Sometimes we who blog/post/forum-post/email-list get rather looked down upon by, well, mainly by those who don’t do those things LOL. My reaction is generally a shrug because since the beginning of my web time, back in days just before real web browsers, the idea of being able to easily share information between people was all wonderful and exciting. All you needed was a computer and a plug into the internet and it was one big world. And I was quite sure you would have those things before you knew what hit you. Most people did. Some people didn’t. Some people did and then proceeded to treat it like it wasn’t at all like the big thing in the driveway that they’d conquered once and now drive everywhere without a qualm. But I digress.
Are there good things about being connected via the web? Of course there are. You can meet and converse with people everywhere. I was watching a show about art the other night and how the artists of the day converged in parts of France, and in areas of Paris and connected not only with like-minded folk and those who shared a language but with people who were different in materials used, thoughts about style and the world etc. This caused a big cauldron of new things happening – things went in many directions at once and things changed “suddenly”.
Well, I thought, suddenly in that patrons of the art showed up at annual shows and were shocked to find things that made them uncomfortable. If you gaze in one direction long enough, whatever lays out of view is going to be a bit different and uncomfortable.
In any case, today’s Robert Genn newsletter is mainly about the importance of keeping the work flow going as a way of keeping the work flow going, and one of the suggestions is to share photos of work in progress via email, not necessarily for feedback or critique:
…more often than not it’s just the simple human joy of sharing. “Electronic interdependence,” famously said Marshall McLuhan, “recreates the world in the image of a global village.” While we may operate as independent workers, we are not islands unto ourselves. The Brotherhood and Sisterhood is alive and well and living in cyberspace.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: “It’s a great time to be alive.” (George Lucas)
