FCC and Net Ecology
Here are three thoughts tying together (1) the groundswell perceived by Jeff Jarvis with respect to the FCC's future and (2) the project of helping people see the differences between networks and hierarchies:
1. The Flash Part. Advances come through making things visible. Get people to see, for one day in September 2005, how they are connected to others online, whether as bloggers, members of an online community, or lurkers. (”Net Ecology Day.”) Show this picture (which will be quite a sight) to people who aren't online often or at all.
2. The Empirical Part. Connect this picture (somehow) to money and opportunity. Each of us believes we're above average and just about to escape from whatever rut we're in. That's what gives us hope to go on. If we realized just how badly things were actually going, we'd all be Eeyores. So link Net Ecology Day to jobs, numbers, innovation, and opportunity. Because people are able to be online and connect to others, jobs and revenues and all the rest are bubbling up, creating entirely new economies. Show people who aren't netheads that they could be employed by being online.
3. The Netizen/Policy Part. By September 2005, connect the visualization and the empirical evidence of opportunity to the dangers of overregulation of the internet. Show how order can emerge from decentralized, productive actions (linking and working together), without any single government agency being in charge of online social policies.
This may help cheer up David Weinberger, if nothing else.
All ideas welcome.
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