Mr. Dippy Recommends this and I do too

I suppose I'm the last one to "discover" this video of Obama's words put to music. Mr. Dippy said it was good, as did my pal Mindy, so I looked. See for yourself. Obama speech song

Digital Native gives digital immigrant a "heads up."

Note: contains personal anecdote, but may be useful anyway.

Also called "the millenials" that wacky group of folk about 29 or younger, are more connected than some Boomers like myself. I was using Gmail and I finally figured out how to use iChat. Then more time passed and I realized the little green dot meant someone was online and I could chat with them.

My son was online. I sent him some messages, and in my Boomer fashion, I was expecting a reply ASAP. I got an explanation and I share it with everyone. If you are a digital native, tell your Boomer parents and their friends about this. If you are Boomer, just take it to heart and try and at least have a semblance of digital cool.

My son: i was out
but yes we had quite a nice lunch


this is how instant messaging works, you say something i answer 10 or fifteen minutes later at my convenience

Okay, now I get it.

New media is always disruptive.

I didn't say that. Marshall McLuhan did. But it is something that is a hard lesson to grasp.

The "1984" mash-up that puts Hillary Clinton in the "Big Brother" role, and the iPod carrying, screen smasher who represents a blow for freedom is wearing an "Obama" t-shirt.

I found it and the brief discussion that helped me put it in context here.

I personally think the attempt to link Hillary and Big Brother is weak, but I agree that for lots of young people there is a generational line in politics and much as people my age ( need I say born before 1960)would like to pretend there isn't.

If you don't believe me, ask an intelligent 20-something about nuclear power as a solution to global warming. As a boomer, it is hard to admit we might not know it all, but the only solution to many problems is going to involve multi-generational cooperation.

Giant Zero Journalism

Via Amy Gahran in Poynter, I found this essay by Doc Searls on Ground Zero Journalism

I will be posting a longer review and essay about this myself.

Countering cultural imperialism at home

Last night I was listening to Kot and DeRogatis' talking about a talented performer who is signed to a record label whose latest recording cannot be bought, at any cost. Instead, Tim Fite's very political, satirical and musical album is free for anyone to download. Fite told Kot & DeRogatis that if he was making a statement critical of mass consumerism and how hypercapitalism is ruining our democracy, he couldn't very well profit from it in the capitalistic sense.

This album would sell. And if radio were still a variety of independent stations instead of many outlets from the same three or four mega-corporations, this song would be playing in lots of stores, homes and cars. Consolidation of radio means you won't hear this on your boom box, but do go to Over the Counter Culture and download it yourself.

What does Fite gain from giving this away? He gets his work out to a large audience as in creating "buzz." He establishes his voice or point of view. I think he creates interest in his subsequent work, too. Fite is anticipating an economic system that is emerging from the clash of our post-free market capitalism and a gift economy. He is an anomaly this year because he is giving away his ideas in a digital form for no monetary exchange as well as for his critique of consumer and mass consumption society.

This is an economic shift with social and political implications. You can read about it in print in "Happynomics:Everything you know about the economy is wrong" by Bill McKibben in Mother Jones March-April edition where he discusses the problems with modern economic assumptions of "maximum utility" and rational decision-making that leave out how people actually find satisfaction. You can see it bubbling up in the shift of attention among people as audience from mass produced media to user-generated content. Mash-ups, sampling and sharing are upwellings of behavior that is "irrational" to neoclassic economics.

Where will Fite be next year? My guess is that he won't stand out for his marketing tactics, but I hope his voice and point of view are still strong and clear.

Video from the album