Since my earliest tinkerings with the social web, I have thought the digital trails we write to the internet would make ideal data for anthropologists to study. My instincts regularly ‘give me feelings’ that the things I experience through my online networks are profound and perhaps mirror the inner workings of my brain or maybe even an ant colony. I have often wondered what a scientific study of the digital tracks left by my blog posts, comments, flickr images, video mashups and most recently twitter tweets might do to re-enforce or de-bunk my intuition.

Having had the privilege of hanging out with Microsoft’s chief anthropologist Anne Kirah after a presentation I gave a few years back got me thinking about what people in her field of research would make of this data.

Then, just before the US Election I discovered ‘cursebird‘ through a very *serendipitous tweet exchange with JP (the 5th beatle of the Cluetrain Manifesto and oracle of all things online and social):

I tried to go back and collect some cursebird screenshots as evidence but alas, I’m too late. At least one punter out there shares some of my enthusiam for cursebird’s window into the global brain.

billmerrill :

Watching fucking cursebird instead of dumbass teevee, better election coverage.

2008-11-04 18:54:22

*serendipity

Fang – Mike Seyfang

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And that’s fine because I decide to ‘give away’ most of my rights to my digital content in the hope that someone will find it useful and re-use it to tell their story. No need to ask, just be polite and give me attribution (which Richard did by linking to my ‘mikeblogs‘ flickr account). That’s what:

cc:by or ‘Creative Commons – Attribution’ means.

• Sure, Richard could have made me look stupid – but I do a pretty good job of that myself.
• Sure, he could make money off that post – good luck to him, he did the hard work.
• Either way I gain more than I lose by having my work re-mixed into a new context. Had I licensed my work in a more restrictive way (say cc:by-nc-sa which means reuse must be non commercial and licensed in exactly the same way) it is unlikely that anyone would have found it, let alone re-used it.

I’m guessing here, but I suspect that Richard used the advanced search in flickr and decided only to look for images about ‘readwriteweb’ that he is free to use for commercial work, with modifications. Images licensed with more restrictions would simply not be displayed in the search results.

This is why only work that is freely licensed with continue to be relevant in future culture (but that is a rant too long for the short amount of time I have before sleep time).

Some other places you will find derivatives of my image:

http://fang.blip.tv/file/633462/ – a presentation that helped my create an excellent job
http://fang.blip.tv/file/105776/ – a mashup of Lessig and Downes that they have both seen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/323586161/ – my entry in a creative commons competition
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/306021623/in/pool-ccswagcontest06 – an entry by the winner of that creative commons competition
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/300492293/in/pool-ccswagcontest06 – the original image from which I borrowed the cc:frisbee
http://flickr.com/photos/31477768@N00/227948364 – my original hand drawn diagram
seyfang, mikeseyfang

Lambsy thinks the type of broadacre farming prevalent here in South Australia is sustainable because there is scope to adapt.

Leroy says we need to manage our water better, stop upstream rice and cotton farming but not build a desalination plant here in Adelaide.

Anne suggests a government buyback of water allocation would be better than costly engineering solutions to get the type of flows back from the Murray Darling basin that the environment needs.

The lobster might not be a water expert but is aware of local shortages and taking personal steps to reduce water consumption. (And gets extra kudos for being a good sport during the bootcamp by taking some some fake harsh criticism to demonstrate comments and trackbacks to the group).

Leighton reckons it is essential that our farmers change the way they operate, and that NoTill is the way to go. There is an interesting response to this assertion that incorporates everything from silver bullets to suburban lawns!

Michael makes an interesting point that regardless of the impact of climate change, the demand for output from crops will increase and that skilled farmers will find ways to adapt, driven by the market.

That IT guy writes about the inevitable evolution of farming practice but is really more interested in pictures than words. (I hope he finds a way to use blogs to share his wonderful images and suggest taking a look at creative commons licensing to make his work more ‘open’ and shareable).

And thanks for introducing me to photobubble – I love the way the help artists make money from physical representations (atoms) of their digital images (bits). The advice in their FAQ on ’stealing art’ is superb. For the record, my favourite is probably your ‘at hells entrance’ shot but I’ve included the image below because it fits with our theme of ‘future chaos’.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

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1. Have your own blog up and running
2. Have set up an RSS reader with some subscriptions
3. Explore blogs, podcasts, youtube, social networking and the wonders of RSS
4. Hook up with a group of other people exploring the same stuff at the same time with a chance to interact together in the weeks after the bootcamp

Details at:

litfuse.com.au/training

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Following your interest in the Web 2.0 training sessions, Mike Seyfang and I have set a time and date:
14th December 2007
Charles Hawker Conference Centre
Waite Campus
Waite Road
Urrbrae
(map provided on registration)

1. Blogging 101 (11:30 – 12:30)

A one hour introduction to blogging How to set up your own blog?
Where are all the good blogs?
Write your first blogRespond to other blogs and start your first online conversation
Cost $75.00
Registrations to michelle@litfuse.com.au

2. Web 2.0 Boot Camp (1:30 – 5:30)

(Blogging 101 is a pre-requisite)
A half day, no-holds-barred training session to quickly up-skill you or your staff on web 2.0 technologies:
Blogs
-  Find blogs
-  Respond to a blog
-  Different types of blogs
-  Tagging blogs
-  Changing the theme/look of your blog
-  Trackbacking blogs
-  Plugins
-  How to increase readership and search engine optimisation
RSS
-  What is an RSS reader?
Podcasts
-  Search for podcast channels you are interested in
-  How to download podcasts onto an i-pod (if you have one)
You-tube
-  What is You-tube
-  How to upload a You
-tube video Social Networking
-  Learn how to use new media to promote your ideas and connect with your customers
-  Vanity searches (How much “Google juice” do you and your business have?)
-  Beyond blogging
Cost $250.00
Registrations to michelle@litfuse.com.au

These sessions will be high-energy and fun, and will give you the basic information you need to delve into the online world of Web 2.0.

If you are anywhere near Adelaide this week do yourself a favour and get along.

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang