Disruptions and Flow

November 30, 2006 · Comments

(photo credit StarrGazr) I’m sleepless because I’m wondering how all the itinerant preachers in the 1740s relate to the new media community today. This time frame in America saw The Great Awakening as it’s sometimes called, where a bunch of preachers, among them the charismatic George Whitefield, came to preach with energy, fervor, and a social-landscape-leveling message that anybody and everybody could have a direct relationship with the Almighty. Given that the message most people were hearing in those sleepy Virginian colonial villages was that you had to go to the Anglican church, sit stock still and listen to dry, logical lectures, and that only the licensed clergy had the relationship with God, this must have been very disruptive.

And there it is.

The framing for my idea isn’t all there, but seeing as I can’t sleep, I’ll at least take a stab, and then hopefully, you’ll swoop into the comments and help me figure this out a bit.

Flow

Imagine a time where there’s really only one solid leader in a small community. News isn’t very forthcoming. Speculation and rumor abound, but there’s really only one conduit for law, direction, redemption, and everything else of great matter. Some in the community might have skills that surpass others, but the person directing the action is a standalone entity.

There’s a flow to this.

You wake up, do your chores, love your family, and toil along in the direction that the spiritual / religious / political leader points you. You’re a happy ant. You’re part of the functioning platform.

Disruption

So then what happens when the new, young, charismatic stranger from out of town shows up, with a great voice, ideas that make sense, and better still – STIR YOUR HEART? What then? You’re feeling confused, angry, cheated, and also a powerful draw to move in the direction of this person’s ideas. And it’s not just you obviously.

Everything is disrupted.

So what happens to the village?

Things can’t go back to the way they were, because the idea has taken root. It’s never going to be a quick restoration of old ways for the original leader of that village. His time is past, even while some in his village begin to cling harder to his ways. The schism is there, presuming the new preacher did the job with charisma, sense, and a language that the people can take and make their own.

Disruptions and Flow

Clearly, this cycles. This is how all things work. Computers show up and mainframes displace the old ways. Personal computers displace mainframes. Portable computers (and mobile phones) alter our relationship with personal computers. And so on.

Broadsides were replaced by newspapers. Radios attacked newspaper audiences. Television stole the advertising fire from radio. And the Internet has taken a swipe at all those media at once with its delivery methods.

Imagine every one of those situations as a well-run village under a traditional preacher, and imagine the next big change to be that fiery evangelist telling the commoner that they, too mattered, and that they would find a new relationship with something bigger and better than before.

Is that how you feel when you create a podcast or a blog post or a videoblog? The traditional preacher said only he had access to God, and then comes the new person who says, “Oh no. YOU can talk to God directly. It’s all yours. Have a ball.” Isn’t that your relationship with personal media? You can now talk to the universe out there.

When Every Stone Sings

Imagine the landscape of media, communication, and entertainment right now. We ALL have the printing press. We ALL have the television. We are all FOX, NBC, HBO, CNN. Every stone can sing. Does that mean the magic is diminished? And how can we choose the right stones to hear?

One billion channels. Is anything on?

The original audio promo for PodCamp Boston by Christopher S. Penn talked of many voices and the power of that. He was right – IS right.

And yet, there’s the issue of disruption and flow.

Why should you join voices? Who are the new old churches? Does joining with Podshow mean you’ve gathered your voice? Does contributing to one show to grow it into a powerhouse make more sense? Less? Picking the way you’ll interact, the voice you choose to modulate, the message you choose to convey seem like the heart of this post.

But disruption and flow ARE communication. A village is never one voice. It’s always many different stories woven into the larger sum. There are moments of focus and connection between people, but it’s rare that the organizing and gathering of voices to a common cause holds strong for a prolonged duration. Not without further mutation, division, unification, and so on.

Disruption and Flow are Breathing

Communities are disruption and flow. Communities are the destruction of held beliefs, the exploration of new beliefs, and the harmony of common ground. Only to be followed by the destruction of that common ground, an exodus towards the new beacon of representation.

