“In the rise of the electronic era, community can be decoupled from geography. Until you have experienced this don’t dismiss it. This network is very real in lives of millions of people.”
I woke at 5.30 this morning with yesterday’s news swilling round my head. Just goes to show it’s not a good idea to check email before bedtime but I couldn’t ignore this one from Ray. “I caught a glimpse of the E News over someone’s shoulder on the plane: they’re having another go at the furniture story with a pic and a half page. Climate change is a small single column.”
Sure enough, the online article shows a picture of three council chairs – the good, the bad and even worse, the one about to support the civic bottom. Even more depressing, there are readers still rabbiting on about this enormous waste of money. Have they nothing better to do with their time? Stupidly, I add my own comment with a prissy reminder of the climate change debate that was diverted as a result of these bloody chairs. So what does that say about me?
I guess it all serves to illustrate the point made by Robert Sharp in his blog yesterday. Quoting Parkinson’s Law he suggests that the time spent on any item of committee discussion will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved. ( Parkinson’s Law is a compendium of satirical essays by C. Northcote Parkinson which is now on my Santa list). By extension I think it seems the same ‘law of triviality’ applies to stories in our local press. [but of course that wasn’t really Robert’s point, see his comment below].
I was surprised (and, ok, dead chuffed) to have my council ‘report’, Hot air stifles climate change debate picked up by Robert as an illustration of his earlier blog about the impact of ‘citizen journalism’. This was my first personal experience of the way blogs can be passed through communities either because they share similar clusters of attitudes or because they need amunition to disagree with them. It is both exhiliarating and slightly scary – there are some decidedly odd buggers out there! And would you believe it, they don’t all agree with me?
But the great thing about bloggers is their amazing diversity. There may be a lot of crap out there but there are millions more saying something new and interesting. In contrast, the conventional media often seems divorced from real life and lacking a sense of adventure (feeding off celebrities is not adventure). How can Edinburgh support such unimaginative newspapers? Check today’s headlines (any day you like) in the Scotsman and Evening News – they hardly ever reflect the city that I live in. It is very difficult to match this tabloid vision of a city riding to hell across potholed roads (pursued by traffic wardens) and the European capital that regularly wins awards for quality of life. (Ewan Aitken, Council Leader, lists a long string of awards in his report to the council – including, heart-warmingly, news of a young teacher, Susan Ward, who won Outstanding Teacher of the Year award for her work at Juniper Green Primary – she was nominated after a colleague walked into her social and personal development class to find the kids dancing to James Brown’s I feel good).
You would be hard put to find a feel good factor in most of the Scottish Press. Better to buy The List for evidence that the country actually has talent and the ability to enjoy life.
And keep blogging. Today I looked up an old report I wrote eight years ago about a conference funded by Scottish Enterprise to encourage the country’s ‘movers and shakers’ to imagine what Scotland will be like in 2025. Under the guidance of Joe Coates, a slightly formidable US ‘futurist’, we were encouraged to see how information technology could transform human relationships.
“In the rise of the electronic era, community can be decoupled from georgraphy. Until you have experienced this don’t dismiss it. This network is very real in lives of millions of people.”
Joe wasn’t wrong. But there is an interesting twist to his prediction that mobile phones and internet would create a new global community decoupled from geography. That is happening. But blogging is increasingly important as a way of connecting and informing people who live and work in the same town.
You\’re right Robert, I take the point about the newspaper coverage – that\’s my extension, not yours! (I do think the Law of Triviality could apply in this case though – there\’s often an unhealthy symbiotic relationship between press and politicians)
I really like the idea of the Smallweb – and a blog that connects people in the same tenement. Or even the same house. Two years ago I took my family Christmas present list into a shop where the attendant couldn\’t stop laughing at the idea that we had emailed our requests to each other. Now I know we are not alone.
Yes, its great whn you see someone has linked to your writing, and then taken it off in a new angle. I’ve heard the phrase ‘hive mind’ used about the blogosphere. Gradually ideas and consensi emerge, and no-one knows quite where from.
Its also slightly annoying when someone makes a connection that you did not make (e.g. Parkinson’s Law also applies to newspaper coverage).
But blogging is increasingly important as a way of connecting and informing people who live and work in the same town
My friend Michelle Kasprzak called this the ‘Smallweb.’