Comments on: The Age of Digital Mortar http://sarahmerion.com/philosophy/the-age-of-digital-mortar/ Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:45:22 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Nicolas Ward http://sarahmerion.com/philosophy/the-age-of-digital-mortar/comment-page-1/#comment-2586 Nicolas Ward Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:11:52 +0000 http://sarahmerion.com/?p=724#comment-2586 Not sure what it says about me, but when I first saw the headline, I thought mortar as in mortar shells (or, more technically, indirect-fire weapons)... that you'd be lobbing mortars over a wall, hitting a target even though you couldn't see it. Obviously a very different metaphor than what you're talking about, but in some ways I think the violent description might be more apt for some attempts to mix brick and click services.<br><br>I noticed a sports card/collectibles shop on Concord Ave, while riding the 78 bus this morning, that had a huge eBay sign... reflecting that their brick location was functioning as little more than a warehouse for their click operation. It gives them a stable platform from which to fire into the digital world. Not sure what it says about me, but when I first saw the headline, I thought mortar as in mortar shells (or, more technically, indirect-fire weapons)… that you'd be lobbing mortars over a wall, hitting a target even though you couldn't see it. Obviously a very different metaphor than what you're talking about, but in some ways I think the violent description might be more apt for some attempts to mix brick and click services.

I noticed a sports card/collectibles shop on Concord Ave, while riding the 78 bus this morning, that had a huge eBay sign… reflecting that their brick location was functioning as little more than a warehouse for their click operation. It gives them a stable platform from which to fire into the digital world.

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