Relax

That's what we all need.... a chance to relax, rejuvenate and reflect. With our hurried lifestyles - come, go, stop, work, work more, harsh- do we ever get a chance to just be?

Bermuda gave me glimpse of a beautiful life.

Lush. With a caress. Drunk with living. How can I get back to that sweet fullness? When?

Frontier

This semester has been oh so valuable! As my favorite Bollywood character Chandramukhi says (rather sings) in the movie Devdas, “…you gave me the world…” A new vast plain to explore…and it’s ruined me! Now, I always think in terms of connecting any activity to the web (Craigslist anyone?), exhaustive searches (Google it!), new web tools (pewinternet.org), new politics (Creative Commons) and how to gain adherents to my varied and crackpot schemes (Social Networking). Old skool flesh-pressing or kissing boys…I mean babies is so last century! Rather through using the innovative and necessary skills I’ve learned: blogging, search rank, online advertising - all topics of great utility and fascination. I’ve also acquired a mean Second Life habit….damn….

Unfortunately, World-Wide-Web isn’t necessarily a friendly world of shining examples of humanity. It’s become hacker-unfriendly and big business has muscled it’s way into the former lovefest – this has been happening since the late 90’s. (My fondest web memory is winning a trip to…you guessed it…San Fran in college through an online story contest. Gotta love the Internet!) This new animal is lean and hungry, always looking for new content, new tools and more revenue. Hopefully, I, with others, can bring my own light for people to see by. Despite my cautionary posts, picking on Jonathan Schwartz and my tendency to dismiss the “Wow” factor in what we’ve discussed, the Web is nothing short of cool: a collaborative swarm (Don’t steal that Nicco!) of highly organized, intelligent life seeking to build a flawless virtual world without boundaries, on an utterly grand scale. Kind of like binary pioneers and explorers….(Don’t steal that either!)

Craftsmanship

Actually, I think I’ll call it “new” craftsmanship with a dash of Smart Mob thrown in to boot. The idea of Web 2.0 is nothing more than old skool pride in your product revamped for the 21st century. O’Reilly coined a nice term “The Architecture of Participation”; this is the heart of Web 2.0… participants are the architects of a culture and services that benefit most, if not, everyone.

In old models of business and collaboration, collabs meant that people met, threw around ideas, and made a finished product for upper management to approve. Yup, collabs… right …The new train of thought (no pun intended … heh, heh) is that REAL Web 2.0 collabs are the mother of all wikis: everyone participates, everyone edits and critiques to build an awesome, environmentally and animal friendly mousetrap. Yet, while no one person can claim authorship (…so last century), everyone takes pride, concern and ownership of the finished result, idea, or product. A better product, responsive to the needs and/ or desires of the audience it was intended for, by accident or design.

Astutely, O’Reilly remarks that the collaborative craftsmanship of Web 2.0 is not the product itself. But rather, it is a clash or competition between the old top-down model that Cluetrain Manifesto describes and the cooperative swarm that it touts. In this battle, who wins?

In my opinion, whether educated or illiterate, professional or laborer, I think everyone can win from this new paradigm. How? Because the collaborative swarm meme is working its way through the larger culture; employee think tanks, intranets, blogs, teams, etc. All of these different ways of continuing the conversation between employees, clients, trolls, flamers, hackers, union, management and so on are resulting in a more humane work environment for us all. Now maybe Weinberger and all of us can start to love our jobs again… one day ….

Bazaar

Or is it bizarre? Odd? As I’ve posted before, the most things change, the more they stay the same. In the Cluetrain Manifesto, Levine and Company, are onto something. Something that resonates and elicits the “hmmm” response. The elusive and strange idea is that good business has returned to the personal touch, to caring about your product, and more importantly caring about the people that create it as well as consume it. Bizarre indeed!

The ability to care about a something or someone assumes resources and time spent in this activity. Levin and crew are saying that unlike the Model T, one size doesn’t fit everyone - new business must adapt to that fact. New business, especially in Web 2.0 (Oh how O’Reilly would hate that!), recognizes that their best innovation are the voices and talents of their employees directed to their clients in a natural, unfettered exchange. The only resources required for this rich conversation is time spent, equipment and being left alone by management.

Particularly from a small business perspective, this development, rather rediscovery, of voice and the bazaar as a personal relationship bodes well for future creation and business innovation. How? A personal relationship lowers the cost of launching and supporting whatever product, hobby or wiz-bang one chooses to pursue by speeding up feedback, idea exchange and lowering the “wall” between what is offered and what is desired by the public; Levine et al. say that same. Isn’t that exciting?!?

