A longform exploration of new startups for a new online audience built around new interpretations and packaging of an old, in fact the oldest information format: text. Here is part of the introduction:
The text renaissance is an actual renaissance. It’s a story of history-inspired renewal in a very fundamental way: exciting recent developments are due in part to a new generation of young product visionaries circling back to the early history of digital text, rediscovering old, abandoned ideas, and reimagining the bleeding edge in terms of the unexplored adjacent possible of the 80s and 90s.
This will take you at least thirty minutes to consume well, and longer to digest.
I am thrilled of course by the renewed interest in and innovation around text for its inherent archivability, portability and exportability – given my support of open data formats and data ownership.
Although the writer does not explore memexes, I’m intrigued by new services like Notion that are text-oriented but not limited to text. Should they also count as part of the renaissance.