I have dived (have dove, diven,  am diving ????)   into  Weblogging head first, but as soon as I did,  I knew my heart was right there with me.  This is exciting.  After just finishing a book by Lawrence Lessig The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World which depressed the shit out of me about how the Internet is being “monkeyed with”,  but this time not as much by people of the ilk of the original Net revolution,  where protocols were built and standards were developed collaboratively and Open Source type things happened.  This time,  it’s the people who have the most to lose by Open Code and the power of the voice of the people.    By closing access,  at the edges of the Network,  or making it more and more difficult for certain kinds of technologies to flourish,  the dangers are growing that the Internet is becoming more like what the Media outlets in power would like it be:  something they can control.

With Weblogging,  I see a second wave of revolution.   If the internet was the original Net Revolution,  and the Powers striking back is the counter-revolution,  then the Weblogs represent a Third Wave (to borrow a title from Toffler).   I have been spouting off about Portals for the past two to three years,  and now I see a major avenue and channel for the Portal to really be useful:  as a way of connecting individuals to their communties that are out there waiting for them but have yet to discover them.   Blogs; Weblogs are personal portals that collaborate across the Net to build something powerful.   And nowhere am I more excited about this than how this might empower a new people intelligence within the Theological Community (and in some churches)…