Three Cups of Tea, The Goonies, and Other Influences
Published November 30, 2008 @ 04:00PM PT
I just asked my Twitter followers:
What books, music, movies, blogs, media have/has helped to propel you into social action/activism?
Some answers for now:
- PresenTense Magazine
- Good Magazine
- Wikinomics
- Three Cups of Tea (x2)
- You Cant Do That on Television
- "The kids' stories we heard."
- Star Wars
- Harry Potter
- The Fall (Camus)
- E.T.
- The Goonies
- Your Best Life Now (Osteen)
- Fugazi
- Noam Chomsky
What about yours?
Robin Parker: blog master at the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross
Published November 30, 2008 @ 03:15PM PT
I met with Robin Parker, blog master / communications specialist at the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross, in a beer hall in Portland. How does she present the Red Cross as a cool organization to an emerging class of young people who show an increasing appreciation for transparency and initiatives-over-organization?
She, blogs, tweets, posts photos, solicits art from users, interviews weather fronts, etc.
Robin's doing the following right:
- There's a lot of talk online - terabytes of bull. She explains that her best content comes from listening - she reads what's up via Twitter, blogs, etc. and she posts the cream of the crop. Parker's efforts to sift through and rehash great content speak for themselves. The blog is attractive - nicely designed and minimal. She keeps people in tune with the organization's posts by way of Twitter, but does not overwhelm with a storm of updates. Her posts are short, meaty, readable and clever (again - there is a post in which she interviews PortlandRain, the Twitter persona of one of the most common weather fronts of the Northwest).
- She is in touch. She meets up with other of the socially-concerned / tech-minded at various relevant meetups (Portland is rich in them). She is connected with a posse of seemingly effective early adopters for social good so she's got her finger on the pulse of who within the local community cares for what issues, who is well-versed in what, and is familiar with them in a face-to-face manner so as to be able to ask for their help / collaboration when necessary.
The young activists/do-gooders I met along the way who claimed to be comfortable with the progress they were making typically had found some comfort in the aforementioned - they produced good, meaningful, directive content/had something to say and they had some network of people that they were in touch with both online and in person. I point out the latter because as often as this generation is one that is highlighted for its ability to network, there still exists a tendency of some young activists to rely too heavily on online methods, which can be resultant in losing the sense of trust, camaraderie, and engaged willingness of community members that comes with occasionally meeting with a team face-to-face.
Media impact?
Published November 29, 2008 @ 03:27PM PT
What books, music, movies, blogs, media has helped to propel you into social action/activism?
Why?
Published November 29, 2008 @ 02:48PM PT
I spent nearly two months traveling across this country talking with young activists about their hopes, methods and self-perception. Why do you do what you do, kid? All of the usual suspects: 9/11, the Internet, the Bush Administration, crooked businessmen, etc.
Well, sir, I don't want the world to blow, really.
We're a generation raised on the promise that greedy hustler politicians always win, despite never being respected by the people - even those who elect them - and that they're going to drive it burn this fucker down if we don't interject ourselves accordingly.
"Splinter Generation"
Published November 29, 2008 @ 12:51PM PT
The Splinter Generation, a self-described "online literary compilation for and by people who are part of the Splinter Generation (aged 15-35)," began following me via Twitter. I just reached out to them and hope to speak with a representative or two at some point next week about their take on what, exactly, this generation should be called:
Why the Splinter Generation?
1. Our generation is split into a million different cultures and subcultures, whether they are religious, musical, literary, ethnic, class-based or consumer-based. Our identities have become selective and insular. We have each found the little niche we think we fit in and we stay there. As a result, we stay in our little group — or our little splinter — and we rarely talk to each other.
2. Splinter generation is a weapon-making term referring to the creation of fragments, or splinters, that form in an explosive reaction. Our generation has seen a lot of explosions.
Dissecting "Digital Youth."
Published November 28, 2008 @ 09:51AM PT
WBUR's On Point devoted an hour to discussing "digital youth" on the first half of their Wednesday show. Not only is the episode a great one, the comment board (which can also be found at the aforelinked page) is quite lively with discussion about pros, cons and observations regarding "the kids" and their Internet tendencies. I already ripped one of the comments and posted it on Wednesday, but be sure to check out the entire dialog. I'll likely be dissecting many of the comments over the course of the next few days and presenting examples seen on the road in that context.
"I bristle at the blanket assumption that this most recent generation is more 'technically savvy.'"
Published November 26, 2008 @ 09:08AM PT
From the comment board at WBUR's On Point. Listener comment came in response to the assertion that this generation is "more technically savvy" than previous ones:
I bristle a bit at the blanket assumption that this most recent generation is more “technically savvy” than the last. I’m 32 so I fall in that previous generation, and I can tell you that nearly all of the things that have been discussed on the show so far (My Space, i.e. Web Sites, Text Chatting, i.e. IRC) have been possible since I was in high school.
The difference is that it took a great deal of knowledge and effort to use those technologies. (i.e. You needed to know HTML to make a web site, and you needed to know networking information and text commands to properly connect to and use IRC.)
The difference is that geeks of my generation (in the more classic sense of the word, meaning a nerd with technical skills) have made the tools to use these existing technologies, smaller, faster, cheaper, and most importantly EASIER to use.
The youths of this current generation are on average no more technically savvy than even my parents, the difference is that they have grown up with and taken the time to learn how to use the technology that people of my generation have been making so easy to use that they don’t even need to RTFM anymore."