Typical of my cynicism….wait for it….what is the downside? Surely, there could be lurking malcontents in your organization, for whatever reason, or a competitor like Jonathan Schwartz determined to highlight your every wart. Yet, the redeeming quality of the Cluetrain Manifesto is that these difficulties, combined with an ability to be candid and humble, are actually strengths. Your current deficiencies could be the key to reimagining your product or ideas into something better and stronger. And you have your potential world-wide audience to thank for your good fortune! Kind of like the Nagging Auntie who loves you enough to tell you to start an emergency fund when you get your first job. Sure you duck her calls and hate her nagging now, but you’ll thank her later!

Annoyed

Mannnnnn! Is he calling again? Why does Mom ASSUME that I have the celly (translation: cellular phone) attached to my ear at all times? When I don’t answer she thinks I’ ducking her, when I do answer, she doesn’t believe that I’m at home…when I’M AT HOME!!!! And she thinks I’m DUCKING her? I’m annoyed...

But SMS saved me…no really. SMS is a wonderful way to act out all of my “I’m-not-ignoring-you-but-I-don’t-feel-like talking-to-you” tendencies. That and the “I’m-in-class” sneak text messages. I think the premise is wonderful; you can write anyone quickly, easily and did I mention cheaply? Of course, the cute little emoticons help to get your point across! J Not only that, I use SMS when my cell minutes are running low (Take that Sprint Unholy Minion of Evil!) or I want to gossip about someone close by. Not you though…heh, heh… Discreet gossip, that’s the ticket! I could extol the virtues of SMS all day. Really. But true to form, I have to give the downside as well.

Other people, indeed nations have realized how big SMS is in the communications. Funny enough, laws governing what is acceptable communication from a legal standpoint has been charted for SMS messages. A peculiar example from the reading, was that Malaysia had to outlaw Islamic divorce via SMS (You can eat that post-it break-up Carrie Bradshaw!). Sadly, SMS is used as a tool of avoidance when real conflict or miscommunication happens. This medium doesn’t enhance one’s social interaction skills, and instead builds a virtual wall between the texter and the textee during disagreements.

Selfish, possibly boorishly, this flaw doesn’t really matter to me! Wheeeeeee! I so enjoy pretending I didn’t get a text or didn’t read it or any other variation of socially unacceptable ignoring! Yup! It’s great! And the low-cost, high-effectiveness of text messaging guarantees that other socially selfish people can enjoy it too! Indeed, SMS has a variety of uses now, like a text message games, voting, auctions, purchases, download phone directory information and driving directions. I know it’s cliché but….the possibilities are endless! Again, I’m usually a stick-in-the-mud, Web 2.0 party pooper, but not today! I’m too busy texting my Mom from “home”…well, from the Neiman Marcus sale….Hey! She always snaps up the good stuff from me…just don’t tell her where I am!

Rebirth

What would you do if you could start your life over? Build a different and better life? Most would agree. The virtual reality (VR) game, Second Life, has garnered huge popularity stemming from this desire. Many of the people, sorry residents, participating in this game are programmers, web masters, bloggers (Smart Mobs anyone?) and everyday Joe Schmos. Initially, I had several concerns: that Real Reality (RR) social interaction suffers little by little as people close themselves off to the relatively simple interaction offered by VR - kind of like internet dating. Yeah, online conversations and e-mails were great, but after the first live meeting….and you know the rest. It’s ironic that Linden Labs charges a RR monthly service fee to access premium Second Life features like owning real estate. Non-paying members cannot get a stipend (paycheck) or own land. Smells like reality to me…. Additionally, the activities, events, clothes, tattoos, expression, even hairstyles in SL are created by residents, who then charge money to access their goods and services. Corporations are even looking at SL to provide education and training opportunities at low-cost and the possibilities to enhance productivity through fun SL real work.

As much as I prepared to lecture about VR games and its proponents are juvenile and escapist, I had to reconsider my initial opinion. I think Second Life is a special because it speaks to people’s desires to have another, better life. American Apparel opened a store, college students are paying tuition from their Second Life earnings, and a stay-at-home dad supplements his family’s income. Other people use Second Life to showcase real world talents in graphic and web design - useful real world applications. Arguably, these individuals may not have had opportunity and exposure to display their talents in RR because its inherent limitations like location, money or lawn care duties.

However, a word of caution. People want to believe that VR is new and different, but like anything else in this world, it possesses a common denominator. Humans. Emotions, motives and neuroses. Rules, organization and sometimes exclusion. SL and VR, like all of man’s inventions, are dictated by human behavior. Some of the comments by residents and advocates show their honest naiveté, like there are no rules or limitations – that is the essential difference in SL. Well, the European settlers of the US thought similarly when viewing our vast frontiers…. Yet, this homily is ever true: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Credibility

Since blogging is based on credibility, the blogosphere should lend itself to trust the “online universe” to take corrective action whenever an infraction takes place. Generally this happens with great frequency. But this self-correction can be mean-spirited and unproductive. Blogs get flamed for various reasons: a competitor, a malcontent, misinformation, a self-righteous troll or sometimes a genuine (malicious) error on the bloggers part.

