Thoughts on #RebootBritain
I enjoyed the sessions at RebootBritain on Monday - it was an
interesting conference - with varying degrees of quality of speaker
and content - some unexpectedly poor - and some terrifyingly
good.
It is an almost impossible task to unpick and then restitch the
information that was shared throughout the day as it was quite
diverse and hard to remember so I thought I would do 2 things
to jog my memory:
1) Re post my rather limited Twitter-feed of the day
(as per my Clay Shirky thing here: http://tinyurl.com/m2j985)
2) Use these to form an opinion in combination with my
scribbled notes.
Here they are in reverse order:
- The authority of the text was overturned
when search went mainstream - Well done the Tweeters :)
- @Bryant's favorite book Politics of Obedience by
Etiene de la Boetie - might have to read that! - Better to package up issues and let Britain
solve its own problems rather than a group of overpaid
American consultants - Re-balance people over process - hear hear @leebryant
- New Labour was a policy adopted to deal with the mainstream
media - Lee Bryant - I start with a laugh and work backward - bill bailey on
joke writing - the morality of 'enough' - there's a line to think about...
- digital revolution: there are no conscripts -only volunteers -
good line from Alan Moore - Interesting that at most sessions they start with -
'I hope you have all got your laptops and mobiles
on' how refreshing :) - apparently we should be following @peskypeople -
activist apparently - Twittering is onanistic apparently. He is talking total
wank surely? - Voting is just the way we get rid of bad government.
- Internet tends to describe problems and then we find
people who agree with us.
Decision makers do it the other way round - Internet
is not the best place for the articulation of
demand it is the best place for individual communities
to 'solutionize' - We need to be collectively responsible - being
unhealthy is a personal choice - not down to the
Government - We need to change - not the Government - like this!
- Decision making cannot be collaborative in Public Service -
the public is always right collectively - shades of Clay Shirky
Looking back it seems I only tweeted those things that resonated
or stuck out as there was a lot to listen to but actually not that much
to take in.
I was impressed by the acceptance of some of those in positions of
responsibility that there are too many people who write about what is
happening culturally and politically - but virtually no-one actually
doing anything. And even if they could - most don't want to or are
resistant to having the responsibility for others actions.
Politics and process and structure and local governance can and should
be changed for the benefit of the community but it does require ordinary
people to actually get involved - not just go to conferences and then blog
about it (spot the irony!)
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
As I sat in many of the sessions I became aware of the thing that has sort
of been buggin me for a while about the whole 'digital revolution' meme.
There is still a naive fervor perpetuated about 'digital' by certain individuals
all claiming to be 'passionate about digital' - or in some nauseating cases
'experts' or 'gurus' - especially in 'Social Media' circles.
Good for you - but what have you actually done to make the world a
better place I ask? Made your Twitter profile green to show solidarity
with disgruntled Iranian voters? I am not entirely sure that this has made
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shit himself, or perhaps you joined a Facebook
group to save an endangered species or sent a creative viral video to
your mates to think twice before booking another plane flight. But does
this change behavior? Ours perhaps but - and this is the killer - not 'theirs'.
Clay Shirky's latest TED video has him explain how Obama listened to his
constituents about the FISA legislation through his website - the bit about
the right to spy on citizens for security reasons - and then ignored them
and did what he wanted anyway. The funny thing from my perspective is
that it is still seen as a great use of 'social media' - the sheer inclusiveness
of it - how he 'listened to us', how nothing was locked down or shut out.
Right, but so what? Nothing changed - just that he listened.
See for yourselves:
Spectators, critics & actors
And so I guess my point is that although the issues are now more visible
through digital channels and conferences such as RebootBritain the world
is still divided into spectators, critics and actors and it is the actors who
continue to change things because in the real world - that is their job - not ours.
And as for the 'Travelling Geeks' - these mythical cool characters from the
'Valley' who are dripping in easy going entrepreneurial chic - making millions
whilst wearing faded jeans and t-shirts and helping us to do the same in our
'little backwater' while they are here. Well if these are your new digital Gods -
so different to the old capitalists - then I've got some bad news for you.
These are the same well connected, highly educated guys that they always
were, hawking their latest books and blogs and materials around just like
everyone else. There was nothing rock and roll about any of the ones I saw
speak or chatted with. At least Howard Rheingold made an effort to look vaguely
San Fran but that was about it.
The difference in the 'Valley' apparently was that everyone was more
'open and shared more stuff'. Yep, only if you were connected though - from what
I can gather - just like everywhere else!
And so looking at my Tweets and remembering the day I feel a
little bit disappointed - despite Howard Rheingold's wonderful dress sense.
I had arrived full of optimism that huge amounts of creativity once let loose
through digital channels might herald the dawning of a new age of man's
consciousness and that the world would be a better place or something like that.
All I got was the reality that not much has actually changed, the 'mess' we are in
is entirely of our own making and that pontificating about it changes nothing.
In conclusion
It is not digital that will change the world but people who actually 'do stuff'
- some of which will be digital. And whilst those that actually 'do stuff' might
make easy targets for conference speakers and activists, those currently
doing things with digital aren't really doing much better either.
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