McLuhan:

  • The problem of using old tools in a new world. Linear understanding / experience of knowledge (through reading) VS. immersive epistemology, connectivity, and multi-modal discourse.
  • Truly living in the present involves embracing modulating and advancing forms of technology. These adapting technologies began with what people called quill and paper, but was really random access memory. We don’t really know anything… we have it stored for later reference.

 

Ford:

  • Who is in control of your information, and are you okay with it?
  • “The web is not, despite the desires of so many, a publishing medium. The web is a customer service medium. ‘Intense moderation’ in a customer service medium is what ‘editing’ was for publishing.”
  • “That’s what I tell my Gutenbourgeois friends, if they’ll listen. I say: Create a service experience around what you publish and sell. Whatever “customer service” means when it comes to books and authors, figure it out and do it. Do it in partnership with your readers. Turn your readers into members. Not visitors, not subscribers; you want members.” This speaks volumes about business, post-Web 2.0. By creating a community interested in what is being peddled, the community has the potential to influence the future direction of the product which makes it more suitable for that community.

 

Thoughts:

We now see Reddit as a CoP, whereas before, we only viewed subreddits as this type of community. Redditors constantly ask WWIC? People want to not only ask questions, but be heard as well. Reddit offers a medium through which crowd-sourcing information from hundreds of people is available.