What the hell are we doing?
I started writing A sense of singularity the moment I got back from meeting Hugh (asking What is the open movement?), Mike (aptly calling it a discussion group), Steve, Julien, Brett (with a video on open movement (with a smaller (1.4 MiB audio speex version)) and a few appearances by Ella.
Like Hugh, I won’t try to summarize our discussion, but will focus more succinctly on my hopes and how I generally unmanage my environment. First I’d like to mention a few facts that caught my attention about the group that met at Laika. I only go there exceptionnally, so you won’t hear me call it my office, whereas the rest of the group seem to hang there much more frequently. The other thing is podcasting and vlogging. Again, I’m probably the only one from the group not taking part in those activities. It’s true that Devlin was supposed to be there but had to cancel at the last moment. Would have balanced things out a bit more I guess.
One more thing - I’m a bit of a luddite, of a very strange kind. My views on technology and the so-called progress are always tinted by that. I tend to divide information in two kinds: 1. personal information, personal secrets and 2. public-information-if-it-weren’t-for-those-artificial-monopolies-maintained- by-the-state-in-our-name.
Now that the stage is set, let’s ask the question.
“What’s behind free software, creative commons, civic access, librivox, wikipedia, île sans fil, demcom, facil, cogitateurs-agitateurs, communautique, alternatives, grain, the gutenberg project, upcdatabase, indymedia, digital copyright canada, the open source movement, flickr, del.icio.us, upcoming, koumbit, etc.?”
If you’re setting its roots in the FSF, you’re not looking deep enough. Technology may follow a steep course upwards, our biology, our humanity doesn’t evolve at the same pace nor with the same intent.
When we see a good movie or read a good book or paper, we tend to share our enthousiasm, often addressing those we know will be interested, but sometimes not, if we’re in a looser group for example. It’s only natural.
Now combine this with the natural quality of digital media where copies cost pennies to store and transfer to the point we see it as free (the same way water has no cost).
Add a touch of repression coming from an industry that knows what’s best for us, and you’ve got yourself a nice recipe for extra-large scale success. A trusted computing platform? Encryption in your earplugs? A market flooded by oligopoles? 100 different brands of cereal (as Steve put it)? Who wants any of that?
Memes, the viral nature of blogs and free software, amateur reviews, peer to peer, etc. These are all being used by the industry because these are the tools that work, the levers to reach the most people with the greatest impact.
It’s time we put our collective foot down. This is where it stops. This is when it starts. Together we are already weaving the tools and mission statements that are enabling each of us to take part in something bigger, greater then its many, many parts.
And what is it we are building? How should I know! I don’t think any of us grasps the whole of what’s going on, and that’s a good thing. This insures many needs get covered independantly and the best practices get to emerge natually.
podcasting & vlogging are the same thing (fundamentally) as weblogs, or webpages. they’re just transfer of information/data by people who wish to do some transferring. the only difference is the appendages & brain sectors you use to process the info: eyes vs ears etc.
Comment by hugh — 2006/03/25 @ 16:33
There’s is a difference in the technology involved. Every pc has a keyboard, but they don’t all sport a mic or camera. As you use those, it becomes natural. But for someone like me that’s been steadily poking at his keyboard for over twenty years on various forums, bulletin boards and now blogs, switching medium doesn’t come as easily.
Like you said though, it’s not a fundamental difference. Just something that cought my attention, following the links to each participant.
Comment by Robin Millette — 2006/03/25 @ 16:39
yes you are right difference is a) what you use to make em & b) what you use to catch em. but this is kind of what we’re finding about computers in the communication age (oh, I am finding - those who were typing into BBs 20 yrs ago already knew it)… “web2.0″ is just another medium to do what we like to do, which is hang out with other people & exchange data (whether that’s love, humour or science data). there’s no real difference between a blog and a cafe except the medium of exchange is different. That’s important, but it’s all just communication, which is the fundamental force that drives it.
Comment by hugh — 2006/03/26 @ 08:22
Ah, thanks for making your point. I see what you mean.
Comment by Robin Millette — 2006/03/26 @ 13:53