Listening to a review of THUMBS, TOES, and TEARS and Other Traits that Make us Human, by Chip Walter, he said that humans’ creation of tools led to our bigger brains for communication. He said that once we learned how to manipulate objects in the physical world to serve our needs, we grew into needing ways to manipulate mental representation of objects= words.

In learning to regard the concepts of community and the forces that influence it, I hope to better understand how our new media aspirations and these tools we’ve acquired to communicate in different means and modes might further our experience and our shared relationships.

Your thoughts are valuable to me.

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  • Disruption and flow. That's the whole enchilada in a nutshell. When the new preacher comes to town and tells us that we, too, have a voice, it's a piece of welcome news. We no longer have to stand in line and wait to speak. I love your analogy.
  • jon
    What do we mean by the American Revolution? De we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commences. The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations... The people of America had been educated in an habitual affection for England, as their mother country; and while they thought her a kind and tender parnt, no affection could be more sincere. But when they found her a cruel beldam, willing like Lady Macbeth to dash their brains out, it is no wonder if their filial affections ceased and were changed into indignation and horror. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.
    John Adams 1818.
  • How do you motivate someone?

    1. The Goal must be attractive.
    What do we want and why? How badly do we want it?

    2. The goal must take a realistic amount of effort to achieve. This is why people get frustrated with the web sometimes. Some websites are horrible and non-intuitive, making them time wasters and business losers. I had this recent experience with trying to use a website for Prometric testing, to sign my kid up for a testing date. It was very difficult to negotiate- I ended up calling, and even then, they could not tell me when appointments were available- I had to "guess " a date and time, and then they could tell me if anything was available then. A costly mistake to be making, business wise.
    If it takes too long to navigate, people go elsewhere.

    3. The person must be confident they can attain the goal.
    The goal has to be worthwhile, and to keep people in the game, they have to see that they are making progress, and believe it can happen to them. Think slot machines in Vegas. Payouts occur in varying amounts every so often, to get you to believe that just 3 more coins and you'll hit it big. (let's not talk about the overall math being against you.)

    But what the root motivator is, psychologically is based on the biggies:
    food, clothing and shelter
    Then:
    Status, Inquisitiveness (learning), affiliation, gregariousness, autonomy, achievement, aggression and power.

    The balance and blend of these neurologically hard wired motivators gives us our own personality. Some people, for example, are solely motivated by money; others are motivated by fame and notoriety; others by a sense of community; others by a sense of getting something accomplished and moving forward.

    Podfade is about losing motivation- you don't feel the love...You don't have the patience, interest or knowledge to connect and grow; the real world hasn't caught up with us yet. All risks.

    Sparks are intrinsic and extrinsic- some start from outside, but what keeps us going is that inner spark and fire. Keep it alive!
  • I Googled for New Media Evolution and this was the first thing which came up.

    http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/6/6/707.pdf

    I've read all 24 pages.

    I think that by gaining a better understanding of the media evolution of the past, we just might find that spark to move forward.
  • The thing is, there's one element none of us can foresee: the spark that motivates a nation.

    The American colonists had religious persecution to escape from, followed by the need for survival. After that, a better relationship with God would be the next pot-stirrer for that community.

    What do we, in this new colony, have as motivation? Money's not enough -- everyone back in England needed money too, not just the new colonists. What are we "escaping" onto the internet FOR, exactly? Why is this new medium so valuable, and how is our success within it vital to our survival?

    The fire has yet to be lit under the general public OR under the general new media creator -- it's still a "safe" place to be, where we can putter without fear of consequence. Putterers don't revolutionize.

    What's our spark?
  • What's fascinating to me about any of this is how it grows and why. Come check out the LD Podcast blog and I'll do a quick post this AM about the fundamentals of motivation and meeting needs- it may be more productive than putting another long post here.
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