In an "information economy,"
where the mechanisms for the collecting and storing of data have been sufficiently
refined and the production of information (as opposed to data) replaces
the production of goods as the primary commodity, there occurs a situation
where there is an urgency in creating information, and subsequently an overwhelming
overabundance of information. The web, created as a means of publishing
scientific information then becomes a conduit for this labyrinth of information.
Already reports have been issued claiming
that there is now so much information available on the web that it is now
nearly impossible to stay current in scientific fields-even within specializations.
The large amount of information is now an impediment to scientific inquiry,
with researchers trying to keep abreast of the latest news rather than doing
work themselves and adding to the mountain of knowledge. <P>Within this context,
where the production of information is both productive and destructive,
the production of more information which is meaningless or useless becomes
an act of rebellion in two ways: producing information to further clog the
arteries of communication, and that information being of no commercial or
scientific value. It becomes a reaction to a system that values not only
information, but within a glut of data, especially that information which
is the most monetarily valuable or the most relevant. The whole enterprise
of &quot;useless&quot; web pages, in forms that vary in success, becomes
the antithesis of the productivist logic of the information economy in which
the web is situated. Instead of Value it is Anti-Value. The viewers or users
of such web pages then act in the same way- resisting the system of productivist/consumer
logic by wasting one's time (which itself is a commodity) on a non valuable
endeavor (not an entertainment commodity), but also simply the fascination
with information that has no value or purpose. <P>