[OSGeo-Discuss] How Do We Reboot a Spirit of Cooperation & Collaboration? A Little Help, Please!

[Miles Fidelman]

Hi Folks,

/Turning and turning in the widening gyre /

/Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/

/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/

/The best lack all conviction, while the worst /

/Are full of passionate intensity./  ... Yeats

It strikes me that we - We The People, Americans, Humanity - need an 
Attitude Adjustment.We need to relearn how to think & work together for 
mutual support & benefit.  My best efforts have been to little effect.  
I'd welcome some suggestions, some support, some participation.Herding 
cats is one thing, but one can only tilt at windmills for so long.

We've networked ourselves together.  6 Billion of us have the power to 
be anywhere & everywhere, all at once.  To think & work together on a 
global scale.  To think globally focus our resources to act locally.  So 
what do we do?  We share cat pictures, watch porn, flood the world with 
spam, and troll each other with political polemics.  We've become the 
Borg, we're living in the Matrix, and 3-D Printing Westworld around us.  
Our planet is dying, our infrastructure is crumbling, monsters rise from 
the id of our collective consciousness, and we hand the nuclear codes to 
a "Reality" TV star, with a penchant for firing people & stirring up WWE 
style mayhem.

Is there some way back to /Life Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, E 
Pluribus Unum, Truth/ /Justice & the American Way? /Or forward to 
/Prosperity & Long Life/ in /Infinite Diversity in/ /Infinite 
Combination, Being All that We Can Be, Being Excellent to Each Other & 
Partying / /On? /

----

At least some of us, here, were involved w/ FreeNets and the early days 
of /Community Memory,/ bulletin boards, FidoNet, community networks - 
attempts to build an /American Public Telecommunications Network/ of 
FreeNets, and an /Association for Community Media/ for cable access 
channels.  All of that was lost when FaceBook & Social Media & NextDoor 
& local websites hosted by big ate the world.

My work at the /Center for Civic Networking -/ and now with 
/Civic.Net/ and /ThisOldNeighborhood.Net /- is an attempt to recreate a 
network of public spaces on the Internet - an Internet or Syndicate of 
Neighborhood Networks & Civic Forums - but there are not a lot of 
Neighborhood Networks or Civic Forums to integrate.

It seems like folks don't /want/ to talk with each other anymore.  The 
polarizers, and propagandists, and market segmentationists have done 
their work all too well.  People don't come to town meeting or condo 
meetings.  Everyone wants to be a rockstar and a solopreneur, rather 
than part of a team, or a community.  Folks flock to the latest 
personality or fad, a virtual event with a politician or media 
personality - but actually sit down to think and work together, to 
mutual benefit - not so much.  Folks will march for this cause or that, 
work for politicians, buy snake-oil.  Some will go to Cons and LARPs, 
and build a city in the dessert at Burning Man;  some will show up for 
Hackathons, Service Days, /Habitat-for-Humanity/ Builds, rush off to map 
crises or jump into fires, but collaborate - think & plan & work 
together for mutual support & benefit - not so much.  We're oh so much 
better at shouting slogans at each other - than at looking for ways we 
can work together to mutual benefit.

----

I've been doing my damndest to recruit volunteers to organize local 
/civic networks/ and /community forums/- to use platforms they already 
have to bring people together (the way WBUR in Boston has organized 
/CitySpace/ as a venue for events & programs that bring people 
together.  Or the Whole Earth Catalog & the WELL, back in the day.  Or 
what /MainVest /tried to do as a crowdsourcing vehicle for main street 
businesses - until their bank failed).

I haven't been getting a lot of traction.  I've got a bunch of followers 
on /LinkedIn, /a bunch of (mostly non-paying) subscribers to my blogs - 
but practically /nobody speaks up /- either to talk about what they're 
doing and seeking collaboration for, or even to ask folks to join with 
them to work on local pressing common problems. And all the media types 
who HAVE large audiences, are moving to Substack, spouting the same-old 
same-old, and inviting people to attend their lectures, webinars, have 
coffee with them, send them money - but offering nothing to help people 
work with each other.  All talk, no action.

---

It seems like the old line is true - you can lead folks to water, but 
you can't make them drink.

Whatever happened to the /Spirit of America?/ What will it take to wake 
people up?  To motivate people to respond to a clear & present danger 
the way they did following the first /Earth Day? /

Please... Speak up.  With serious suggestions & proposals.  Save the 
pontification for other threads.

Thanks,

Miles

-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.  .... Yogi Berra

Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown

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