a randomly selected group of 1000 people who I am, chances are
they'll all say "who?"

As those same people who Tom Cruise, Kim Hill or Tom Scott are and you'll
find out the difference between a regular person and someone who has
become a star of their medium.