I apologize. My sequence is wrong. But I have trouble remembering things from that era. The best concert I ever saw was Dylan and The Band at the Chicago Stadium in January, 1974!

Professor Taplin:

You have an impressive resume indeed, and I join Right Fools in his passion for Dylan and the Band (The Last Waltz CD is on the sun visor in my car).

I only hope that, if you do intend to post regularly, that you will respond to the comments many of us have already left for you on your other posts.

Resumes are great; interaction is even better. Thanks.

Bruce

First, I really do look forward to reading more of your posts, judging both from your resume and a glance at your blog.

But I really must say that this:

Yesterday I felt like Han Solo in the Star Wars bar scene. I'm used to the civil dialogue of the academy and my own blog. There is plenty of disagreement, but we don't call eachother names.

is kind of disturbing to me, given that you say your "main area of concentration is what I call Digital Political Economy." Seems like you don't understand one of major cultural problems of the blogosphere and activism on it.

The history of this website you are now contributing to, for instance, was that when it was started, it was populated by members disgusted with the rest of the political blogosphere, people flocked here as a sort of refuge, countless comments about appreciating being able to find a "civil" forum on the internet. Over the two years of its life, that changed to the same old, same old.

And the same thing has happened to many other sites. You aren't aware of this, that exchanging vitriol seems to be an unescapable part and parcel of what is the political blogosphere? That software has been invented with things like rating systems to try to change that, and that it never seems to work? That someone like Juan Cole simply decided to have all discussion comments vetted before they are published? Even a couple of years ago, I' seen student papers on these types of problems in political internet "communities."

Is it that you didn't expect such a response right away to someone like you, or is it that you weren't aware of this side of the blogosphere? Giving you a chance to redeem your claim to knowledge of the political internet and explain that the latter isn't true, perhaps not now but later in a blog post...

Digital political economics makes me think of Charles Stross' "Accelerando", in which one character gives away useful ideas, and in return collects lots of quid pro quo instead of money.

In game theory and other interaction models, the particular ways agents can find each other has large effects on outcomes. This is, in fact, new in politics. The internet allows both wider area and faster communication, at almost zero cost. It must be revolutionary, once it is fully exploited.

@artappraiser-I'm quite aware of the vitriol that passes for political dialogue on most blogs. I just don't choose to be involved in it. I have two books under contract to write, two courses to teach, and many speeches to give. Life is too short.

I'm thrilled to reply to well thought out disagreements.

Welcome to the cafe. Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Tour was the 1st concert I ever slept overnight to acquire the best tickets. I met what was to be a life long friend that night. It was my first time also to see Joan Baez. Glad I can still remember that night & the concert!