Considering Commonwealth
Commonwealth. It is a term I thought about throughout the three days of the recent NAMAC conference in Boston. I think about it as the Thursday morning plenary session orients us to the shifting funding, policy, demographic, and technological landscapes of our current media and culture environment. I wonder, “What is our common-ness as our society fragments and what does wealth look like in a struggling economy?”
Commonwealth. The term continues to defy definition in the Friday morning plenary session as the conversation evolves around the potentials of the emerging culture shift prompted by rapid changes in technology. These changes are transforming space (physical and virtual). These changes are blurring boundaries between creators and audiences. These changes are remaking our media marketplace. I begin to ruminate on the economic definition of “common goods.” Common goods provide no incentive to private market forces because ownership cannot be clearly marked and bounded. Users cannot be excluded and market transactions are made difficult. Yet common goods can be degraded, exhausted, made less and ruined. I think, “What is it we risk in this new rush towards openness and sharing within the context of a commons?”
Commonwealth. I begin to see the wealth part in the final plenary session on Saturday morning as artists, makers and creativity finally take center stage. These are the core of our work; our raison d’etre. Wealth made real through work created and shared. I see the wealth in the conversations, connections, and relationships made visible in hallways, at tables, in meeting rooms and real physical spaces beyond our hotel headquarters. I see it too in our virtual gathering spaces made possible by networked technology.
Commonwealth. I come back to the idea of “the commons” and what it is we must protect. Media consolidation threatens the diversity of our media ecology. Commercial media spews toxic messages and images into our cultural landscape. The new social networking tools threaten to strip mine the very core of our wealth – our relationships, our connections, our knowledge, our creativity. I don’t want us to squander the energy and possibilities provided by the shifts towards openness and sharing. But I also don’t want us to take our gifts, our wealth, for granted. I want to make sure we don’t bestow them on those who do not deserve them.
So leaving the NAMAC conference driving north from our Boston gathering point to my home in Lowell, I ponder how we can protect our “commonwealth.” I consider the mechanisms created by communities to protect natural resources like rain forests, fishing grounds, and shorelines. Things like agreed upon boundaries, rule for access and use, inputs from all stakeholders, outcomes and goals that can be measured and monitored, and systems of accountability and enforcement for ill-use of valuable resources. I see efforts like Creative Commons licensing as a step in this direction. I am energized to seek out other protective indicators as well. I am hoping others in the field have some suggestions to get me started.
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