I edit therefore I am

Just finish a great piece on attention on the NY MAG. You can read it here.

Just a quick extract :

Back in 1971, when the web was still twenty years off and the smallest computers were the size of delivery vans, before the founders of Google had even managed to get themselves born, the polymath economist Herbert A. Simon wrote maybe the most concise possible description of our modern struggle: “What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” As beneficiaries of the greatest information boom in the history of the world, we are suffering, by Simon’s logic, a correspondingly serious poverty of attention.

written by leafar \\ tags: attention, attention economy, information overload, scarce, Twitter

Here is a quote from an article written by Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times:

[the crisis] is confirming the worst fears of Gen-Y, namely that our baby boomer parents are leaving us a world convulsed by war, drowning in debt and melting down under global warming”.

“Heroes” gives its fans cathartic validation: You inherited a screwed-up world, and it’s not your fault.

This idea was well formulated back in 2006 in a french book called “Nos enfants nous hairons” (Our child will hate us). It has since found a lot of proof of concept.

The main phrase of heroes is : “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

So one quick question in the middle of the meltdown :

Is capitalism Gen Y cheerleader ??

written by leafar \\ tags: cheerleader, crisis, GenY

Michael Wesch is famous for a few very well done video including :

• The machine is using us
  
• Information R/evolution
  
• A vision of students today
• You can see all his video on his channel here

I’ve watched them several time (like I did with EPIC or Shift Happens), they are a source of creativity and of resilience. Working on this ideas for more than 4 years … they always give me a boost of energy when I am down. They are the future and I am very happy with the new release of Wesch : An anthropological introduction to youtube.

Participant Observation is what i have been doing for teh last 4 years. I am not commenting the web from outside, I am a member of the invisible crowd that when populating these websites (mine including). Working mainly on what identity means… with the idea that we are a puzzle, that we are on the verge of a netocratic era, that we are a construct more than ever (less social/peer pressure) free to endorse any subculture we want, test it and adopt it or not. Social Networks when mix with content (what we call Social Objects) are a possible path for expression, true identity … and re-echanting that post-modern world the GenY refuses

I do love travelling with couchsurfing (every month), sharing and improving my photographic skills with flickr, finding book on the street …. connecting in many various ways using various plateform for the sole purpose of solving this inversion culture Wesh is talking about :

Please watch his video it’s pure genius, he talks about context collapse, Identity crisis, Editing our own stories (I would say life : the title of this blog is “I edit therefore I am“) and it’s full of very very good example of what youtube could be (discovered a few new ones).

The only thing missing is probably a list of all the links towards all the video he is quoting.

Excellent work, nitro boost for all month of august… will probably watch it at least 3 times just for the purpose of recognition ;-D

Thanks to nic for pointing it to me even my youtube subscription did it (yet another example of that social broadcasting)

written by leafar

Occurrence of the term "Social Objects" is increasing a lot in recently. Jaiku Founder, Jyri Engstrom’s who first published idea on the subject of "Social Objects"  has a nice synopsis inspired by Karin Knorr Cetina (One of the best presentation read in a long time).

So what are these social objects ?? McLeoad definition is the following :

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking
to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are
social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there
needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason,
that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

U.[lik] like Flickr, Wordie, Librarything, watzatsong …etc are all networks build on social objects. They are about content with people inside. I do believe they will have the lion share of social activities in the future because people will be able to aggregate them (but that’s another story). Our socialization patterns are changing at an incredible pace and here are two idea and two excellent drawings that show the importance of social objects that can even be seen in evolution of the marital matches (using meetic or any other social places because social is also dating and sex)

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers in a ESSAY ABOUT MARIAGE AND THE MARKET concluded : 

So what drives modern marriage? We believe that the answer lies in a
shift from the family as a forum for shared production, to shared
consumption. In case the language of economic lacks romance, let’s be
clearer: modern marriage is about love and companionship. Most things
in life are simply better shared with another person: this ranges from
the simple pleasures such as enjoying a movie or a hobby together, to
shared social ties such as attending the same church, and finally, to
the joint project of bringing up children. Returning to the language of
economics, the key today is consumption complementarities-activities
that are not only enjoyable, but are more enjoyable when shared with a
spouse. We call this new model of sharing our lives “hedonic marriage”.

Mc Leaod has some interesting thoughts on this new social matching if we take them on a very shallow level (it made me laugh at loud ;-D). Social Markers are a prime form of social shorthand, that people use to STAKE OUT the ecosystem they’re occupying.

This is a nice piece on friendship: friending ancient or otherwise ?

“With social networks, there’s a fascination with intimacy because
it simulates face-to-face communication,” Dr. Wesch says. “But there’s
also this fundamental distance. That distance makes it safe for people
to connect through weak ties where they can have the appearance of a
connection because it’s safe.”

And while tribal cultures
typically engage in highly formalized rituals, social networks seem to
encourage a level of casualness and familiarity that would be
unthinkable in traditional oral cultures. “Secondary orality has a
leveling effect,” Dr. Strate says. “In a primary oral culture, you
would probably refer to me as ‘Dr. Strate,’ but on MySpace, everyone
calls me ‘Lance.’ ”

And if you can read french I also advice that you take a look at this article about tribal rituals.

written by admin \\ tags: media 2.0 presentation