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Announcements
Michael Wanger, vidkid@well.com announced the Best of the North Bay 2000 would take place in June, 2000 and made a call for team leaders, team members. Working on theater to show winners, need fund-raising, need promotions team, artwork for posters. He held up a fabulous painting of planets and moons on last year's promotional postcard, giving credit and thanks to Barbara Lawrence. IntroductionAnn read off a list of impressive credentials for our guest speaker, Douglas Rushkoff. Author of seven books, including his latest success Coercion. Why we listen to what "they" say. New York Times columnist, lecturer at various Universities, a Professor of Media Culture at NYU, Advisor to the UN Commission on World Culture. She had our full attention.  He wrinkled his nose, trading what he described as fancy water, for a bottle of the normal stuff, he eyed the audience carefully, as we sat in silent admiration waiting for what promised to be the Oracle of Delphi at North Bay MultiMedia to share his words of wisdom, and opened the presentation by announcing that he was looking forward to speaking to a group of Media Professionals.
He thought about it for a moment, then added "If that's not an Oxymoron!" as the audience exploded with laughter, breaking the tension as he stepped out from behind the sanctity of the podium. He asked us to ponder, communication strategy. We are all neurons on the Net, in the global brain. So what is NOT Media? He explained, everything between my consciousness and yours. That thing I call me, he motioned to himself, and that thing I call you, motioning to the audience. DNA: What better medium than DNA genetic code for containing information about the future and the past, is that media? Then what is NOT Media? (he repeated for emphasis). The answer is: Intention. "If you believe in such" he added, ".. and I do". The Medical and Theatrical professions both ask, what is it that makes life? What makes a thing alive? Artistotle said, he quoted "Intention is human will striving toward a goal". So we have Plato (who wrote down the pearls of wisdom from Aristotle), whether media is a house, or a plant that you tend to in a garden, it feels good to extend yourself. Even through a baby, he paused for effect, now THAT is intention!
But Hitler did the same thing, he cautioned us. The difference, he declared, was Intention! He asked us to consider, you make the characters identifyable. Make the heroine pretty, make the hero strong and brave. Then the storyteller puts them in danger, be it war, a haunted house, whatever. We follow them into danger, with the storyteller. In Ancient Greece, it was Athena who showed up at the end of the story to save the day, now it's a sinus medication that shows up at the last minute to save the executive. We go into danger with the storyteller, we accept their strategy. The storyteller remains the authoritative voice, now it is the Media Executive. Frank Baum, author of Wizard of Oz, he told us something he was sure a lot of us didn't know, that Frank was also a Department store executive. He built virtual worlds for people. People put affirmations on their refrigerators (I had NO idea what he was talking about). Little post-it notes, he explained, that say something like "I have all the money I need". But deep down inside (he paused for effect as giggles began to build in the Peanut Gallery) these people know perfectly well they DON'T have all the money they need or they wouldn't need the note! The power of the Remote Control: Pre-Interactive Media, we fell in love with the story so much, we fell in love with the tool of media. From TV to FAX's, to phones, but what happened is we sold so much media, now they ask him how to teach basic media skills. The answer, he proclaimed, is a remote control. A remote control allows you to break out of the story, to escape. His Dad, may he rest in peace, watched every Suzanne Pleshette movie calculating calories until the next problem would get resolved, because it took 20 calories of burning anxiety for her to get out of danger, or to get up and change the channel it took 70 calories! Because he knows the storyteller does NOT have his best interest at heart. Remember the Family Ties episode where Michael J. Fox has his Princeton interview, and he is going to blow it because his whiny sister has ANOTHER problem she can't wait for a heart-to-heart? But wait, it's Remote Control to the rescue! (big laugh from the Peanut Gallery). Thanks to the Remote, or Joystick, we no longer look at the pixel as sacred space. Think for a minute, he asked us to go back in time, to late 1970's and Pong was all the rage. Think back, he asked us to remember exactly what we were thinking, did any of us actually think Wow, I'm a table tennis champ, I can go against the Chinese in the next tournament? No, he answered for us. It was only moving a cursor across a screen, but it was still cool! The keyboard and mouse turned the PC from a passive TV to a device able to send your thoughts. Respect from Advertisers?: He asked us to consider what would it take to advertise on a medium like on a phone, what if you picked up the phone and a commercial automatically started? It requires a certain amount of respect from the storyteller. Shakespeare knew this, he started with those wimpy, apologetic opening chorus disclaimers, (as he switched to a sing-song tone) "Oh please don't be offended by our story" all the way to now, in the latest Woody Allen film in black and white credits "I'm such a Nebish". The thing about the FAX, the phone, etc. is that it all got terribly chaotic, he explained. We were building a Communication