Noted Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, once imprisoned for his “web activities” back in 2008, laments of the Web’s gradual descent towards a centralized flow of information and ideas. In a piece written for The Guardian Derakhshan points the finger squarely at popular social networks –Facebook, Instagram, et al– who he feels are killing the web by reeling us in to their close-walled ecosystems, places where people are increasingly spending more of their time online. Derakhshan writes:

We seem to have gone from a non-linear mode of communication – nodes and networks and links – toward one that is linear, passive, programmed and inward-looking.
I miss when people took time to be exposed to opinions other than their own, and bothered to read more than a paragraph or 140 characters.

Here in Toronto the Star, our largest daily newspaper, recently closed down comments and decided to push conversations among readers to Twitter (this disappointing trend is happening elsewhere too). When did moderating readers’ comments become a liability? Perhaps this is symbolic of the end of the Web as an interactive medium. By all means consume but please resist the urge to participate and share your voice.

Vibrant discussion threads — news.ycombinator.com is a great example — are a telling barometer of strong user engagement, whereas analysis of click-throughs and page views, based on the widespread use of click bots, tell us little about audience participation.

Consider for a moment a future version of the Web resembling Maciej Ceglowski’s computer game analogy:

The Web as Minecraft —an open world with simple pieces that obey simple rules. The graphics are kind of clunky, but that’s not the point, and nobody cares.
In this vision, you are meant to be an active participant, you’re supposed to create stuff, and you’ll have the most fun when you collaborate with others. The rules of the game are simple and don’t constrain you much. People create astonishing stuff in Minecraft.

. . .

It’s somewhat disheartening to think of the modern Web in terms of a series of closed networks or tiered pay-to-play information silos (I’m looking at you Facebook) rather than the vast open hyperlinked network that Tim Berners-Lee had originally set forth.

Update: January 3.2016
It would be hypocritical of me to publish this post with comments disabled, so I’ve turned them back on. Let’s hope the absurd comment spam doesn’t come back.