Before going any further we must stop and point. Steve The other strange, almost surreal aspect to the evening was the multi-layered It was kind of unnatural. Everyone was on their best behavior, By a We made a few comments during the discussion, but it was carried largely It wasn’t just the presence of the cameras that had everybody on edge. After In fact, the Dowbrigade felt that he was the ONLY one in the room, with When we were a kid, we became We assume that everyone has these fantasies, at some time or another. Variations on “The Truman Show” scenario. The At any rate, Rebecca has kindly tagged all Steve’s Video<\/a><\/p>\n Rebecca’s delicious This weeks meeting of the Berkman Thursday Bloggers Salon was certainly atypical. For one, it was being filmed by and ABC crew for a story on Nightline. For another, and perhaps as a result, it was the best attended meeting … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/onoffrec.jpg\")
<\/a>This
\n weeks meeting of the Berkman
\n Thursday Bloggers Salon<\/a> was certainly
\n atypical. For one, it was being filmed by and ABC crew for a story
\n on Nightline. For another, and perhaps as a result, it was the best
\n attended meeting in Thursday Night history, with all of the regulars,
\n plenty of newcomers and cameos from luminaries like Andy
\n Carvin<\/a>, Doc
\n Searls<\/a> and the Hobo Travelor.<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Garfield<\/a> was there, of course, and has already edited and
\n posted an absolutely
\n brilliant
\n video<\/a> of the proceedings (love the window reflection shot,
\n Steve) which has apparently shamed the network boys into withdrawing
\n or delaying their own version of events, which had originally been scheduled
\n to run Monday night. So check out Steve’s
\n video<\/a> first.<\/p>\n
\n complexity of the coverage; ABC was shooting the meeting, Steve was shooting
\n the meeting, Steve was shooting ABC, ABC was shooting Steve shooting
\n ABC. 3 or 4 people were blogging live, there was a parallel IRC chat
\n going on, and at least a dozen bloggers were recording impressions and
\n notes for blogging later. We recognized digital cameras covering
\n a gamut from 1 to 17 Megapixels, and voice was being recorded on microphoned
\n iPods, laptops, and stray microphones on the table attached by snaking
\n cords to dedicated recording devices.<\/p>\n
\n there was no overt swearing, except when Dave
\n Weinberger<\/a> made a joke
\n while the ABC cameraman changed the film cassette in his camera. <\/p>\n
\n coincidence of arrival time, the Dowbrigade snagged a seat at the Grownups
\n Table, right between official Media Star \/ Hot Babe Rebecca
\n Mackinnon<\/a> and current Berkman uber-Blogger Dave
\n Weinburger<\/a>,
\n thereby insuring ourselves at least peripheral face time on camera. <\/p>\n
\n by wiser heads and broader minds. Even our traditional role as
\n "the spacy guy in the group" was usurped by the almost ethereally empathic
\n Taran Rampersand<\/a>, while Andy
\n the Hobo Travelor<\/a> lent the internationalist
\n viewpoint.<\/p>\n
\n all, we are all already minor celebrities living in a digital hothouse,
\n recorded by friends and family, security and traffic cams, cell phones
\n and video bloggers, almost everyday. It must be, we concluded, a testament
\n to the still powerful media magic of the Big Three and Network News.<\/p>\n
\n the possible exception of the ABC crew, who was acting normally and naturally. This
\n was because, as we advised the group at the beginning of the meeting,
\n the Dowbrigade is paranoid enough to assume that we are ALWAYS being
\n observed
\n and recorded
\n in some
\n way, shape or form. In this day and age it seems a safe assumption.<\/p>\n
\n convinced that we were the only real human being left alive on the planet,
\n and that everyone else who appeared to be human was really a robot or
\n an android, all part of an alien plot to study and experiment on the
\n last known human being in the universe – me. There were cameras everywhere,
\n recording our every move, studying our reactions to diverse stimuli.<\/p>\n
\n difference in our case is that we have adopted and adapted this belief
\n into a functional life-philosophy. If we are constantly under observation
\n by alien intelligence’s, then we are always ON THE RECORD, no?
\n It makes things simpler.<\/p>\n
\n of the posted versions<\/a> of
\n the meeting on delicious<\/a>, so by clicking
\n here you can get a kaleidoscopic smorgasbord of one of the most examined
\n events in the short, stellar
\n history of the blogosphere. It stands as a sort of 20-sided Bloggers
\n Rashomon<\/a>.
\n viewer pick your point of view. If the Dateline story ever does come
\n out, it will be an afterthought and a reflected shot (prescient
\n symbology, Steve) of something the network crew recorded, but didn’t
\n really understand or penetrate. What we finally took away from the meeting
\n was that the mainstream media didn’t understand blogging because they
\n put no "news value" on our ideas, or experience, our lives. The
\n Berkman group didn’t make up a neat "story" in their sense of the world,
\n there was no end, no plan, no hook, no controversy, no pathos, no celebrity
\n (except for Rebecca, who was the real reason they were there). The head
\n reporter seemed exasperated at our lack of newsworthiness. We
\n find it blogging’s saving grace.<\/p>\n
\n links<\/a> to all postings on the meeting<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"