Hi. This post lists and links to my first 50 posts on this blog, indexing 50 brief critical essays on contemporary media culture. Topics include The Leveson Inquiry, Occupy Wall Street, Privacy, Music, Food, Economics and more. Try one. 1. Happy Birth Day! my blog is born 2. Gifts and Books, Books and Gifts books as... Continue Reading →
In New Zealand, electronic-bracelet-wearing Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has gone on the offensive again, launching a new dance video produced by Black Eyed Peas' musical director Printz Board that directly attacks John Banks, the NZ cabinet minister whom Dotcom claims asked for – and received – an anonymous and illegal $50,000 campaign donation from him.... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the Toronto Reference Library as part of an excellent series called Treehouse Talks. It was a lovely event, attended by about 100 people and held in the spectacular 5-story atrium of the library. I gave an updated version of the talk that I call Know Your... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I introduced the idea that the greatest transformative potential for any social initiative lies in creating feedback loops between OS1 and OS3. By OS1 I mean oral culture and technologies and by OS3 I mean digital culture and technologies. I also said that in order to effectively implement such strategies, which I refer to... Continue Reading →
Until we understand that stories are beginnings and not ends we will be ruled by Terminal Thinking. (When a story is seen as an end and not a beginning, that is Terminal Thinking.) Until media is made to be transmitted through the many to many, and to be changed in transmission from each to each,... Continue Reading →
Part 3 - The Uncertain (previously: The Bad) (previously: The Good) Strangely enough I want to start with certainties. Knowing what I know about Occupy Wall Street should help me to know what I don't know. So what am I reasonably certain about? I am certain that America is approaching the status of Police State,... Continue Reading →
PART 1 - The Bad Cops, cops and more cops. Cops on horses. Cops in vans. Cops on motorcycles. Cops on scooters. Cops in paddywagons. Cops on foot. Cops on bikes. Cops in portable security towers. Cops everywhere. Watching. Waiting. Working. Thoroughly controlling the park perimeter. So much so that entering the park felt a... Continue Reading →
It fascinates me how often political arguments in the United States revolve around the words of America's 'founding fathers'. Of course it is not all their words that matter, just the ones that were written down. And specifically, Americans are obsessed with the words these fathers wrote in the founding documents of American nationhood, namely... Continue Reading →
Wall Street is Fort Monologue. It is an epicentre of literate capitalism, an ivory tower without ears to hear. It is a paper palace divorced from all experience, from suffering and compassion, from love and joy. It is rule of ledgers. Rule of policies and laws. Rule of dividends and debt, all defined on and... Continue Reading →
Literate culture has mortgaged its future. Who will pay? In OS1 (oral) cultures, debt did not exist. Obligations existed. You can, for example owe someone your gratitude, or your allegiance, or your help or your vengeance in OS1 culture. But obligations in OS1 culture are defined by relationships between people. Whereas in OS2 (literate) cultures,... Continue Reading →
YOU ARE YOUR MEDIA 