Well, it has been one year since I launched the iCite net project, and launched this blog with its first, boldly definitive, post, Some vague history of the iCite net. Ruefully, I have to admit that I really don't have anything to celebrate with the iCite net project itself: this anniversary marks more of a point of starting anew than of past accomplishment.

I've been reflecting on this past year, and was meaning to post a significant description of where things are at and where I see this project going. I don't have time to write that today, and it is probably best to be as boldly definitive as I was with this blog's first post and just say here is "some vague future of the iCite net".

First, one thing is pretty clear: I will continue blogging here. I was considering making this the last post of the iCite net blog, and just retiring the whole project. But, I've connected with a lot of great people, and learned a lot by having this blog. That has been the best part of the last year of this project.

In general, my feeling about blogging is way more mixed than when I first launched this site. I am kind-of sick of what I am going to start to refer to as the "System of the Blog" which is the combination of the blog information structure and the hyped use of blogs to proselytize the hyped use of blogs. On the other hand, there are still blogs that I like enough to read regularly, and my general love of the web still wants to see literally everyone and their mother with their own websites (plural).

Technically, to make a long story short, I really wanted to make XML work at every possible level of the iCite net prototype software, because I felt this would give people the most opportunity to write both add-ons and their own versions of the iCite net software. But, my conclusion is that, as of 2004, doing things with XML that require more than an XML DOM parser mean using tools that are not ubiquitous across languages and platforms. So, I am looking to begin again where I had once begun: a SQL database using plain SQL.

So, going forward here, I am going to be more relaxed and possibly a little less bloggy. I'd like to show up here a little more in the mode of someone who is releasing things you can use than as someone who talks about ideas about things you can't try for yourself. That's the skinny.

Finally, thanks so much to everyone who has read me, linked to me and connected with me personally!