I like writing definitions for some weird reason, and while this one is
still awkward, I'm pleased with the vertigo metaphor as an explanation for
the befuddlement I often feel when considering the issue.
http://goatee.net/2002/03#_19tu
02.03.19.tu | Reagle's Deployment Vertigo
Reagle's Deployment Vertigo: the rapid advancement of the
leading edge of technology (e.g., Moore's Law) when combined with
conservative adoption (e.g., Stuck With Old Browsers Until 2003)
induces a sense of vertigo akin to Hitchcock's famous
track-out/zoom-in shot. (Vertigo is induced when the background
recedes while the foreground seemingly enlarges, but the subject is
largely stable relative to the frame.)
This theorem is posed in opposition to my earlier Widening Gap theorem
which argued that the distance between the performance or feature set
of the leading edge of technology (i.e., an exponential curve) and its
base deployment (i.e. a less steep if not linear curve) would increase
with time. For example, the distance between the capabilities of the
most advanced users' platform should be increasing with time over the
capabilities of the average user. However, given theorems like
Parkinson's Law of Data, ("Data expands to fill the space available
for storage"), the Productivity Paradox, and the uselessness of most
new features one must wonder. Consequently, vertigo results from the
dizzying speed of advancement, the plodding rate of adoption, and the
sense that one doesn't feel all that more usefull regardless. (It'
probably best to go watch a good movie instead of getting dizzy
thinking about this.)
--
Regards,
http://www.mit.edu/~reagle/
Joseph Reagle E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E
* This email is from an independent academic account and is
not necessarily representative of my affiliations.