The TED conference, for those involved in technology, is one of those signature events. Say what you will about it (and the criticisms are many, including those I have made myself), but the event routinely draws some of the most accomplished people in the world.
I know because I use the videos from the main event – videos made publicly and freely available – in my classes. I use them to give my kids a world-class education at a bargain basement price. So for all its flaws, it adheres to the first hacker ethic: Information Wants To Be Free.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve taken the hacker ethic to heart. I try to only use technologies that are open, that support individual freedoms and allow for the greatest movement in innovation and education. I’ve turned down projects that stray too far (according to me, of course) from that ethic.
I tell you these two vignettes, this preface, for this reason:
A few weeks ago, I was asked by the folks putting on TedxCincy, one of the satellite versions of the main TED conference, if I’d be interested in submitting a talk. Apparently I came recommended by three folks – Kevin Dugan, Dacia Snider and Elizabeth Edwards.
I told the group putting on the conference that I’d love to submit a talk. And, as soon as I committed to that, everything else about Brad@40 feel into place.
Brad@40
I’ve alluded to my plan in the last few weeks, but I’ve been vague. Something that’s uncharacteristic of me. But I’ve been moving some chess pieces around on the board and I wasn’t ready to talk about them just yet.
What I can say is this: I’m tired.
I’m tired of fighting, of arguing, of cajoling people in the technology and media landscape. I’m tired of having the same argument we had a decade ago. I’m tired of people ignoring the science and research we’ve had for decades about building communities.
I’m tired, and more importantly, I’ve become angry. I’ve lost the ability to have rational conversations on these topics because, by and large, the issues have already been settled. Or at least have solid research to suggest actual, test-able answers. That many (not all) of the people I come in contact with are unaware of this has been a growing source of frustration in my life.
I’ve wondered what to do. So, like I have always tried to do, I researched the problem.
The picture is starting to get a little clearer. I’ve decided to make a change in my career path, to revisit the things that I once loved and leave behind the things I have out-grown. None of this is particularly earth shattering for the rest of the world, but for me it represents a seismic shift in my life.
Here it goes:
1. On Leaving Media + Technology
A few years back, when Larry Lessig decided to put his work on copyright and intellectual property behind him, he said he never wanted to devote more than 10 years to an academic pursuit. More than that and you risked becoming entrenched.
I never set out to become a technology writer. Or to become someone with expertise in the field of technology and media. I simply wanted to be a writer. A storyteller. The medium never much mattered to me. I cared about the words.
After 12 years working as a reporter, editor and producer, there’s not very much I don’t understand about the technology and media landscape. There is precious little left for me to learn in this area and more importantly, there is almost nothing I can contribute anymore. The reality is the new generation will lead this charge and they will do so without all of us.
The only thing I can do is stand in their way.
I will surely offer guidance and advice in the coming years, but my day-to-day battles with this, my teaching life in this realm and my professional consulting work will come to an end after this year.
My decade is up. And it’s time to move on.
2. On Making Digital
That gives me a timeline to finish my projects. We have received about 70 percent of the essays for Making Digital, a book on project management for Carnegie Mellon. I’m excited to finish this. I’m excited to read through the work, craft the book and put out a product that encapsulates – through the words of those I find fascinating – the best ways to build digital projects. It won’t be a grand scope. In fact, I suspect this book will have several editions.
But I’m not sure how much I’ll be involved with those editions. My goal is to start this conversation, and then step aside to allow new people to have their say.
3. On The Cult of Me
Ironically, it’s this book – conceived just after I got sober – that will serve as both the final period on my life as a media technologist and the springboard for what comes next: storyteller.
When I first thought of this book, I believed I’d write a screed that would help people re-conceive the way newspapers did their work. The more I wrote, though, and the more I learned, the less I cared about journalism.
That industry is one that I no longer recognize. It’s become corporatized and top-heavy with institutional thinking. There is so little that interests me in the field that I had to abandon that idea.
Which inadvertently led me to TEDxCincy. Here’s how. As I worked on the book, I realized the fundamental assumption was this: digital, real-time networks have changed storytelling. Unfortunately, I had little else than a vague notion.
So I set about seeing if that was true. Tracking events. Tracking stories. Building little bits of pieces here and there. Giving talks that caused people to argue with me. Through that, I began to see exactly how the network had created a new way to tell stories, one that will – and has – impacted politics, art, education, science…everything we do.
The long + short of the story is this: my transformation in thinking through this process changed the focus on the book, helped me realize how to close this chapter of my life (which I do by Chapter 2) and then write a book about building and creating new types of stories in the digital age. A skill set that can be used – and will be used – in every aspect of society.
4. On What’s Next
For me, that means it’s time to stop fighting and start building. This summer, I had the chance to work 10 playwrights, creating the framework for a distributed story. I had the chance to meet with the National Theatre in London about some of their projects. I had the opportunity to chat with my friends at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon.
I’ve spent the past two months surrounded by people who were excited – EXCITED! – to build the future. They weren’t worried about institutional thinking or protecting business models. They simply wanted to create.
Mostly, for me, that means writing. Writing and finding people who ware willing to work and create and build on the network. It means going back to the starting line for me. Staring over. Learning about story from various perspectives: Literature, Theater, Art. Places I am uncomfortable and decidedly not an expert.
To see if I can better grok what is happening. To grok was it happening next.
5. On Leaving Austin
The last thing Brad@40 means is abandoning the sprawl that is my life. For years, I have tried to keep one foot in Austin. It is my sanctuary. My haven. My home.
But I don’t think the next steps on this journey are going to take me there and I simply can’t afford to keep myself tied to the place, emotionally or financially. Surely I will return every year to my home at South by Southwest (I can’t conceive of a time when I quit that). Surely I will return to see my friends.
Yet I think my travels have something else in store for me.
I will soon enlist the help of a real estate agent and hopefully by next Spring put the house on the market.
**
There is more, of course. But these pieces haven’t yet made it to the table. They have barely been spoken aloud outside a select group of friends.
This is enough, though, because today I am celebrating: TEDxCincy, the end of Brad 1.0 and the start of Brad 2.0.
Like Remo Williams, the adventure continues…
