A brief history of DutchDreams.net
As this website celebrates its first anniversary by moving out of "beta", let me use this opportunity to write a brief history of DutchDreams.net and the ideas behind it.
DutchDreams.net started out in February 2004 mainly because I wanted a kind of "internet-playground" and perhaps practice my writing skills a little as I joined the global conversation on the World Wide Web. I had some rudimentary ideas of what I wanted domain to grow into, but these were mostly inarticulate. Kind of like the fancies mentioned by the quote in the header. For the most part, DutchDreams.net was place for me to play and experiment with all those wonderful new publishing tools that have become available in recent times. Consequently DutchDreams.net has served as "just another weblog" during its first year of existence, mainly featuring my comments on day-to-day affairs of the world. Suffice it to say during this time I made all the mistakes one can make in writing a weblog, mainly due to a lack of focus. I have banished these articles to the "old stuff" section and have disabled comments to combat comment spam. As time went by, a clearer picture emerged of what DutchDreams.net should be.
So much of media content (both old and new) and public discourse is focussed on the very short term. Issues are framed as binary, one-dimensional and all too often centred around some cure-all plan. This restricts our thinking, allows a mentality to prevail that is out of touch with reality and deprives us of a positive vision for our future. Founded on the premise that a dream can change the world, DutchDreams.net hopes to extend the temporal horizon and spatial formation of our thinking about society. To take up the challenge to dream up a world in which people, cities, cultures and the environment can blossom in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, DutchDreams.net is not supposed to be a one man show, but a conversation of sorts. I welcome not just feedback, but active participation and debate. Feel free to join the discussion by leaving a comment to any of the articles, suggest new routes of inquiry in one of the open threads, or better yet, share your dreams! Please be civil and consider the wider aims of DutchDreams.net when contributing.
"Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be."
Kahlil Gibrand
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Posted by in Blogging @ 21 01 05 | No comments / No trackbacks
