Idea of 2004: Articles like The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (and supporting weblog) and the books listed above popularized an idea that is not necessarily new: that there exist tremendous inefficiencies in the way we conduct business and our political affairs, the answer being not government intervention but small companies moving into the spaces that the Internet expose as being their for the taking. Though we will end up with a power law at the end, as Kevin Marks had already argued in October 2003, it no longer matters that there is a power law but that there is almost no barrier for one to enter the marketplace for ideas, media, political parties, businesses and pretty much anything else. Blogging is Kevin's example of the removal of the barrier of entry to the journalistic process but it applies to everything else: the Internet aggregates and distributes communities like nothing before it.
Honorable Mention: Social software: not so much the Orkut or Friendster variety, but websites that make stuff that people already do more of a social activity, like share photos, bookmark links, and, to a lesser extent, organize their email; the increased popularity of open APIs that can access lots of raw data (Technorati, Flickr, and Google among many others have open access to huge databases which let programmers come up with interesting, unexpected applications); Podcasting, though I'm more interested in their use as letters from home.
Best Colour of 2004: Pink. No contest. All the pretty girls wore it, and even some weblogs written by heterosexual men (such as yours truly) adopted the colour unproblematically. The colour pink's days are numbered, however: purple will be the new pink, which was the new orange, which was the new black.
Best Trend in Women's Clothing: baring shoulders. One of the few 80s trends (along with the return of New Wave) that I don't mind one bit. It was a gentle (and slightly thrilling) reminder that women have a monopoly on revealing clothing.
Worst Trend in Women's Clothing: The end of capri pants. (Or so the word on the street suggests.) I was of the minority opinion amongst my friends that capri pants showed just the right amount of skin to be sexy but also mysterious.
Shout Out of 2004: Junior Boys in the liner notes to their Last Exit CD, gave props to “All the writers and bloggers who showed us love”.
I'll have to disagree with your 'worst trend in women's clothing', rather I'd like to nominate ponchos. Did you see those full-page ads in the Vancouver Sun advertising these things last Fall? Horrible! I'm glad it hasn't caught on too much.
I don't read the newpaper anymore, so I haven't seen the advertisements. I also haven't noticed the trend around here, either, but if it's big in New York City, it's only a matter of time before it's big here.
For the record, I agree with you regarding capri pants. And I will not stop wearing them, even if they are unfashionable.
Shit, do I have to throw my capri pants away now? But I got them on sale at Old Navy!
I've also got to hop in and toss an attack at the worst trend in women's clothing: I think capri pants on all but the most dancer-esque woman tend to make a woman's hips appear disproportionate, creating a bit of a strong taper that is just unattractive. My nomination for worst trend (at least in the yaletown area) is lululemon pants on 12 year-old girls.
Andy: I'd vote for trucker hats, actually. And I can think of at least one person who would agree. :)
I wasn't really interested in pointing out bad trends, because getting worked up about is not worth the effort. The end of good trends, though, are worth fighting against, even if it just means posting a short paragraph speculating that said trend might be ending.
Okay, I saw a really pretty girl today wearing a poncho, and I'll admit, it's not the greatest trend. I'm more concerned with mourning the death of good trends, however, than I am about pointint out the new bad ones.
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