Hope for "The Electric Grandmother"?

Apparently Sony BMG adapted this video to show at one of their executive meetings. It portrays the progression of information technology and if the statistics can be believed (It obviously doesn't cite any of its sources), it certainly makes you take pause.

From an advertising perspective, the fact that it took 38 years for radio, 13 years for television and just 4 years for internet to reach a market audience of 50 million, seems unbelievable to me. And only 2 years for facebook?! Crazy. It really reinforces the idea that we've only begun to delve into what the web is and what it is to become.

Whether addressing the state of education in our country, the evolution of jobs and job creation, to the explosion of the internet and how it has changed our world...It is really amazing how much instantaneous information we've gotten used to having at our fingertips.

Speaking of having whatever we want at our fingertips, does that mean that in my lifetime there's the possibility people could have their very own electric grandmother like the one in the movie I remember watching as a kid? I mean if computers are going to exceed the computational capabilities of the human species by 2049, it can't be that far off, right? I'll keep my fingertips crossed.

All Over But the Shoutin'

I just finished a fabulous book called All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. It is a very affecting book that chronicles Bragg's life growing up impoverished in the pinewoods of Alabama with an alcoholic and mean-tempered father, a strong-willed and loving mother and two dramatically different brothers. The center of the story is his mother, who spent her entire life without so that her sons could have a little more than living on welfare could provide. Using both strengths and weaknesses from his parents, narrowly avoiding the penitentiary or a life in the mills, he signs up for a journalism class that eventually leads him to a job writing for The New York Times.

Bragg brings us into his life and affects our understanding of society, in a way not unlike that of Holden Caulfield or Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer–All being similarly hardheaded yet at their core kindhearted rebels who rebound through life making trouble and keeping the rest of us honest.

There are many kinds of books. Some clearly paint a picture of a time and place and allow you to feel that you are accurately, truthfully experiencing the life of another person. This is certainly one of those books and through his story, his broadening point of view, I was even able to see things in my life with a little more clarity.

If you're looking for a good book and a fairly quick read, check it out.

Minimal Thought

Interconnectedness in the world has at times surprised, comforted and even humbled me in many ways.

Along with the rest of the world, I watch and listen to the daily reports of where things are headed. The markets rise and fall, families are devastated by joblessness and homelessness, our environment is challenged by our recent history of ignoring sustainability...AND it seems it is happening EVERYWHERE. Even if we all work together, I wonder to myself if it will ever be enough.

I started thinking about it again after watching "GLASS: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts" - A part of the "American Masters" series last night on PBS. A brilliant man and an interesting documentary, I recommend checking it out if ever given the chance. Anyway, even though he may not like the term, people often refer to Glass as a minimalist composer.

'Minimalism seeks the meaning of art in the immediate and personal experience of the viewer in the presence of a specific work. There is no reference to another previous experience (no representation), no implication of a higher level of experience (no metaphysics), no promise of a deeper intellectual experience (no metaphor). Instead Minimalism presents the viewer with objects of charged neutrality; objects usually rectilinear, employing one or two materials, one or two colors, repeated identical units, factory-made or store-bought; objects that are without any hierarchy of interest, that directly engage and interact with the particular space they occupy; objects that reveal everything about themselves, but little about the artists; objects whose subject is the viewer.' -Michael Craig-Martin, Introduction to the collection of minimalist works at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool.

Though Glass' talents have long since been classified as Minimalistic, the interconnectedness of things pops back into my head and I think more about how this all relates to today.

Even in the Ad industry, there is buzz recognizing the resurgence of Minimalism. From fashion to packaging design, people are talking about runways full of black and gray and the continuation of the cola wars as Coke and Pepsi battle it out in the sparsity of their designs.

I then think about how Minimalism is being implemented in my life in other ways. NGAGE, the agency I work for, is even playing a part by moving into a LEED certified building and going "green".

Sure, these examples may all be viewed as trends, and admittedly they are trivial when you think about the seriousness that the world finds itself in today. But I can't help letting it give me a little hope that people are listening, we are not necessarily doomed and change may be on the way. The power of interconnectedness at work again? I like to think so.

A Brain, An Athlete, A Basket Case, A Princess, A Criminal...And A Digital Immigrant?

While having dinner with some friends, one asked if anyone else had caught "The Breakfast Club" recently on TV. Part of growing up in the 80s for me means a shameless love for John Hughes films so my ears perked up.

There is a scene in the movie where John, one of the detainees, is rearranging the library's card catalogue in rebellion. For those of you who didn't spend their high-school years in tight-rolled jeans and aqua net-sprayed hair, there was actually a time when the nerve center of the entire library was a 5" x 7" drawer filled with note cards. No computers, no Yahoo! or Google. Just the original search engine. The Dewey Decimal system.

Both friends are educators at a well-known private school in the very suburbs that Hughes himself graduated from in Chicago. They brought up that while "re-viewing" the movie, it occurred to them during that scene just how dated it is for many of their students now, as they are all digital natives. There has never been a time in their lives when computers, internet and email didn’t exist. Digital natives grew up with all of it. Digital immigrants, by contrast, had to be introduced to it. Adapt to it.

Now despite my birthday placing me in the “immigrant” category, I have always considered myself as savvy as any digital native. But looking back at the conversation today, it occurs to me that that as “with it” as I like to think I am, we were still talking about catching the Brat Pack on old-fashioned cable TV—Not online.

They can’t deport me for that, can they?