|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/ebon/ |
Upload File : |
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.7 (Macintosh; I; PPC) [Netscape]">
<title>| | | |||NERVOUS MEDIA||| | | |</title>
</head>
<body text="#10898E" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0FC4C7" vlink="#27E2D2" alink="#3DFFD2">
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#EEEEEE">. . .</font><img src="=web-jam.gif" width="250" height="261"> <font color="#EEEEEE">. . . . </font>
</center>
</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<center>
<p><font color="#178282" size="2">_________________<br>
INTRODUCTION</font>
<p><font color="#008099"><font size=4>The Ecology of Communications</font></font><font size="4"> </font>
</center>
<blockquote>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#178282" size="2">When we encounter a carefully conceived symbol or logo we instinctively want to follow it to the cave, club or
retail store from which it came. Like a rare bird flashing its wings in the forest, the little signal draws us in, triggering deep curiosities and longings. If the same care that went into the symbolic front end of an enterprise flows through its website,
mission statement, products and services,
you have on your hands a mesmerizing brand. And with the involvement of a devoted public and cared-for, inspired employees, you have a thriving ecosystem.</font>
</center>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#178282" size="2">Good communication is not simply a pretty signal passing between sender A and receiver B. Such a theory may have
sufficed for 1955, but it is utterly useless for today's complex media
environments. Many information theorists now see communication as living networks within complex bio-cultural ecosystems. Such networks are replete with social
and digital feedback systems, aesthetic nuance and evolving content.</font>
</center>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#008099" size="3">Whole Systems Optimization</font>
</center>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#178282" size="2">The late NYU professor, W. Edwards Deming, developed
an approach to business he called "whole systems optimization." Deming
was fascinated by the correlations between a company's products, services,
personnel, technology and communications. He even considered the surrounding
community and the natural environment to be important factors in the organization's
longterm well-being. Deming was invited to take this integrated view of
business to Japan where he helped to build a vigorous economy after World
War II.</font>
</center>
</p>
<center>
<p><font color="#178282" size="2">Of course, Deming was not the only economist to approach organizations as large social organisms.
The Nobel Prize-winnner, Herb Simon, often spoke of business leaders as "satisficing" numerous factors impinging on their organization. Simon spoke of a juggling match in which the bottom line is used, not as a ruthless dictator, but as one of many feedback mechanisms. Business innovators in Europe have begun to speak about "triple bottom line" accounting in which a medley of economic, social and environmental factors are drawn into the planning process.</font>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#008099" size="3">Nervous Media</font>
</center>
</p>
<p><font color="#178282" size="2">All of this might lead us to a view of communications as a kind of nervous system
which permeates the body of an organization. Although the function of
enterprises may differ, each seeks an organizational self-image,
a vision, to keep the social organism focused and healthy. This vision
is expressed in many ways, from an organization's PR to
the manner in which it partners with its workers and the public. A good communications
strategy, in effect, concerns itself with the entire <em>culture</em> of an institution.
Communications is not just about web
servers and slick ads.</font><font color="#178282" size="2"></font><font color="#178282"><br>
</font></p>
<p><img SRC="OrganismPlan.GIF" BORDER=0 height=286 width=289>
<br>
<font color="#FFFFFF"><font size=-2>...</font></font>
<br>
<font color="#FFFFFF"><font size=-2>...</font></font>
<br>
<img SRC="orgplankey.GIF" BORDER=0 height=65 width=98> </p>
</center>
<p>
<center>
<font size="2">Site of the "Organism," a Web Jam in Williamsburg, Brooklyn</font>
<br>
<font color="#EEEEEE" size="2">.</font>
</center>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#178282" size="2">My own approach to communications stems from experiences
in radio, multimedia performance, and directing events at MIT, the University
of Iowa and throughout New York City. My work has always involved building integrated
systems of people, symbols and ideas. One event, the Web Jam, brought together
2,000 people in an all-night multimedia jam in Brooklyn. According to Domus
Magazine, that event became a "symbolic climax" to the emerging Williamsburg
art and music scene. Newsweek dubbed the Web Jam a "sequel
to the rave."</font><font size="2">
I set up and directed a digital arts program at the University of Iowa, Digital Worlds, which immersed students in numerous kinds of feedback systems involving both traditional critiques and the wider public.
Within a few years, entering the term, "digital worlds," into Google placed that university program at number three in the list. That's a lot of links.
</font></center>
</p>
<p>
<center>
<font color="#178282" size="2">Not every communications endeavour should be modeled
after an urban Web Jam or a youthful digital media studio. But I believe that central to building a lively
and effective communications system is approaching the job like that of
a devoted gardener --one who cares about the well-being of an entire ecosystem.</font>
<br>
</center>
</p>
</blockquote>
<center>
<p><font size="3"><em><font color="#178282">--Ebon Fisher</font></em></font><font color="#178282" size="2"><br>
<font color="#EEEEEE">. . . . . . . . . .</font>Director, Nervous Media</font>
</center>
<p><br>
<p><!--****************************************--><!--****PUT THIS AT BOTTOM OF EVERY PAGE****--><!--****************************************-->
<center><a href="media.html" target="_parent"><img SRC="=coilgentlyW=.gif" BORDER=0 height=59 width=109></a>
<p><font size=1><a href="mailto:[email protected]">C O N T A C T
U S</a></font>
<p><font size=1>©2006 Ebon Fisher</font>
</center>
<p>
<p><font color="#EEEEEE">.</font>
<p><font color="#EEEEEE">.</font>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>