Infrastructure, remember ancient history, 1984! By 1993 we had a systematic reversal, a do-it-yourself demystification. How? Through propoganda! Information Revolution: What does that mean? Negraponti would call it Bits, he explained. Atoms of stuff. Why? Because information can be caught and sold. Now the experience is not about character, now it is about the information itself. And to Re-Mystify it, they invented Windows! Attention Economy or Keeping your Eye on Eyeballs: Now people are afraid of the internet, they're afraid of porn, they're afraid of catching a virus. The internet is flat, he declared. It is in need of Reconstruction. He explained Attention Economy, capturing data for advertisers about what pages a user views, called Eyeballs. Eyeball errors, he continued, they make pages "sticky", now THAT's a joy! They don't call that stuff on TV, "Programming" for nothing! They aren't programming the TV, they're programming you. When Spielberg does a heart-tugging movie like Schindler's List, he paused to consider a moment, well it could be worse, at least he cares about the Blacks and the Jews, or at least he pretends to. Eudora, Modzilla, Mosaic, whatever. . CUCMe at Cornell U. Since 1984 there has not been one significant improvement to the Internet! Now we have streaming video to make it load faster, now we have 51KB lines to make it download faster, but what real improvement has there been?, he asked. Companies are trying to make each other into commodities. It's like when he was a kid, he described for us, he used to open the bubblegum wrapper and inside was a baseball card and some gum. It would be like the baseball card company trying to get rid of the bubblegum company, when each gives something away, and each has something to gain. Why? It may sound dark, but he promised us that he brings hope. The internet has become a medium for investors to grow, in other words, Hell! The Universe is expanding, why not E-Commerce? And anyone who argues nay, he pointed an accusatory finger, is a Nay-saying Communist. But who makes money with the internet? Those who have an Exit Strategy! What Charles Ponsie needed was a getaway carpet. He described a television commercial for ETrade with someone sitting in bed making orgasm sounds while they are trading stock. People actually watch tips from stock investors on TV, he paused raising his arms to us, asking how can anyone believe these stock guys would go on TV, make a prediction and then go out and buy stock the NEXT day? The best war against users, and he paused to repeat that word, Users. He explained he just loves that term, users. He continued his train of thought, the advertisers track mouse movements, did they look at the right or the left button, the red or the green one, etc. They generate a Pavlovian response. Advertisers push you to read it now, read it faster! The user is now a commodity. Our revenge, he proposed, is to be cynical. But now even that is not safe, now we have commercials for "Image is Nothing", Diesel Jeans, people eating ice cream with Koreans on bicycles. Trust me, he cautioned us. As an advertising theorist, he can truly say they don't mean anything. Participation is the key: We think of the medium as participatory, but it is not really. Web sites are free [to view]. Back in the 1960's they tested an audience who watched a show. Half paid, half watched for free. The ones who paid liked it better. We like things better when we participate. Virtual Reality works when the user has control of their environment. People who are engaged and having fun are less easy to manipulate, but the Blair Witch Project worked because the storytellers surrendered themselves. Harrison Ford movies, you look at the special effects, you know it's not real but Blair Witch said we'll pretend, if you do. Once Upon a Time. More interactivity on the internet same as at a Strip Mall, how much can you consume? He saw a kid at Foot Locker, staring at a wall full of sneakers. He asked the kid what was wrong? The kid answered he couldn't decide, which one is me? Douglas shook his head, Nike? Retrofit? If Media works at all, it's when the participant can be a co-author. Haven't you ever sat in a dark theater watching a play, and half way through thought to yourself, I could just get up and scream! (I'm thinking it now). Q: How can we develop a counter-strategy? A: Read his book (hint hint) Coercion, why we listen to what "they" say. They develop a technique, we develop a counter technique. Then they come up with a counter, softer touchy-feely campaign, a Saturn! The only one that worked for him was to observe the Sabbath day of rest. The Sabbath: Thousands of years ago, he explained, people observed one day a week when it was forbidden to buy or sell. "Thou shalt not produce, neither shalt thou consume on this day". He does this on Saturday, the Jewish way! It gives you the feeling, I am sacred. Something Nike can't give you! Just drop out of coercing or being coerced. Break out of the knee-jerk response, follow your bliss, no not bliss he corrected himself - neurotic space! Just try to do the reverse, like Tai Chi'ng yourself. Don't worry that you will spend more the next day to make up for it. If everyone took one day out of the week to drop out of the race, whichever day you pick to not consume, it would actually have a direct impact on the world market because we are spending as much as we can, as fast as we can every other day of the week already! Q & A with the Peanut Gallery
Q: Questioning whether the Remote Control gives us a choice, if you get 300 emails a day, you just filter and delete without reading. Ebay allows you to plant a comment, so it seems like you get freedom of choice?
A: In America, we are given choices but they are all commercial clicks. You choose which funnel to be pulled into. He mentioned Third Voice, but gave a disclaimer some won't like it. It starts with rumors, then the real scenario, he described a disclaimer from a credit card company to it's customers about a virus on their site, but couldn't be sure it ever really affected anyone. He questions if the best way we communicate is through Ebay, based on how much we buy. Robert Redford proved even Demi Moore is for sale. He does think the internet will improve for customers, but what happens when the bottom line becomes the bottom line? Q: A member of the audience quoted an accusation the internet is devoid of Humanity! A: The response was to qualify he is not that down on the internet, he is fighting for the internet. Humanity = Intention. As long as we bring humanity and intention to the internet, we can survive, but warned us before we put a machine in charge, making people buy more and more, to work harder to buy more!
The internet can be deadening as long as we quell human intention. Q: A lady from the original crew of Sesame Street asked him to expand on his comment about the Tai Chi, Sabbath approach. A: He has to carefully distinguish between the books he HAS to write, and the books he WANTS to write. Realize it's a game. What does it mean if you are winning? If a 37 year-old guy scores millions with a start-up, he's a winner - ding - ding -ding! Worst case scenario, he explained, is in 10 years the ultimate shopping paradise will be one click, anything you want, anytime, but I'm still not getting laid! (another big laugh as the crowd began to liven). If everything stopped for one day, it would reduce the gross national profit exactly that much. All figures that are announced are made up anyway! Q: Another lady from the audience proclaimed her greatest aspiration and fear is the carpet bagger analogy of needing an exit strategy mentioned earlier and asked for him to make a prediction of the exact time she would be needing to be packed and ready to leave? A: Molecules, he replied, form an organism. We will form a Super Organism! It will magnify the Ego protection, to manufacture a thing is one thing, but the Fascists tried to manufacture a story and the people just could not get INTO the thing. After Y2K, (referring to the current belief by many people that at 12:01 year 2000 all programs that were written with two-year date codes will be unable to tell whether mm/dd/00 means year 1900 or 2000 and the doomsday prophets say all banks, airplane computer controls, simply will have a massive break-down causing hysteria and mayhem all summarized by the term Y2K) once the New Year is past all speculation will stop. Futurists will be Presentists. People were so future oriented, but once you arrive at the future, you're there! Q: Someone offered a challenge. How does he see the future of the web other than for commerce? A: He referred to Hotline, an ISP (Internet Service Provider) server on each station that offers a suite of tools including chat, MP3 etc. He mentioned an aspiration of his own. To see people communicating. He asked us to remember Fidonet, like a HAM radio club, Usenet and IRC are all still there! Our heartfelt thanks to Professor Rushkoff for an enlightening, educational evening!
 Email Catwoman WebDiva at large Still pushing the envelope of technology and good taste! http://www.well.com/user/catwoman
Last updated February 2000 |
Announcements
