Intertwingle. Intermingle. Intertwine. Intertwingularity. Singularity.

I love it when people create new words that actually make sense.  I hate it when they try and fail.  (Sorry, just finished indexing a manuscript full of them.)

So.  Weinberger discusses the subject of intertwingularity within the parameters of each piece of data, no matter how small or irrelevant, having its own unique identifier; they can then be pulled together, or intertwingled, to create an ever-growing, infinite variety of information about a certain topic.  

Shirkey, in his TedTalk presentation, describes how the communication of knowledge has progressed from a one-to-one model, then to a one-to-many model, and now to a many-to-many model.  At our current level of technology, information can and is transferred nearly instantly from person to person, back and forth, intertwingling on its way.  

I believe that the concept that both are expressing is that data is no longer able to be contained within a discrete, hierarchical concept, but instead is a multi-faceted, ever-rearranging cluster.  "Intertwine" describes the process of becoming so entangled by the growth process, that from a distance, the objects look to be one.  "Intermingle" is used when separate, discrete objects mix together so densely that also, from a distance, they cannot be individually distinguished.  

Shirkey and Weinberger are both saying that using today's information transference techniques, what we have to communicate is continuously being arranged and re-arranged, data touching each other at so many points that it looks as if it is one unit from a distance, but upon closer inspection, can be broken down into discrete units.  

It is interesting to me that neither mentioned the buzz term "going viral", meaning a message or video that spins out of control to so many different users that it becomes ubiquitous.  "Going viral" implies that this intertwingling process has become uncontrollable; the creator of the data is not able to limit who accesses it.  Both present the concept of intertwingularity as a positive one, but if the data is a misconception, and it goes viral, it could be negative.  As with all new ideas, it is a double-edged sword.