Hitting A Drum and Object-Centred Sociality
Alec Couros,
Couros Blog,
Jan 11, 2008
A litle more on this subject. Take a look at this video. Now ask yourself, did a community form around this video? Maybe, but only in the most minimal sense possible, right? This video is not the 'object' of our community (of of any community you may belong to). Rather, it is better viewed as the medium through which we, the members of our community, express ourselves. Not a 'medium' in the sense of wires or radio waves or data chips. More like a 'medium' in the sense of language or music or art. This video is one piece o that medium, one' word' in that medium. What does it mean? "This video could act as a metaphor for this notion, the idea that people from different backgrounds, of different ages, are drawn together by an object, in this case a drum." Except - they are not 'drawn together' in any significant way; they are associated the way words in a sentence are associated. Meaning - the arrow of life, or some such thing - is created by that association. Our communities are created through clusters o such meanings - but we need to be clear, that it is th meaning around which our communities are cleated, not the objects we use to express that meaning.
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