Flaming (and trolls) discourage those users that are not technically aware, but are just as sincere in contributing to the community. A quote from the Kryptonite PR representative highlighted this blogosphere flaw – it’s too quick to be judgmental, too reactionary to get facts and doesn’t give credence to real world limitations that some companies (or individuals face). Blogs are proving to be a great communication tool for regular people and businesses alike, as long as the medium can maintain credibility by discouraging unwarranted vigilantism and technical snobbery to be truly embracing.

This idea of credibility or a “clear channel” relates back to the idea of a "Smart Mob" – one that is enpowered to talk back and create solutions. Common themes for a smart mob community is trust, credibility, authority and contribution – not incidentally all of these ideas are the ideal of the Real World community. One story of interest in Naked Conversations was that of the Trotts from Silicon Valley who created Moveable Type. This blogging application came from a personal need to create a good, functional blog. It evolved into an open source project and became Six Apart. When they made the gaffe (in the users’ view) of charging for their product, thereby losing trust, they listened for feedback and explained their position through all of the controversy. They were quick to gain it back after being transparent and flexible. Other examples, like McDonalds and Vichy offend the public’s sensibility – some offenders aren’t responsive at all and nor do they care to be.

Granted, blogs aren’t a PC, feel-good, exercise and the First Amendment allows everyone to voice their opinion, or tout their product for good or evil, inept or not. But again even the blogsophere needs to be told the hard truth sometimes in order to continue having productive, enriching conversations.

Proprietary

One's work is an outgrowth of the individual or collective mind. In open source, it is thought that collective minds, and society, are best served by legally free use of ideas, or thoughts. Like Johnny Appleseed, those ideas are scattered and sown to become an apple tree, or something more, beyond the original intent. This is an excellent use of human innovation, particularly in areas like health, safety and well-being. However, the human dark side, dictates that in tragedy of the commons, someone will abuse this grand experiment through avarice or pride. It inevitableble (Thank you Mr. Smith!). To this end, we should address the word, free.

Free has been bandied about in the creative commons' lingo, and yet, never has this word been so misleading. I take issue with the notion of free in this context, particularly since the creative commons and open source require knowledge and know-how. The time, resources and education, etc. marshalled to produce such talent is immense and costly to the entire society. Ergo, not free.

In The Catherdral and the Bazaar, Raymond submits that in open source programming, only the most talented 5% of programmers are utilized for projects that they find...fun. Why am I picking on Raymond, Lessig and Co.? Because of the slightly disdainful tone toward the other 95% of programmers (and other various suited schmucks) who must work on projects for a living...maybe to support children or elderly parents. If everyone had the ability, rather the freedom, without constraint, to work on their personal interest, oh what joy! The arrogant tone in these communities should be replaced by sympathy and a desire to be helpful at the least. Why, you ask?

Because society, especially American society, will find a way to shut down anything that smacks of elitism, particulary those ideas or groups dealing in intellectual or technical realms (read Arthur Schlesinger sometime). The creative commons and open source movements could quickly find themselves in a legal minefield made of their contempt for other people, methods, systems, ideas or even others' fears.

Borg

You will be assimilated…. Gene R. had no idea how far that show would go! But the idea of adaptation and assimilation ring truth for most new experiences and ideas. Blogs are not the exception. Somehow the public relations and marketing machines quickly adopted the blog as a tool of “transparency”; it’s a no-brainer! Blogging is the most efficient and cheap way to get the public to trust you, and not coincidently, your product.

Actually, I talked about the possibility of the disingenuous blog in a previous post, highlighting Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems. Schwartz’s blog is a prime example of blog as strategic marketing and public relations, mentioned both in Naked Conversations and in Blog!

According to Scoble, blogging has replaced the press release and all manner of PR functions as the most honest word on a company.

A candid viewpoint on this phenomena came from Scoble’s interview with Shel Holtz. Holtz’s view neatly melds with my own. Namely, that blogging, while still in the infant stage, is just another communications tool in a continuum of such innovations (Naked Conversations, p. 109). Why is everyone up in arms, when audiences and the public (maybe not so directly and quickly), have always made their pleasure or displeasure about corporate or political behavior known? From the American Revolution to former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, people will find a way to get the word out!

The big difference, this time around, is speed and reach. Blogging enables everyone (assuming internet access) to make their opinion known around the world and back again with a mouse click. (However, I’ve noticed that the people who can the most out of this medium are those who are already relatively privileged.) That is the revolutionary gene in the blog – real-time information, opinion and wide dissemination with instantaneous feedback. It’s naïve to think that the PR dogs and the marketing machine hasn’t already begun to wage a full-scale campaign to co-opt this powerful tool. Communications with this reach and acceptance is unprecedented and is changing the culture of public relations, marketing and public opinion – Scoble’s various interviews and vignettes illustrate this point. Watch out though! The blogosphere has a Benedict Arnold in its ranks, waiting by the keyboard… Resistance is futile.