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by Detlef
When I saw this tree in the warm light of the evening sun I was overwhelmed by an archaic feeling of connectedness with my long-gone past. Not my individual past, but the past of our societies, our species: Homo Sapiens.
In the rare warm evenings we used to sit and talk under the storyteller tree and tell stories to make sense out of our lifes – or simply to gossip and to keep in touch and up to date.
Scripture had not been invented yet, so we just talked. If we had a storyteller among us, we heard stories, often the same stories told over and over again in different ways.
Than came scripture, which was holy, eventually there was writing, books, radio and tv. We did not gather to exchange stories any more. We seldom talked any more. We sat and watched. We became consumers. The sense of our lifes emanated from the televison screen.
Than came the internet and we started to talk to each other again. We started to write to each other again. There a not any longer very few senders and an overwhelming majority of mere recipients. Now everybody is a sender.
I liked Rob Long’s comment in Fred Wilson’s Blog: the internet and the social media are leading us back to the old days of conversation, talk and storytelling.
Perhaps the internet is our new storyteller tree.
Let’s find a way to do things wrong | Detlef Cordes 2:13 am on January 18, 2009 Permalink |
[...] let’s all convene under the storyteller tree and figure out a way to do things the wrong [...]
Jeb Dickerson 10:18 am on January 18, 2009 Permalink |
I love this perspective Detlef. I’m a bit torn, myself, because the internet represents the possibility for increased consumption, on a very large scale. And that was my experience with it early on. I suspect that’s the case with most ‘casual’ users of the internet as well.
But as with most things, it’s how you use it. My experiences over the past few months have shown me the inherent value of the internet, and it reflects your sentiment. It may not be face-to-face, but it’s interaction, collaboration, nonetheless.
I have been very fortunate to have a few folks interact with me in this space (yourself included), and I like to think of our conversations as story-starters. Perchance the generations that follow will give these stories legs of their own.
Detlef 10:05 pm on January 18, 2009 Permalink |
Jeb, I agree with “it’s how you use it”.
Unlike the old media on the Internet there are not a few powerful senders versus millions of passive receivers , but everybody can be a sender. It’s a democratic medium.
Everybody has her or his voice, everybody is able to articulate what’s on their mind – if they have the means for a computer and an Internet connection.