Community Mobilization

American Idol Phone

My soon to be sister-in-law Andrea is a film student, and while working with her on a paper last semester I helped her look at the business side of TV, and realize the fact that TV exists to sell advertisements and hock products, and not to entertain. To punctuate my point I am please to direct you to the American Idol Telephone!

Here the TV created a community of consumers. Demographically pre-teen and teens, as I understand it, are the most coveted market. The stream of branded goods from this could be endless, and the need is fed by new seasons of the show. These special phones give you ‘exclusive rights’ Idol concert tickets, and voice/text mail from the hosts and participants. All designed to separate the community form its money. American Idol has cultivated youth the way we cultivate honey bees … yea we give them a nice wood house to build a hive in, but then we take their honey.

Andrea gets it now and I can’t wait to see what products her hit series will spin off some day.

Thanks for the Readership

I was reflecting on the massive jump in hits on my blog since the ‘Perfect Pitch’ contest ended. I was reflecting on how a single win (or a second place) can drastically improve meme and attract or rejuvenate a blog’s readership. I am very grateful to Judith Meskil and the panel for consideration, but more so for letting people know that I am here and doing what I am doing.

Every community needs a win every now and then. New Zealand received tons of good karma from the LOTR trilogy, but even the small victories are special. Wins unite across all sorts of divides such as gender, ethnicity, and economic standing. I think an important aspect of mobilizing and building line is supporting competitive activities.

Sports are not the only unifying events! Recently business development, specifically attracting new businesses has become a point of community pride. I also feel that the Arts and education should become a bragging right. We have more galleries, more artists, better educated students, and are more cultured than you. What a great contest compared to ‘we have more guns, faster planes, and larger tanks than you.’

To tie this together, technology can create bridges between distant communities and establish meaningful bonds. Technology can give the community the ability to broadcast their success, which is some thing we all should celebrate a little more often.

Analog Boy in a Digital World

This morning I dealt with a minor travel crisis, and it required a lot of information to be sent very quickly over a great distance. Now that the wrinkles have been ironed out I contemplated the capacity of this modern era, and the one thing I fixated on was the blinding speed at which we are able to conduct business, that and the stress that comes with it.

The simplicity of life two decades ago seems like centuries away. With blinding speed comes an expectation of even faster responses. What used to take days now takes seconds, and everyone still asks why it is taking so long. Everyone is tied up in this perennial race towards execution at the speed of thought, except for the poor.

The truly poor are worried about where to sleep when it rains, and when they will eat again. My fiancée worked at a homeless shelter all winter counseling those who don’t care about broadband, e-ticketing, or nanotechnology. Calorie counting to them is making sure they can actually consume 1000 calories in a day.

So I ponder is there peace and tranquility in being removed from the digital world, and has technology become the ‘little green man’ of the new millennium? Are we chasing after him and never getting any closer? How nice would it be to be an analog boy in a digital world … or would it?

I won 2nd place 'Perfect Pitch'

I am celebrating a minor victory today, because I was the second place finisher in the ‘Perfect Elevator Pitch’ contest, run and sponsored by the Social Software Weblog. I win no prize, aside from pride, recognition, and having my name and URL plastered all over their blog (which I appreciate!) Below is a transcript of my entry, and I’m proud of it!

“We service over 10 sets of external and internal constitutes and no one publication can effectively speak to them all. Weblogs empower the people who communicate best with each constituency to do just that. We’ll deliver targeted, customized, and jargon appropriate information from those who know it best, to those who need it most.

Weblogs are an inexpensive, flexible tool for communicating and updating, while engaging the readership in active feedback via the comments. Mining the comments provide us with free voice of the customer feedback that we would otherwise hire focus groups to collect. And with RSS/Atom our information is available continuously in real time.

A calculated implementation of Weblogs could expand our corporate reach by attracting investors to new products, highlighting socially responsible practices, and engaging the local community. This is a priceless opportunity to actively reach out to those who want to know more.”

A Fantasy Community XI

Read an advertisement in a magazine today for Final Fantasy XI and the tag line was “Conquest, Mystery, Community” and the add goes on to explain how I can join other players in North America and Japan and battle together with them. Are computer games, especially ones that are not persistent real community builders?

I think that everyone has a different sense of what community is and I have seen that the young generation has embraced the concept that we do not need to see someone and shake their hand to really know them. I personally feel that the game is nothing more than an environment for individuals to interact in. Sure you are collectively trying to kill the dragon, but is that different than trying to score a goal, turn a double play, or bowl a turkey? The big question is, are relationships made in the digital world viable in the material world. How much more or less comfortable am I recommending identical candidates for a job if I play soccer with one and play Final Fantasy IX with the other?

I think the ultimate melding of these two is being able to play in a global arena with the people in your neighborhood. I feel that community is most powerful when you can see it affecting your everyday surroundings. Using a game to forge a connection with a neighbor or someone from around the world is well and good, but it is better if you can leverage your relationships into positive local action. How does the phrase go … “Game globally, act locally?”

