I have now had a few days to reflect on Supernova and I realize that what was most striking to me was how the event was emblematic of the intersection of theory and practice. You had Weinberger and Keen arguing the finer points of informaiton & internet culture and Clay Shirky discussing the Love Economy, in the same room where start-ups like Pando unveiled their peer-to-peer content delivery platform (bottomline - cheap and fast) and Spock demonstrated their wicked people search app (u can never hide again).
This "theory into practice" reality has been steadily bubbling up over the past few months. I am not referring to the froth of investments or purchases but to the fact that individuals and companies are building stuff that takes the concepts of connection and expression and are building living breathing entities. In Wednesday's Innovation session TechSoup demonstrated how they use Second Life to recruit volunteers and Rolando Brown talked (via video) on how he uses social media tools to promote the Hip-Hop Association. We also have Google announcing they will pay developers to make cool stuff and Facebook opening the world to its platform.
Five years ago, the pundits gathered at conferences and discussed the [dramatic pause] changes the Internet would bring about in the future. Today, we are living in this future. Sure, it's messy and there are territorial arguments and shifts in power. It is still too difficult for users to understand the value in a lot of these tools and how to apply them to their daily lives, but cool stuff *is* happening. Whether it is live streaming, "microblogging" or networking with people based on your [gratuitous links ahead] travel schedule, love of dogs, or employer. Messy chaotic stuff is indeed happening. I can't tell ya who will "win" or be bought or just plain survive. That is not my focus. I am in it for the long haul. I am in it to create cool stuff that changes how we interact and relate.
The cool stuff is indeed out there, it is just a bit harder to find amidst the noise. Yes - "the noise" factor.
When I find myself fed up with the noise, (I live both online and in Silicon Valley. It's noisy here and I do get fed up sometimes), I try to remind myself that it is indeed an interesting time and focus on the individuals, companies and causes that are taking all this social media stuff and smashing it together in fun new ways. Who will be standing in five years. Beats me. I just know that I will still be taking my flickr photos, sharing my playlists with my nieces and nephews and hopefully getting email offers from the Vendors I *choose* to allow to contact me!
Here's to the future.
Thus ends my Pollyanna post for the day. Thanks for playing.
http://www.deborahschultz.com/deblog/2007/06/it-br...