I knew of Marshall McLuhan as the cultural icon of the 60s. Was familiar with a few of the more popular quotes. But like the subtitle says, I knew nothing of his work. And I probably wouldn’t have read this biography had it been written by anyone else. I’ve read several of Douglas Coupland’s novels and enjoy his style. Some insight into what we are experiencing now can be found in this slightly depressing story of a brilliant man, waaay ahead of his time. Continue reading
Category Archives: Art/Style
Life in the Meta City
I found the following in a brief Q&A with William Gibson (Scientific American):
“The Internet, which I think of as a sort of meta-city, has made it possible for people who don’t live in cities to master areas of expertise that previously required residence in a city, but I think it’s still a faith in concentrated choice that drives migration to cities.”
I paid $6 for the PDF of Gibson’s article (September issue). A few nuggets:
“Cities afforded more choices than small towns, and constantly, by increasing the number and randomization of potential human and cultural contacts. Cities were vast, multilayered engines of choice, peopled primarily with strangers.”
“Cities, to survive, must be capable of extended fugues of retrofitting.”
“Relative ruin, relative desertion, is a common stage of complex and necessary urban growth. Successful (which is to say, ongoing) cities are built up in a lacquering of countless layers: of lives, of choices encountered and made.”
If I wore a younger man’s clothes, I think a city would be the place for me.
“Why the impossible happens more often”
Kevin Kelly is one of the brilliant thinker/writers I look to for hope (along with Scott Adams, Clay Shirky, William Gibson and a few other). Following are from a post on why the impossible happens more often these days:
“Collectively we behave differently than individuals. Much more importantly, as individuals we behave differently in collectives. This has been true a long while. What’s new is the velocity at which we a headed into this higher territory of global connectivity. We are swept up in a tectonic shift toward large, fast, social organizations connecting us in novel ways. There may be a million different ways to connect a billion people, and each way will reveal something new about us. Something hidden previously.”
“Most of what “everybody knows” about us is based on the human individual. Collectively, connected humans will be capable of things we cannot imagine right now. These future phenomenon will rightly seem impossible.”
“My prediction is that in the coming years our biggest surprises — the ones that aren’t predicted — will be the result some new method of large scale social interactions. While we will get good at predicting the next advance of technological innovation, we won’t get very good at predicting what happens with the hive mind. And exploring the hive mind — the thousands of ways in which we can connect and reconnect ourselves — will be the chief activity of our civilization in the near term. If I am right then we’ll have to get better at believing in the impossible.”
Learfield videographers
When I started messing around with putting video online, I was one of the few in our company doing so. Oh, there were lots of folks who knew more about video than I, but the crude tools and results in those days wasn’t worth the effort to most folks. Today, we have lots of talented young men and women doing video. I’m discovering more every day.
Here’s a nice one by Allison Blood, one of the new reporters in or Missourinet newsroom.
Slightly revised Gadekunst from Allison Blood on Vimeo.
It would be a sad thing if, after 15+ years of Internet, I was the go-to guy for putting a video clip on line. Which was the case for a while. But no more. I think I’ll use this post to link to the work of these talented men and women.
Online influence
Interesting article in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times (I think I used the last of my 20 free accesses for the month). It’s about the growing importance (?) of online influence.
“If you have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, you are already being judged — or will be soon. Companies with names like Klout, PeerIndex and Twitter Grader are in the process of scoring millions, eventually billions, of people on their level of influence — or in the lingo, rating “influencers.” Yet the companies are not simply looking at the number of followers or friends you’ve amassed. Rather, they are beginning to measure influence in more nuanced ways, and posting their judgments — in the form of a score — online.”
Yes, I check my Klout score from time to time but it’s never gotten above 40. 39 as of a few minutes ago. But 40 suggests “a strong, but niche, following.” Niche being the operative word. And the average Klout score is in the high teens, so…
“After analyzing 22 million tweets last year, researchers at Hewlett-Packard found that it’s not enough to attract Twitter followers — you must inspire those followers to take action. In other words, influence is about engagement and motivation, not just racking up legions of followers.”
Is there any sort of analogue to this in the world of traditional advertising? Do we even care about the influence of someone hearing our radio ad?
“Industry professionals say it’s also important to focus your digital presence on one or two areas of interest. Don’t be a generalist. Most importantly: be passionate, knowledgeable and trustworthy.”
Half the fun of checking your Klout score is comparing your score to your friends and acquaintances.
My pal David Brazeal is off on his own now and needs as much Klout as he can get. He’s something of an expert on “weather, lightening & tornados.” Jonathan Brownfield should be higher given his access to beautiful, large-breasted young women.
My plan is to stand outside Hooters and wait for a bad storm.
Reply
Every time I peek at Instagram, I find remarkable new images. This one by someone calling themselves purposofenvy. You can see more of his/her photos here.
Not sure why I find instagram so appealing. I think it’s that the photo is the extent of the communication. You can intuit (?) a lot about someone without a bunch of words. The photo is the story.
Haircut: Gone in 30 seconds
From the talented and always-creative Mike Ransdell.
Moving mulch
The Mulch Fairy visited my house this morning and left these two piles. Barb recently had some landscaping done and this is the culmination. She and a dozen gal pals are in Destin for a week and she expects this mulch to be… whatever you do with mulch… by the time she returns.
Knowing me as well as she does, she has hired some big strong lads to do what needs to be done, which –I assume– involves the red wheelbarrow thing you see peeking up from behind Mount Backache. Just so you know, if I choose to.
Desk Toy
All that’s missing is the satisfying little metal “click.”
UPDATE: If you stare at this for a few minutes, you will start “hearing” the click.