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04/10/2001 Archived Entry: "Memory"

After having done a few hours of revision this evening I decided to slog away at this website a bit more and managed to improve some small things that aren't really obvious, and no, that does not mean I did nothing. The very fact that the improvements will be hard to spot simply shows the excellent condition of the website in the first place. Or something like that.

Anyway, I'd just finished feeling proud of myself that I'd understood (part of) a manual on how to do website commands in Apache and fiddling with some error message settings, when it popped into my head that I should go and fix some settings in the new messageboards I'd set up.

While waiting for the administration page for the messageboard to load up, I diverted my attention to a search I was conducting on another page. Then I stopped, and looked at the other page wondering what the hell I was supposed to be doing. My short term memory fizzled to a halt and I stared at the monitor with a completely blank expression for a few seconds, reading the various links and options in a hope to trigger some kind of word association.

The problem, I think, is that we multitask a lot more these days. It's a rare moment when I don't have at least two browser windows open at the same time and another ICQ messaging window beeping away -

[Digression: I seem to be becoming habituated to hearing the 'dong-dong-dong-ding' of an ICQ incoming message; I hear it, but it just fails to register on my consciousness, so I end up abandoning conversations in mid-flow. It's very annoying, especially for the other person, I'd imagine.

[Digression^2: I can't stand the custom sounds in ICQ. I had to get rid of the 'Uh-oh' of the incoming message notification or else I'd have... (smashed the monitor? thrown the speakers out of the window?) gotten very upset. I know that there are other ICQ clients that can read out who is messaging you, but predictably they're only available for Linux and Mac. Well, probably not, I'd be surprised if they weren't around for Windows but I haven't been looking hard (trans.: at all)]

- and that's only because I have a fast net connection at university. At home I might have half a dozen windows open so as to maximise use of the bandwith so I'll always have something to read. Which is of course a very strange way of reading content - a discontinuous, non-linear way which results in people only reading bite-size chunks of maybe a maximum of 1000 words at a time, if that. Does this mean that the method of accessing the Internet is inherently less suited to presenting complex issues that take up a lot of words?

In fact, is this even important? I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with presenting information or news in smaller, more immediate chunks, and the Internet (accessed through PCs, not e-books or anything) will always be a supplement to media that we can use now.

Question: There's a commenting feature here. I've also set up a messageboard. Which is better for the discussion of issues raised here? Or are both good?