---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: john sobol <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 3:00 AM Subject: Writings and P2P To: Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> Dear Michel, thank you for the kind note below and for the invitation to collaborate in some way on a publishing project. I have been quite interested in this possibility since receiving your email and I apologize for not having responded sooner. Although it is true I have been busy that is not much of an excuse. The real reason for my procrastination has been my confusion over what exactly I want to be publishing. I have not really got it sorted out even now, but anything is better than nothing at all so here I am with a somewhat scattered response... A few quick thoughts: - I have attached the manuscript that I mentioned to you, but when I look at it I am almost embarrassed by how much of it is drawn from the iDC list. I know that most people will not have read those posts so I probably shouldn't be concerned, but I also know you have so it feels a little self-indulgent. Anyway, for what it's worth here it is. At the moment it is called I Scream You Scream We All Scream for I Scream. Make of it what you will. I am keen to hear any and all feedback. As far as publishing it with your foundation, if you happened to think it was a good idea I'd be open to that for sure. At this point I'd just like to get these ideas out there. - As I think I mentioned before, I had been wanting to put together a more coherent and easy to follow book but and to some extent put the above one together because I didn't have the time to do a whole new one. Having said that, I have begun writing some chapters of the new book since I last wrote to you, and though I still don't have time to write the whole thing in one shot, it might be possible for me to crank out chapters like these as essays. I could imagine - if you happen to find them worthy - publishing them on the P2P foundation blog as a series and then eventually assembling them into a book. There are three chapters attached (they still need some tweaking but you will get the idea) I am working on a 4th about Museums, with others to follow on various topics such as Democracy, Branding, Music, Human Resources, etc. They are all basically surveys that are not designed to be comprehensive so much as to popularize a certain way of seeing contemporary culture and cultural issues, and to show how my oral/literate/digital framework applies to and sheds light on all aspects of society. - Lastly, I was wondering - if you have time to think about this given the amount of material I am sending your way - if you would have any comments on a business plan that I have developed and that I am actively looking to implement these days. In fact I quit my job in order to do this and am determined to make it happen. However, I am hampered by lack of capital. (I have discovered that it takes money in hand to get investors to take you seriously. An unfortunate Catch-22) At the moment the business model itself is fairly traditional - although the context is very radical and innovative (and of course creative!). And quite frankly I am doing this in part to make a bunch of money, since I have none and am tired of not having any, and have a family etc. But I am not totally crazy about that business model even though I think it will be very successful, inasmuch as it is essentially very capitalist. I would be open to other suggestions about ways of proceeding, both in terms of attracting the modest investment capital and/or human resources to bring it to life, and how it might function as an economy, if you have any. I have considered starting it as a non-profit, and I may still do that, but I have been dealing with non-profits in the arts for most of my adult life and am basically tired of them. I'd kind of like to make a lot of money so I can do what I want after creatively without having to answer to anyone. Anyway, I know that you are deeply immersed in new economic ideas so you might have some thoughts on my plans, which would be welcome. My only request is that you not circulate the info I am attaching to anyone. Thank you. The business is called The Media League. I won't send you the whole prospectus but I will attach a diagram explaining the business model and a brochure describing how it will work. Again, all comments welcome... Michel, I see from your posts on facebook how busy you are so I will understand if you have little time to invest in all of this. But I respect your opinion and integrity so would welcome any feedback that you do have. Best wishes, John Sobol On 8-Feb-11, at 1:58 AM, Michel Bauwens wrote: Hi John, thanks for the response, for the blog post, I would just add a few sentences in front and perhaps at the end to contextualize it, and I would publish it separately as an entry 'as is' great to hear about this, by the way, we just created a p2p foundation coop to start publishing books, if you don't find a publisher, let us know, I"m interested in getting the file indeed, I can print it out here locally and make it into book form so I can read it, also, perhaps you should consider a series for us, with excerpts both of your old book, to set the historical stage (say a series of 3), followed by 3 of your new one, just a thought, Michel On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 1:50 AM, john sobol <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Michael,
nice to hear from you. I'm glad that to hear my post resonated with you, as your posts inevitably do with me.
Can you tell me exactly what you'd like with regard to my post? I'm afraid I'm not quite sure. (Do you want a blog post, or for me to leave a comment on someone else's post...or?)I would be happy to oblige if you can given me clearer instructions.
