The Topography of Media

We've passed the point of no return.

...Phantom of the Opera, anyone?

I'm reading a book titled "Cognitive Surplus" by Clay Shirkey. So far he has taken me on a journey from the Gutenberg press through America's obsession with television all the way to the present day "peculiar" trends of social interaction through web media-this blog post being one of those, your comments being another. That two-way street underscores the illustration he makes in the opening section. American's spend over a trillion hours every year watching television. The shift in the market of media is that we aren't so much just watching anymore. We, as the general public of awesomeness, are now empowered to become producers, publishers. I'll be reminded of that as soon as I submit this post. This shift naturally threatens the financial foundations of the old-school producers. They need their one-directional, feeding audience to consume what they put out, otherwise... they'll be put out. I see glimpses of this scramble to maintain a purely consumer audience in the advertising around Chicago. "Keep streaming, America!" The words accompanying some fancy black box that streams digital content.

We have passed the point of divergence. The public is only becoming more and more engaged with each other. The opportunities afforded to us with the internet are profound. The not-yet-existent platforms that we will be using in the future to collaborate and solve civic problems on local, national, and global (interstellar?) levels will streamline our social evolution like we have never before known. This kind of interactive producing is facilitating more creative dialogue and output than we have precedence for. (in available recorded history, at least)

Having socially passed this point of divergence, the one marking a shift from consumer to producer mindsets, carries implications for those institutions that hold on to that past ways. There are certain powers that be that will not bend to incorporating models of public-production. These stiff entities will calcify and go the way of all fossils.

I like what we're getting into. I see greater forms of democracy rising through our new conception of interaction and media. I see a greater understanding of our fellow family members on this planet, with walls of mistrust, hate, and ignorance crumbling to the ground. When our children are seamlessly integrating with the newest interactive media technology on the market, I know that we are becoming equipped to collaborate and come to resolution on problems the world over.

I see a revolution, and it makes my heart glad.