David Eaves did something awesome. I didn’t clue into this possibility when I blogged about Umair Haque’s Generation M Manifesto. He literally remixed and edited it.

I was inspired to start editing it myself but found I wanted to change too much — not that I disagreed with the spirit of the thing (which I agree with almost too-passionately) but because I have my own perspective, with my own specialized vocabulary, which I use to address the issues that I’m in the best position to understand and affect. Accordingly, I’m inclined to frame it in rather different terms.

But the last thing I’d want to do is oppose or contradict what Haque and Eaves or the rest of the best are saying.

It shouldn’t be a tug-of-war over terminology and semantics. That’s the old way of doing things — what Generation M is supposed to overcome.

But, nor can we merely “agree to disagree.” We have to keep the dialog open and alive.

What these conversations and debates do, which we need to ensure they continue doing, is generate familiarity & orientation, adaptation & integration.

The notion of Familiarity replaces the notion of categorization. Instead of silos we have networks of relations. Instead of neatly arranging everything (and everybody) into discrete slots, we need to appreciate things for the various traits they share with this-and that — and, ultimately, their individual character.

Orientation replaces the overconfident notion that we actually know where everything is and where we’re going. We can’t plan everything. We will go off the road from time to time (maybe because the road gets washed-out or collapsed, maybe because we see better opportunities in previously untravelled & unexplored areas), so it’s better to have the ability to re-orient ourselves in changing environments.

I’ll leave Adaptation and Integration with you… and there are a lot more notions to explore…

What it comes down to is that this is really an anti-manifesto kind of movement. It’s about the process — whether it’s the process of remixing or sharing or debating… — not anything that could be laid out comprehensively in absolute terms.

Put simply, it isn’t about the document, it’s about the dialog.

At the same time, we need documents and draft manifestos as platforms or frameworks and references for dialog. Discussing things like this is the best way to exercise our minds, voices, and vocabularies; to generate familiarity and rapport with others; to understand their ideas and appreciate their perspectives.

… as long as they keep our conversations and adventures alive.

No related posts.

Read Carlin Romano’s piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Obama, Philosopher in Chief” (via aldaily).

The article includes a number of useful references for further study (if you haven’t read them already). Adding to Obama’s speech in Cairo (as well as at Buchenwald and Omaha Beach), here are some key books mentioned:

• Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (W.W. Norton, 2006)
• Simon Schama, The American Future: A History (Ecco, 2009)
• William H. Goetzmann, Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism (Basic Books, 2009)

Money quote:

A truly cosmopolitan culture permits its members to choose different styles of life and thought, including antiquated ones, as long as they don’t harm the neighbors. Obama, like no president before him, has notified the rest of the world that the United States will continue to export its philosophy, ethos, and political theory — but through conversation, not declamation, seeking free adoption, not grudging acquiescence.

At this point I have a strong sense this is really going somewhere and I want to be on top of it when it happens. There’s a lot more to be said but I don’t have all the resources I need to say anything meaningful or new. My own reaction to Obama’s Cairo speech — and his leadership style in general — is here:

It isn’t exactly “selfless” leadership. It isn’t about putting oneself ahead of, nor behind, everyone else’s wants and needs. It’s about granting everyone the respect and responsibility they deserve as people who are capable of making their own decisions — whether good or bad — and using those connections to cultivate mutual benefit, gradually proliferating the good and diminishing the bad, by speaking to people, not to abstract political conceptions.

Here’s more on Obama’s pragmatic, learning-oriented approach, with more on the man here and here. Here’s more on pragmatism, and a bit more in Open/Conceptual’s very first post.

No related posts.

You’ll remember last week I made a call for recommendations of blogs to include in a blogroll here. The idea was to start developing sort of a core set of common references so we’re all be ‘starting on the same page’ in our conversations.

You’ll see there’s now a Blogger-style blogroll on the far right that automatically updates via Google’s AJAX feed API (more blogroll plugins here). I’m a big fan of showing the most recent posts because, beyond giving the site itself a more dynamic and engaging feel, it promotes the brainstorming aspect of this project. I’ve already clicked on a few article links that caught my eye as I was setting it up.

LdnBeta’s mission is specifically to stir digital innovation and engagement in London Ontario’s civic and social spheres, but that encompasses a lot of different fields. Everyone will have their own favourites within their niche (which we’re all promoting on our own blogs already — let’s hope) but there also has to be a significant amount of general knowledge shared among developers & designers, visionaries & activists, administrators, practitioners & executives etc in common.

[Is there something essential from your field you think we should know about? Tell us about it in the comments!]

There’s a time and a place for focusing on a speciality, and there’s a time and a place for dialog between specialists and generalists alike. This happens to be a venue for the latter. Titus nailed it earlier on:

Here is how I what Ldn Beta to evolve; It’s a resource, it’s a community meeting place, it’s a sounding board, and an ideas blog. All told it should encourage people to tap into the social aspect of the web and how that effects everyone here in London. It should serve as encouragement that we can effect positive change in the city, and we can do that through collaboration.

So in light of that, I thought of doing something a little ironic (for now): I decided not to include London blogs in the blogroll. 

The first reason is that I just didn’t know exactly where to draw the line — which London blogs deserve to be featured and which ones don’t? Last time I counted I had 101 London blogs in Google Reader (shared here, also check out Bill’s Delicious links and London blog mashup here and here) and lately I’ve been adding at least one more every day or two. When there’s that many it defeats the purpose.

It’s open for dialog (as everything is here) but the best way to draw the line would be to only include those blog(ger)s that are active in the discussion. My next thought was, well, in that case, why not just say the comments are the blogroll. 

So I finally got around to setting up Disqus, which should also open up opportunities to proliferate the discussion to/from other places. The last post grabbed some reactions from Twitter, and you can comment under your Facebook or Twitter profile with the option of having your comments automatically show up in your stream on either of those platforms.

Anyways, work in progress. We’ll try it for now and keep changing as more fun apps and stuff get developed.

[Also, almost forgot: I changed the license from Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike to the more open Attribution license -- which is more consistent with the spirit of things here... Another change I made was to the permalinks, which doesn't seem to have had any adverse effects.]

[Something else too: along with the idea that "the comments are the blogroll" there's still room to highlight other London initiatives like BlogLDN, 1 Love London, and London Photo Walk. Any creative ideas?]

Related posts:

1. Reiterating the Focus on Collaboration