Re: <nettime> The State of Networking (with Florian Schneider)

[Benjamin Geer <ben@socialtools.net>]

geert lovink wrote:
> After an exciting first phase of introductions and
> debates, networks are put to the test: either they transform into a body
> that is capable to act, or they remain stable on a flatline of information
> exchange, with the occasional reply of an individual who dares to
> disagree.

Maybe this is because those people are using the wrong tools for the 
job.  If you don't know what you want to do, you can't select the right 
tools.  Rather than set up a network as a tool for 'bringing people 
together' or some such vague idea, and then hope that the participants 
will then find some way to act, I think it would make more sense to 
first decide exactly which action you want to take -- what work you want 
to do -- and then decide which tools (software, networks, organisational 
processes) could help you do that work.  *Then* set up the tools and 
start using them.

Ben

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net