Tuesday, May 24, 2005

New media gains national attention in Greensboro

Yes Weekly on David Beckwith and one or two other things.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
What it is ain't exactly clear

The effervescent and animated Brian Clarey described the blog scene at Panera's, and did so quite well. It is too bad he didn't make it to Revolution Mill afterwards, because, in the words of Fecund Stench, it might have blown his head off. Tara Sue and Ross Myers, sitting at modest positions of a rather large, wood conference table, encased by the wondrously redecorated end of a warehouse complex which, they explained, was once owned and operated by Ed Cone's grandfather, told us more about the history, and potential future, of where we were sitting.

Flash back 10 or 11 years. I am sitting in a warehouse in Lowell, Massachusetts discussing how we were going to create the first "information superhighway-in-a-box", where internet, TV, satellite uplink/downlink, multimedia, and publishing come together under one roof and for the benefit of the community. It was called Lowell Telecommunication Corporation, although it was not-for-profit. Other than having a connection at home to the University of Lowell's internet, LTC was where I cut my teeth on the web and in television production.

Flash forward 10 or 11 years. There is a bright future for Revolution Mill, I believe, and in fact, I think it could become the center of the blogging universe, as well as the multimedia universe, the motion picture universe, the music production universe, and more. There is plenty of room to create a generation of creators right there in Blogsboro. Talk to the good folks in Lowell, who essentially did the same thing, only without blogs. George Preston was the Executive Director at the time, and I'm sure he would pour forth what he learned, good and bad, about the experience.

I am excited about the prospects and potential of Blogsboro, and know that the place is overflowing with talent and genius.

For God's sake don't turn "There's something happening here." into "There's battle lines being drawn."

Cooperation evolves. One needs only to understand the process of evolutionary cooperation, and then put the synergy to work for everyone.

Group hug to all the good folks in Greensboro and Chapel Hill. (Bora, that would be you.)