Apropos of nothing, I always get a lot of book reading done when I travel overseas. Not only is there a lot of plane, train, and tube deadtime, Internet access (used to be) spotty, so I was off the computer more than usual. (Actually, for this trip I will mention how amazed I am at how well Internet cafes work in the rest of the world. Not only are they ridiculously cost effective for users, they seem to be a very low cost and accessible way to get into business. They're the high tech version of the corner store.)
Anyhoo, I just finished the part of Steven Berlin Johnson's Interface Culture, regarding Vannevar Bush and the Memex. Johnson picks at one thing that really hasn't come to pass in the current version of the web, trailblazing, or constructing sequences of links and notes. If there's any a need for a new Web datatype, and accompanying authoring mechanism, trails would get my vote.
This seems like something that could be relatively easily cobbled together out of bookmarklets and blog/wiki software. Throw in some folskonomy, a touch of proactive search generated from trail construction, and a dash of social translucence to move us one step closer to the Memex.
Oh yeah. A nod to Johnson for nailing the blogging and journalism connection dead on the head. In 1997 no less.