and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

Does anyone actually trackback? Does anyone know what it's about? Does anyone care?

I'm no schlep myself, I work with computers, I hobby with computers, and I generally catch on to new ideas like trackback pretty quickly. Not like my father who has trouble grasping the idea of a website versus a ftp site and my mom who didn't realize her yahoo mail interface was in fact on the www.

But for some reason I had trouble with trackback. When I first started seeing the links out there I found a few references here and there but the majority of the situation is a lot of Trackback (0) at the end of people's posts. The important part here being the big fat zero at the end of it. Zero trackbacks. Trackbacks, unfortunately, are like a big fat black hole. Trackblacks they should call it. No one uses 'em.

There is certain technology that makes things easier to use. There is certain technology that makes things more fun and more effective to use. Some technology enhances things and adds new features.

But if those features aren't features people want to use then it's wasted effort. Or if those features are hard to use - harder than they are worth - then no one will use them.

Not every idea that takes off like wildfire is a good idea. Take HTML Frames for an example. People snapped that idea up like kids at a candy store and we're still suffering the consequences years later. Not every idea that doesn't take off is a bad idea either. Remember those car-pooling companies where you joined up and could thereafter take a car from one of the various depos, use it, and return it to any depo.. I heard about trial programs in a few cities a number of years ago but I haven't heard squat since. I guess I'm trying to qualify it as a good idea but that's an opinion thing.. still, it hasn't taken off.

Audioblogs, also, haven't really taken off. I don't think they are a bad idea but I think they fall under the umbrella of "features people don't want". People don't want to talk online. They don't want random strangers listening to them. It's creepy. It's too real. Up to this point people have been happy to write and write and write - and even post pictures.. for millions of strangers to see. But it's impersonal. It's cold and bare. Text and photographs do not a warm personal experience make. Thus the blog. The power and ease and acceptance of the blog. Anyone can feel comfortable posting their daily routines up on the web..

But speak it? Whoa. Slow down. Back the bus up.

jaime has a number of audblog posts from friendly blogging types - even fairly famous ones - and I think the overwhelming feature of all of them is that they sound shy and unsure. Not the people, but the particular posts. There is something about speaking out loud that makes us realize the stupidity in posts like:

so I had coffee today. a lot. like, 10 cups. whoa I'm jittery

Pointless? Maybe not. But certainly a little mundane.

And personal.

People aren't quite ready to be that personal on the web. Sure, there are the standouts. People with internet radio shows. Camgirls. Etc. etc.. but they're all under a format. With radio show - however pointless - you have a reason for broadcasting.. and the listener has a reason for tuning in. "I was listening to the show". An audblog.. an audio post.. it's this floating unattached personal blurb about how tired you feel and can't wait to get off work.. it's too much. Camgirls, too, put on a bit of a show.. and I think it starts with one-on-one situations most of the time (that's a guess.. I can't really speak to the experiences of most camgirls) and they get more and more comfortable with it as time progresses to the point where many people may be watching their cam at once.

I think trackbacks fall somewhere between these realms. A little too much work to reference. A little too much effort to actually use.. And maybe not something people care about too much.

A trackback is really just a reverse bibliography.. so why would I want to go backwards? If I'm at the source then why would I go up the chain to more and more diluted and abstracted references or versions of what I'm already looking at?

That's why linking to other people's posts that you reference works. It's the trackforward. It's the real deal. The normal bibliography.. which is something people want to see. They want to be able to drill down to the source. Get to the bottom of things. It's a more natural way of looking at information.

Will trackbacks ever really take off? I don't know but I'm hanging between "no" and "not for a very long time".. It just looks to be the way things are.

But I'll let you know the first time I use one .. and the first time I get a trackback in one of my posts.