People used to be content with being talked at, lectured to, and entertained; now people seem discontent unless they are participating and engaged. The world has changed and there is no going back. Companies that used to make a living from talking at, lecturing, and entertaining need to adapt or they will eventually become irrelevant.
I would love to think that this shift is a result of the convergence of open source and new media. I sure thought that was the goal as those communities started merging a few years ago. As I look around though I can’t help but feel that “open source” and blogging were just leading indicators of a shift that was taking place and not the cause of a cultural shift.
I was just reading some discussion on a forum about an upcoming conference. I would bet that no other conference attendees have ever been to an un-conference; maybe a small few have been to a Meet-Up. Yet, the discussion is shifting. This year the participants are starting to self organize and plan activities outside of the conference agenda. It is a move from conference attendees to conference participants, and it is not just a semantic shift.
The three paragraphs above have been sitting in my drafts folder for a couple of weeks laying dormant until there was a spark to help pull it together. I just read a post by Clay Shirky that is the spark I needed. You should read it; it is a great post: Gin, Television, and Social Surplus. The basic gist is that television has had us in a drunken stupor for the past 5 or so decades. Maybe, just maybe those televisions are starting to get turned off in favor or a more productive use of those brain cycles like writing Wikipedia.
Which brings me to another dormant draft of ideas.
When most people hear the term “YouTube politics” they think of Macacca, Rev. Wright, and Bosnia. YouTube politics is supposed to reflect the shift in politics that happened as a result of an easily accessible video archive. I think that understanding mischaracterizes what is really going on.
The night of the Pennsylvania primary Barack Obama gave a speech. In that speech he talked about the coalition of willing participants that have built his campaign up. In what I think is the clearest demonstrative understanding of YouTube politics by a candidate he talked about carrying over that enthusiasm and participation until after his inauguration. The collective We can change this country, but we are not going to do it simply by electing the right guy. We can change this country by electing someone who is willing and able to allow us to change this country.
I am not trying to write an Obama endorsement piece. I just am holding that up as an example of one of the many ways that our country is going to change now that the participation cat has been let out of the bag.
Much of the same old shit is not going to fly anymore. We may not have turned the corner just yet, but we will.
