Allied Media Conference

Checking in from Detroit and the 10th Annual Allied Media Conference, the place to meet people working on "media strategies for a more just and creative world." For once, I'm one of the oldest people in attendance.

This morning, I sat in on the "Be the Web: Using Web 2.0 innovations to organize and connect" session. I liked a comparison the presenter made between hierarchical and folksonomical data organization, where he showed us a Web form he'd had to use for an employer to report demographic data (gender, ethnicity, etc.). He said that he felt like folksonomies and tagging are closer to representing our complex identities than these nested data boxes (ie, male, single, caucasion, etc.). I'd never heard someone link Web 2.0 design principles to identity politics, so that was interesting. Wouldn't it be cool to gather folksonomical demographic data for an organization? It could generate a tag cloud to represent the multiple, overlapping identities collected within the membership of the organization. Something like that...

He talked about del.icio.us and twitter, but I always like to learn about new apps and wasn't disappointed. He talked about jott and tumblr. Jott uses voice recognition to interface with email, listserves, feeds, you name it. It can push, it can be pulled; in other words, it can add telephony (land or cell) to your organizer's bag of tricks. Tumblr is the main app for tumbleblogging (new to me, too), or posting short burst, multi-media files, like Twitter, I think, but with pics, vids, and audio files.

A number of issues came up: security, privacy and the reliance on corporate tools and platforms, connecting Web 2.0 organizing to work with communities without access. I warned the group that they have to move away from thinking that they are shifting from old school organizing to these tools, but that it is always adding new layers, and once you start using the new tools, you commit to alway adding these new layers. Email is irrelevant to most 14 year olds. These tools, because they are proprietary, corporate domains (API's or no) and because every individual connects to her or his own favorite mix of platforms, can never attain perfect reach. Using these tools, organizers have to remember they are building and activating social networks overlaid and dependent upon the platforms they choose to engage. Organizers need to be careful that the suite of tools they decide to use don't create gaps of non-interoperability in the social networks they are building. This means you have to be careful using the radical tools, like crabgrass, too. Corporate platforms can come with complications, but, as large and densely populated networks they have reach.

None of this is easy. Must. avoid. shiny. object. syndrome.

I will be starting to use crabgrass for a project soon. More on that as I use it.