Also, it occurs to me to mention something to you. As you know I have a very particular analysis of digital culture, one rooted in my personal experience exploring, unlocking and interweaving oral, literate and digital technologies and cultures throughout my life. I wrote one book introducing this subject (Digitopia Blues - Race, Technology and the American Voice, Banff Centre Press, 2002), but for some years I have been wanting to write the sequel which addresses the present and future based on the same paradigm articulated in that book (which mostly covers the past, i.e. how we got here). I could never get around to writing another book though, but a while back I started assembling all of my recent writings on this subject and editing them. For example, when I collected everything I had posted to iDC I had over 100 pages, and I had over 300 in total from dozens of sources. Eventually I edited these down to a more manageable size and I now have what I would consider a final - if somewhat eclectic - version of a manuscript that articulates my philosophy (Interactivism) in detail. At the core of that philosophy is a historically-rooted trans-cultural understanding of the meaning of that 'symbiosis of virtual and material sociality' that I mentioned in my latest iDC post.
Would you be interested in reading it? I can send you a pdf if you are.
If you do not have time for this that's OK too. Thanks and...
Keep up the good work, John
-- www.johnsobol.com
On 7-Feb-11, at 1:41 AM, Michael Bauwens wrote:
right on John!!
I was wondering if you would consider turning these pieces in a publishable comment for the p2p blog?
if you can, please reply to michelsub2004 at gmail, as I'm not using this box regularly ..
Michel
----- Original Message ----
From: john sobol <[email protected]> To: idc <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, February 4, 2011 11:18:29 PM Subject: Re: [iDC] <nettime> Egyptian Revolution: 2nd decolonialisation for
all
Hi Judith, and all...
although I agree that the self-involvement and self interest of media folk (old and new) is breathtaking, this is hardly new, or news.
Is there anyone who would suggest that the demonstrations don't matter? I don't think anyone has or would.
But I think if some new media types are overly proud of the role that social networks have played in these protests, many on this list are perhaps overly hostile to recognizing that role as well. Why I'm not sure. But in my opinion it would be as foolish to deny the power of one as to deny the power of the other, or more importantly their essential interconnectedness.
It is this aspect - the symbiosis of virtual and material sociality - that has created the drama that continues to unfold. One could and would not have achieved anything without the other. That is the lesson of these events, as it has been the lesson of many other evolving social contexts in recent years. Certainly people are in the streets talking with one another, as they are online talking to one another (where they still can be, and where they were until the killswitch was hit) creating distributed, non-hierarchical, temporary autonomies in both realms, each feeding and sustaining the other.
Where will it lead? Quite possibly nowhere that any one who dreams of freedom wishes. But we shall see. Certainly, as the recent executions in Iran proved, the nefarious workings of tyranny are enhanced by the end of privacy and the durability of data, just as they are threatened by other inherently liberalizing characteristics of digital culture. But either way, this is - assuming we all survive ourselves in the coming years - just the beginning of many revolutions to come, digitally-enabled, materially lived, both progressive and alarmingly tribal (hello Tea Party!) against which I fear the only real resistance may prove to be the authoritarian hammer of literate politico-militarism (i.e. 'order' as it is defined by those who cannot abide social structures that resist paperization). Witness Obama's desire (soon to be imposed) for an orderly transition. That would be the same kind of orderly transition that he imposed on the auto industry, Guantanamo, wall street, health care, BP, afghanistan...
Anyway, I risk losing my way in the tangent that is Obama's heartbreaking betrayal, so I'll stop here. I would conclude by saying that it is just as pointless to argue against calling this the Twitter Revolution as it is to argue for it. The behaviours are real, the impacts are real. The argument over nomenclature is divisive and distracting.
The one and only time i was in Cairo - some 20 years ago - I was lost for a week in a fog of fever, sweat and dreams, cared for by strangers. Today I'm a ghost, lost in the fevers, sweat and dreams of unknown friends seeking freedom, and finding it with each inspired breath, each courageous step, each defiant word...
peace and blessings be upon them john
On 4-Feb-11, at 10:00 AM, Judith Rodenbeck wrote:
"Most of" the people in Tahrir Square are NOT journalists/bloggers!
And they are communicating with hands and voices, giving the conditional lie to the notion that demonstrations don't matter. The self-involvement of "new media" folk is breathtaking.
On Feb 4, 2011, at 7:27 AM, sumandro wrote:
Why are people on streets in Cairo are tweeting and claiming hashtag spaces? Only because most of them are journalists/bloggers and they require the global audience for their living? How does tweeting from the streets change their experiences and future experiences of those streets?
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