David Weinberger highlights a comment by Michael Wolff in Vanity Faire about his new news site, Newser.com.
The metaphor, for 150 years ― from print to radio to network to cable ― has been the front page: important stuff first. "It should have to do now with falling through something, or floating through the totality of information or of intersecting worlds and interests," offers [Patrick] Spain, not a man wild with his metaphors. [VF, October, p. 126]
I've been saying for a while, and I think in Everything Is Miscellaneous, that the new front page is distributed across our day and our network. Much of it comes through our inbox. It consists of people we know and people we don't know recommending items for our interest...
When I was around 10 years old, I was a member of the Optimist Club. The group leader was a great guy, ran a construction company and drove a swanky green Caddie. Happy and successful guy. I'll always remember how he said to never read the front page of the newspaper first. All it would do is bring you down about what's going on in the world. He suggested instead to start with the funnies and work your way back to the front page.
I find the same thing to be true about my inbox, the modern front page as David suggests.