Your ID in the Palm of you Hand

Spain’s Baja Club is the first venue to use extensive use of the implanted Veri-chips produce by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Florida. These chips contain 10 digit ID numbers linked to a database with personal information such as credit card accounts, and VIP Club status.

These things remind me of the movie ‘Minority Report’ because the fact is that anyone with a scanner can ready who you are, and eventually where you go, what you purchase, and possible where you live. The technology is brining more and more personal information to the surface, and some may not care for that.

In a community setting this could make everything that we do personalized, customized and marketed down to the individual level. I can see how interpersonal relations and interactions could be altered depending on what information is stored on the chip, and the general public’s ability to read it is. I guess it would give new meaning to the song “I’ve got you, under my skin.”

Art Imitates Text Messages?

Here is a fantastic example of the infusion of modern technology in to the world of art. The giant Swarovski chandelier is wired with led lights that allow text messages (SMS) to scroll the length of the chandelier. Similar to the E-Tech Heckle-bot viewers can send SMS to the chandelier and their message cascades down.

New mediums such as this will slowly begin to infuse and permeate every realm of life. The technology of communication is beginning to insert itself into our everyday lives. I would love to see this type of technology enter more practical realms like SMS to have the valet bring up your car, or SMS to order a pizza.

As far as community building goes I think that SMS reinforces relationships. The technology is an alternate communication too, but just like Bluetooth I am waiting for a social hacker to find a new and innovative use for SMS that will establish new connections and relationships.

Socail Software and Elections

South Korea held elections on April 15 and the victors are the Uri party, winning a slim majority of the seats in the parliament. The Uri party appeals to the younger demographic and it leads me to ask a few questions that some may not. The 'Young Liberal and in Command' article in the Economist explains a good portion of the ‘why this happened’, but I want to draw a conjecture on the how.

Text messaging.

It has been said, and it has been written that the Asian youth use the text on their cell phones much more than westerners, specifically Americans. In the Korean election, amidst all of the political activity described in the above article, were the young voters of the country able to organize and mobilize their voting community instantly with text messages? I think it could happen there. With a community agreeing on a single candidate their votes could easily swing an election, and the technology could make instant mobilization possible.

Taking this out of Korea, in America someone is going to buy up all of the cell-phone text addresses and start mass messaging “Vote for Kerry” “Vote for Bush”. And the reason this may not be effective is ‘context’. People are voting for one candidate or the other and I bet my paycheck the majority of minds are made up already. Hold on … the majority of minds of the 40% of the USA who will actually go and vote are made up. However if you know people’s preferences a reminder message could be effective.

“Remember Vote for Ralph”!

Good vs. Evil or R vs. L

A coworker has pointed out that I have to-date, highlighted left leaning groups and their use of technology. In the interests of being ‘balanced and fair’ I quote a Meetup.com Newsletter, “Townhall.com and The Heritage Foundation today announced Meetup.com has been enlisted to help bring conservatives together locally all across the USA at monthly get-togethers -- "Meetups" -- to help spread conservative ideals through the organization's membership, readership base, and beyond.”

But I want to dig a bit deeper here. Why don’t I see John Kerry’s name when I Google ‘Miserable Failure’, and why don’t I hear about people using Bluetooth to PROMOTE GWB, and why in the world are there so few parody sites of the major Democrats?

I have two theories on this;

One is that I exist in an echo chamber. I am surrounded by liberals who link to liberal site and believe in liberal causes. If I were a conservative and did the opposite then I would probably miss out on the funny liberal websites … like bushorchimp.com. I exists in an online community that has certain social norms, just like any community, and they tend to be politically liberal.

Theory two is simply that the online community by nature is more liberal in general. The conservatives lack the web presences to create such parody sites, and pull of Google bombs. Or maybe being conservative means that your community is above parody sites.

I went back and Googled Miserable Failure and I found that Jimmy Carter and Hillary Clinton are #2, 4 on the list. I checked a few blog titles, and made a few more searches and have come to conclusion that theory one is probably the most correct. So I guess I just call them as I see them

Bluetooth Against Bush

I previously wrote about how Britons are using Bluetooth to find “activity partners” on trains, planes and autobuses. Stateside a group called Bluetooth Against Bush is using the same technology to unite those opposed to the current administration, and are eager to vote against him in the 2004 election.

Again we see technology highlighting the commonalities that exist between people that no one is aware of. I think this technology is creating doorways to conversation and true contextual contact.

“I don’t like GWB, you don’t like GWB hi I’m Randy what is your name?”

Yes, this could be the next way that we fish out pickup lines … we tooth the area for users, look at their published interests and then approach a total stranger armed only with the knowledge that they share your love of Hawaiian pizza and minor league baseball.

I think that this could also become a good community maintainer especially for widespread organizations like fraternal orders, service organizations and the like. As people travel more frequently it is always nice to run into a complete stranger that you share a bond. Bonds like Sorority or Fraternity letters, or members of the Shrines, or just being a fan of a sports team can connect two people if only for a short while.

My dad told me, “All you have to do is ask.” But with Bluetooth maybe we won’t need too.