Brain Leaks and the Dangers of Info-Seep

We are all media outlets. We are breaking news. We are consensus and aggregation of thought. We are the origin of the trends we follow. We are voyeurs of a meta-existence. We are the cause and remedy of the erosion of normality.

I'm getting a bit carried away with my pretensions there. I don't mind that though, that last bit was an unedited stream of thought - each bit could have been a Tweet, followed by a small, small group and for no more joy than to have my ideas expressed.

Yet the grains of truth are there.

We are all media outlets and breaking news. This step change in media interaction and feedback marks a new era of communication; a 'piscean age' of almost psychic interconnection. Someone is where they need to be to witness the event that is happening, they in turn are interconnected to their social network ( real or web ), the network links to the 'web'. The media are as poised to devour the ramblings of Joe Soap, just as much as they are ready for the news-bite of Joe Journalist.

We are consensus and aggregate. We are the origin of the trends we follow. Studies show that crowd sourcing can provide a more stable and worthy opinion than a committee. Wikipedia is a prime example of that but I shall authorise that statement no more than this. Trends, fads and memes come from this kind of behaviour. The downside of this is that we assimilate information and ideas from all over without any real qualification other than the power of consensus and aggregate. A thousand people stating a falsehood, does not make it true.

We are voyeurs of a meta-existence. We are the cause and remedy of the erosion of normality. I found out about the sad death of Ali Bongo directly from Paul Daniels Twitter - at around the same time Russel brand was asking me how to create a link - I don't know them personally, I was just watching their info feed and they weren't talking to me personally, they were just yapping their thoughts into the unknown. So now it seems I am a direct audience, one to one performance for everyone, and if I am the audience and I create the need for performance simply by the fact of passive interest then where will the future take us?

This stream of thought began in the source response of 'How to find value in being a virtual networking hussy'. Some would equate Value here with money. The answer is I haven't yet found out to make money from being a networking hussy but by Odin's beard, someones surely found out how to make money from me. As for 'value', that's something else. Look to the Sophists.

Everyone will no doubt continue to expand their levels of interaction, the software will expand to encompass all networks and provide content intuitively, the hardware will expand to encompass all levels of activity and then, it seems, there will be no you or I - there will just be we the audience/creator. Where celebrity will be judged by ones hit counter...

until then let me distract you with this.

Compendium

I know these must be everywhere by now, I've been busy.



I didn't realise how funny it was at first, I came across it and sniggered at the Star Wars fans but then once you've seen it you have to feel proud of Star Wars fans - such passion and commitment to produce so many great pieces of work. I'm not being sarcastic, honest. I mean it, I really do.



Courtesy of Mr Moore, with his endorsement it would seem. I have come to terms with the idea that the film cannot possibly do justice to the comic and is therefore a completely separate entity...and nowhere near as good.

Social Online Interaction: The App and the Agg

I am currently locked in a rip tide of social networking and online interaction. I wanted to write down some of my thoughts while they are fresh. For some time I have been listening to the voice of fellow colleagues, commuters, snippets of conversation and rumour; all asking whether online social interconnection can be used for business. All asking if it is an ego parade, buzz word, band wagon or flash trend. This blows my mind! How can we still be questioning the overwhelmingly obvious fact that any trend that is present on the net is a combined response from the way people use the net. It seems like it is taking businesses a long time to really get their head around the meta-narrative, the quintessence and the zeitgeist.

For me it comes from use and immersion. If you spend all your time interacting with and using the net, then trend awareness becomes second nature - you absorb the subtleties from all over the net, with every site you visit, because everything is connected. If you spend you time merely talking or thinking about how people interact with and use the net, then you miss out on the reality and are left with 'a priori' concepts and therefore assumptions.

That's just the basic statement, that I believe investment in social online interaction, of time and money, by individual or corporation, is both worth while and inevitable. I'm not saying I have the whole thing worked out though, as an expert and egotist I feel quite happy presenting my opinions - but as an introvert I am not really compelled to either interact or socialise online. That's me as an individual, if I were a business then things would be different. The personality of the business is what would compel the interaction and its various forms.

Blog. Obviously I blog. I keep this blog as a receptacle of ideas and thoughts, a means to sort through concepts that I feel are worth keeping or developing, no matter how odd. By writing and publishing I am forced to put the thoughts into a better order or in a more presentable fashion. There are a number of posts that have withered and died because they weren't strong enough to withstand the scrutiny of a blog post. Some people use it as a diary, others as a publishing medium for full blown articles. All are valid. As an individual it is governed by what I feel like talking about, I think as a business it may be governed by what others are talking about.

Facebook. Clearly a big deal and not to be overlooked but personally I can't stand it. It seems to amalgamate the worst aspects of real life small talk into a sharp ended magnifying glass and repeatedly poke you in the eye whilst you're trying to procrastinate. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Perhaps that is merely a side effect of my personal online personality, my pseudo self; as a business I may feel very differently.

Twitter ( https://twitter.com/catjuju ). I like Twitter and use it but seems to me to be dependent on stability. If you are able to give the time to it, it can be inventive, addictive and interesting. Mixing the best of voyeurism and self expression, allowing you to feel connected and engaged whilst keeping track of those you aspire to. You can see I use Twitter, I also have my Tweets published here on the right as a micro-blog. Filling the gap between huge rambling post and immediate thought, the gap between ego and id. I also use Twiiterfeed to post my blog on Twitter, which then shows up here in a strange loop of concepts that makes me just a little bit freaked.

LinkedIn ( http://www.linkedin.com/in/curtismcfee ). I mention this because I use it and because it seems to be the best of it 's kind. It does everything it needs to, everything you expect it to.

Summing up - the only thing I really want at this stage is to be able to get everything in one place. This is an app. that has yet to be created as far as I can see. I also want and app. that can gather a user created aggregation of information from whatever online source may be appropriate. This is what I have referred to as the Agg. I want to gather a list of blogs, a number of Twitter users, various websites and mash them up into a single cloud of information. Plus I want to have numerous clouds for different occasions and questions. The I want break out threads that can display filtered results. All of this and more I see. Bring me the AGG!