Greetings Economists,
On Apr 7, 2007, at 8:48 AM, Leigh Meyers wrote:

In all honesty, I wrote Pacifica off in the 60 when they still
broadcast a musical diet of jazz and classical more to suit my mommy
than a generation of hippies, black/brown/white Panthers and radical
students/workers (and radical greasers) fighting the police on the
streets of NY, Boston, Detroit and Berkeley to the tunes of Phil Ochs,
Gil Scott-Heron... the MC5. They weren't announcing activist events
then either.

Doyle;
:-) well there are other things out there than Pacifica.  I think this
thread has run it's course.  But I find it a bit interesting this sort
of thinking at management at KPFA.  It goes against the organizing
principles on the left.  But in a way that seems like oh if insurance
didn't ask this we'd not be demanding you not say the forbidden stuff.

There are concepts in site design to see the web sites as hub and
spokes.  So myface is an example of a social network constructed around
popularity elements being built up.  And people start grooving on the
process because of a hidden need for connection.  So organizing on that
sort of scale is pretty strong.  Myface gets boring after awhile and
has a high turnover.  And the kids use it for bullying so the social
scene is very anarchic and mean.  I presume that what is missing is the
sort of framework religions build up to tame the activities that are
harmful.

That said, I think what is useful about the media is the reliance upon
a tradition that is crumbling with the on going establishment of
network structure in communication.  What I mean is one can play off
the weakness of big media to show off what network structures can do
better.  This is a good example.  Network structure is precisely what
this manager is trying to head off forming.  So the manager is
committed to an old media regulation of network structure.  So that
media content is one to many.  Oblivious to the network value that
arise no matter how much one tries to limit network information.  This
parallels a left desire for organizing, but pushes the concept into a
work process with machine automated production of network ties.
Doyle

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