-----There is yet another type of knowledge that I have not addressed yet, and that is self-awareness or self-knowledge.

A key ingredient is missing -- it is the ability to detect a trend or a newsworthy event as it unfolds.

We are increasingly preoccupied with real-time monitoring of every aspect of our lives as individuals, family members, citizens. Live reports of wars and natural disasters are a staple of our media diet. Polls and surveys continuously feed and create public opinions. Best-seller lists, music charts create further interest in the product. The Web is no exception. From live news feeds, to Webcams monitoring conditions in scenic public and private spaces, we are a society that increasingly focuses upon itself, and the effects of the world on us. Yet, one key ingredient is missing -- it is the ability to detect a trend or a newsworthy event as it unfolds. When something "interesting" happens, we rely on a few sources to bring it to out attention. It is less true on the Web, but knowledge of trends still spreads by a dependable, but slow, word-of-mouth propagation, or a special report from one of the trusted sources, like a newspaper. It was the newspapers that reported the 'Ticle me Elmo' craze of the Christmas '96 season, and newspapers again that reported about the proliferation of Web sites that held 'Elmo' auctions or matched buyers and sellers of the doll.

I want to have up to date knowledge of the trends, to know what interests, what matters to others instantly. These events could be reflected in the records of activities of Web servers. A spike in the activity on FEMA would indicate a recent natural disaster. Hits of the official site for a Hollywood movie might say something about its popularity. Webmasters of individual sites have access to such information and more, e.g. what country the hits are coming from, what university or business address, but they rarely make these numbers publicly available. Another indicator of interest or newsworthiness of an event could be the number of new pages created on the subject, but no mechanism for keeping track of such numbers exists either. The closest we come to it is the report of new Usenet news groups created, especially those in the 'alt' group, that are unmoderated and can be set up by virtually anyone. After the low speed chase after O.J. Simpson, several 'alt' newsgroups of the subject of OJ popped up, including 'alt.oj.run.run.run'.

What could such knowledge be used for? Besides satisfying pure curiosity, it could pin-point areas of crises (see G. Mayer-Kress). It is difficult to predict other possible effects, since the increased reflexivity is a relatively new phenomenon. Qualitatively new collective phenomena will occur when the scope of our self-awareness grows to be truly global, when most, if not all, human beings are involved in monitoring each other and the planet.