I first met Nancy Baym on Twitter, and now we’re also friends on Facebook. We’ve talked via email about a couple of things as well. She’s a professor in the US and we have some mutual friends in common, many of whom one or both of us have never actually met in person.
It’s great to be able to make friends with people online, but just hanging out somewhere talking about stuff you’re interested in adds another dimension. She is, as she points out, a really cool person. Watch the video – and go read her book.
A couple of years back now (was it really that long ago?) my friend Stef and I made a website together.
It was called I So Wish, and it’s not online anymore (so that link won’t actually work), but when it was active, it was a nice little community of people who would wish for things, as well as try and help make each other’s wishes come true.
I So Wish was a really nice concept, and for the most part, it worked really well – and frequently brought out the best in people. Some incredible, generous gestures were made to complete strangers, and some amazing (and sometimes heartbreaking) stories revealed themselves through the wishes that were made and the conversation that followed on the site.
Stef did a brilliant job of the web development, and there were some great people who were actively involved as community leaders and enthusiasts who were very invested in the site – as well as some genuine commercial interest. But all the same, life sort of got in the way, and neither Stef nor I could really actively sustain and promote it and we both had other things to focus on.
Additionally, a friend of mine who we had asked to come on board as a community manager tragically died as a result of a life-long illness, and shortly thereafter, we decided to let the website close.
In a new Wired magazine article called The Web Is Dead, Long Live The Internet, Editor in chief Chris Anderson (author of ‘The Long Tail‘ and ‘Free‘) declares the demise of the web browser in favour of dedicated apps on devices such as iPads and iPhones (no mention of Android handsets, then).
It’s an interesting article – or rather, the first half is a reasonably convincing and interesting article, and the second half is a slightly less interesting, less convincing one. But Anderson’s technologically determinismistic search for cause and massive societal, cultural and economic effect gets in the way – and he ends up saying little, which is a shame, because there’s actually a good point to be made here – though it is one I’ve sort of made before.
In short:
1) the internet is like electricity;
2) individual pieces of software that use the internet (browsers, email clients, iTunes, etc) are like appliances that plug into that electricity; and
3) you CAN dry your hair with a toaster, but it’s not the best tool for the job.
I’ve been having conversations over the past 24 hours about the ‘value’ of social media. The social transparency and personal profile that this kind of medium affords is one of those things that crops up from time to time in articles such as this one in Techcrunch and this one in Music Think Tank – and I find myself ending up defending Twitter, which certainly doesn’t need my help.
There are several common complaints:
1) It’s inane. People just tweet about what they had for lunch;
2) It’s just celebrities and narcissists full of self-importance;
3) It’s a waste of my time;
4) It makes people I thought were interesting and exciting seem mundane and ordinary.
And I have very simple responses to those complaints.
1) No it isn’t. You clearly follow boring people with nothing to say. Don’t do that;
2) Again, no. You can follow celebrities if you want, of course – but it’s far from compulsory;
3) Really? Having conversations with other human beings is a waste of your time, but passively watching television shows you don’t actually like is a good investment of your attention? Writing a sentence about what you’re up to or thinking about a couple of times a day is a time-consuming activity that takes you away from all that important stuff you were doing?
4) If you want real people to be profound, entertaining or fascinating each time they open their mouth, you’re always going to be disappointed. If you want larger-than-life heroes, go to the movies. If you want to just be entertained and not engage, just turn on the TV. If you want mythology, read a book.
We’ve recently moved into a new neighbourhood, and I’ve been checking out the local spots. I love the record store here (apparently there’s a better website on the way) – and our local pub is a fantastic venue for all sorts of great live gigs – the sort of international calibre stuff you wouldn’t expect at a local pub.
One great thing about Kings Heath is that there are also some cool cafés around, and I thought I’d check one or two of them out. The one above looked really promising – nice coffee, and the menu’s pretty good… but unfortunately – no wireless internet.
I spoke to the woman behind the counter, and she said that the boss wasn’t keen to install it, as it would only encourage people to just hang out with a single cup of coffee for ages – instead of eating and then leaving.
I do get the thinking behind that, but I just don’t think it makes good business sense anymore. I told her that their competitor just a couple of blocks away does have wifi, and on that basis alone, that’s where I would always choose to go.
She suggested I tell that to the boss.
So… I was going to write them a note to make the case for installing free, open wireless internet – but then it occurred to me that this is a broader issue. There are lots of good cafés not providing wifi, and potentially losing out because of it. So I wrote a more generic, general purpose letter that anyone can use.
Feel free to copy and paste the letter below, amend as required – and give it to the people at your local café. Not having wifi in a café should be as unusual as not having sugar.
I'm an author of books about technology, culture, music and radio. I'm also an award-winning broadcaster and filmmaker, a public speaker and lecturer, record producer and festival director. I am closely following developments in emerging technologies and the cultures and ethics surrounding them, and my projects typically focus on issues of justice, inclusion, and sustainability.
Most of my work involves surrounding myself with incredibly smart and talented people who would have no other reason to ever be in the same room as each other. That's when amazing things happen.
I tend to talk a lot about music (often jazz-adjacent and particularly on vinyl, but also playlists and mixtapes). I'm enthusiastic about food and cooking, the intersection of art and science, new technologies, vintage technologies, education, social progress, silence, innovation, narrative, data commons, culture, sound art and the spoken word. This blog will continue to reflect those diverse and shifting enthusiasms. I may also digress.
I'm from Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand, I have Scottish ancestry, I've spent a decade in the south of Birmingham UK, and another in a forest in the north of Sweden.
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