Raise the Hammer

I see the imperialist's point about Hamilton not embracing the internet. Then again, that doesn't credit the work of people like Wayne McPhail and others at the Spec's infolab. I think that failed largely because, in marketing terms, the technology was ahead of its time, or ahead of anyone knowing how to make money from this medium. Though advances have been made in this area, I'd have to say the economy still has not caught up with the technology. Part of the economic problems we face now is that advertisers are still tenuous about grasping the internet even as they abandon mass media.

Another thing that affects this perception is that the internet is so open. A possible analogy may be the relationship between industry and the arts. The economic contribution of the arts is difficult to pin down because each artist is his/her own manufactory. There are exceptions (film and television) and there are loose affiliations and collaborations, but it is difficult for individual artists to be creators and marketers etc. at the same time. Similarly, it is difficult for individual bloggers and site-creators to market their work to advertisers. Fortunately the internet itself has sites for designers and advertisers to find one another, but progress is, relatively, slow.

And, of course, internet communities do not necessarily revolve around local or political interests. The low costs of internet advertising should be attractive to local advertisers, but how do you build links to sites that will build traffic to your internet advertising, and then to your local business? And advertisers are often afraid to be associated with what they see as controversy which is often what drives locally oriented web and blogging sites, while the site administrators fear that accepting local advertising would compromise their perceived integrity.

I guess what I'm wondering, specifically, is whether it wouldn't address imperialist's point if sites like RTH accepted paid advertising.