Re: UKNM:e-business was Dot Com Fever

[Duncan Clubb]

I think all this stuff about e-businesses is missing the point

somewhat.  The media used by a business is not important, it's only what

they do with it that matters.  Banks did not re-invent themselves as

t-businesses when they started offering phone services, they just

bleated on about the service itself.  Throughout history, businesses

have grabbed all new technologies as they arrived and tried to use them

for competitive advantage.  This is all that's happening now.  There are

very few *real* e-businesses, by which I mean the ones that could NOT

exist without the net, most e-businesses are just new forms of some

other type of retailer, bucket-shop, intermediary, etc.

Although it may not be a popular opinion on this list, I still maintain

that 'the medium is the message' is a dangerously misguided statement

(and wrong to boot) but one that seems to have woven itself into the

collective unconsciousness.  I believe that the quote in the masthead of

June's US wired (I think from McLuhan) is just as bad:

*Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media with

which men communicate than by the content of the communication*

Is it me, or is that not total pants?  When leading and opinion-forming

publications (even if you don't like wired) are espousing such

attitudes, is it surprising that so many get caught up in the hype about

our beloved new media, forgetting where the real priorities are?  

ttfn

Duncan Clubb.



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