Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?

Watch this video... take the time out (15mins) to soak it up. It has wide implications for the kind of things we are all about. Here's some notes...

Media that's targeted at you but doesn't include you may not be worth sitting still for.

Clay Shirky :: 14:51

The way Clay expresses it is basically... the new media (blogging/wikipedia/youtube etc) = consuming + producing + sharing > this is a shift from the old media that only expects you to consume.

People are watching less television and are doing something... making something happen... like just now as I create this post. It reminds me of the old Why don't you? motto :: Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? :: kind of ironic, I know... but its real... and its now!

The ending is very inspirational and has me all fired up ::

We are going to look at every place a user or a reader or a listener or a viewer has been locked out... has been served up a passive or a fixed or a canned experience and ask ourselves... if we carved out a little bit of the cognitive surplus we now recognise we can deploy could we make a good thing happen? and I am betting the answer is yes!

Clay Shirky :: 15:55

This is the movement I see in church and is at the root of my unsettled nature - I am no longer willing to ONLY consume... why? because I am not included. I can't contribute. I can't add... challenge... question... I can only consume.

Thing is... I no longer want to just consume... I want to participate by producing content and sharing it. Is this not what we are called to do? Is this not the priesthood of ALL believers? That we all can come to Jesus... we don't need Clergy aka Media feeding us. We can produce and share... and in sharing we create heartfelt and real content that others can consume... and then feed off for their own uses.

I used to think consumption and participation were polar opposites... but this video has opened my eyes to something I have know all along... the future is PLURAL.

We may consume content and then produce a mashup based on the content as a means of sharing it in a fresh and new manner.

Watch the video and join me in discussion... what can we learn from this? and how can we share this idea with our brothers and sisters... so we can get them producing and sharing too?

Read the transcript here

My sincere thanks to Jody and Noah B for the independent heads-up. Appreciated chaps. My thanks too go to Clay Shirky for the inspiration.