social media?

Cable TV was originally a community & social media… in the 70s as a method of capturing video & the concept of media, distributing the media around closed loops in communities & syndication of shows for distribution.  The guerrilla media approach was adapted throughout the production as the equipment was far more accessible & not confined to a sterile studio.  These methods saw innovation in the capture & management & attitude toward media distribution.

Regulation & Commercialisation was imposed on Cable TV in the 80’s after the CBS Television Network commissioned some enthusiasts to write & publish a book Guerrilla Media.  The writers could see the demise of their free & unregulated networks. However, CBS was looking to have a reference for the philosophy & motivation of a social network – they valued the original concept & understood that the “hippies” & enthusiasts had developed unique networks, distribution, production values & philosophy as a creative direction.

Later, Internet Relay Chat (IRC / after Telnet but far more accessible) in the early 90’s was the basis of social networking today with many of the same features… nick, chat, private, #chans, direct file transfers.  The networks developed a hierarchy & were managed by users with trained & earned status based on trust, respect & capability.  Again the moderation & security was from the community – an unusual gaggle of geeks & freaks with this Anon & his wife aged mid 30s regular respected citizens of the AUSTNET IRC Network.  We provided two collocated servers on fast connections in New Zealand & the USA.

10 years ago we recruited & commissioned young code hackers from AUSTNET for exciting commercial projects demonstrating new broadband & fiber technologies.  Generally these kids used a common dial up connection & could only imagine the results we would achieve at the largest Internet Exhibitions CeBIT & NetWorld on massive connectivity & bandwidth; the coders were all obsessed & stayed connected to 50,000 simultaneous users on up to 15 servers around Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada & a couple of stray ones in Europe.  The AUSTNET IRC network was very well moderated & controlled & had little problems with pornography, abuse & such; more as a chat network or gaming chat in safe environ’ with the original conservative & christian values of AUSTNET founder Rogery with Seecs, Kwahraw & Sunflower was offset by the almost abusive & direct attitudes of CA & Boss Man, 6 legends in AUSTNET history; there were hundreds of rooms with users & bots in all of them, each user finding their own group of friends & taking advice from IRCops or trusted ASD “helpers”.

Since 2000 the internet & mobile services have delivered all that we imagined & without disappointment as one of the main factors of the advancement has been in product design – our media tools are now functional & beautiful.  Broadband & WiFi have changed & motivated the way we interact with media & communicate; we have got “wasteful” with bandwidth as more is available; & our media has become “disposable” & flipant with Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr; Facebook released in 2004 & now has a population that is difficult to comprehend – $800 Million active users with an average of 130 friends & a total of 900 Million objects like pages & groups; 350 Million active users access Facebook through their mobile devices.

There are common factors of concept & development in social media.

- First is community – there is no society without community;

- Second is enthusiasm, collective talent obsesion & passion.

so what’s up?

The internet by many accounts is about to be heavily regulated, censured & monitored… we’re told that freedoms & privacy will be lost.  Historically this would signal a time of creative & technical innovation that would result in new communication & social media technology from established & fragmented communities.

Consideration is required in the conceptual, philosophical & creative aspects of the relationship of user & media in future communication & media technologies.  In the present media environment questions of copyright & ownership of media will be a prerequisite consideration for any creative development (maybe the ultimate motivation) but ease of access & creative commons style licensing will be just as important.  However, present technical & physical constraints of the internet with the limitations of our biased & learned perception will effect any new technology concept.

In any event there will be three simple motivations in this creative process: social media; community; & ethic.

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KRS1 on the 9 expressions of Hip Hop

06_9_expressions.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Ross Stevens House

Industrial designer Ross Stevens built this distinctive house in Wellington, New Zealand. Repurposed shipping containers form an intriguing contrast to the surrounding hill. In fact, the unique home makes use of the hill itself, expanding interior space beyond the containers.

Parts of the Ross Stevens house are surprisingly spacious and comfortable. There’s even a cool table made from a repurposed door.