Series: Reflections on Space

It is interesting to reflect upon different social media spaces and think about the features and the limitations. For example, Twitter annoys me the inability to edit posts, while Micro.Blog frustrates me because of the way it responds to headings (I know, real blogging does not have headings). In the end, I think that is why I have taken to posting on my own site and working from there. Maybe that does not always have the same reach and interaction, but we have to compromise somewhere.
Social media can be a great space to share ideas, however not every space is helpful with connecting the dots. Although you can trace a thread through a series of Tweets, you are not always able to link to points of context and clarification. For me, this is one thing that I like about Micro.Blog’s use of Markdown. Clearly, not as rich as WordPress, but much better than Twitter or Google+(rip).
Responding to John Johnston’s discussion of the value of blogging as a space for sharing, Ian Guest wonders about the various features associated with Twitter.

One thing I wonder about sharing spaces is not what is technically possible – Twitter actually includes quite a few features to help users, such as hashtags, saved searches, bookmarks and moments to name a few – the question is how easy is it to personally mine this information and subsequently build upon it?  This was the point that both Cal Newport and Austin Kleon have recently touched upon, sharing the power of a space of one’s own.

Austin Kleon shared a link to John Holt’s newsletter and some thoughts on learning at home. One of the issues I have had is that it is a contested space. Although I have been supporting my daughter while she has been learning at home, creating the space, allowing her to explore, the problem I have had is that I am not her teacher, I have no agency. This is why Kleon argues that the current context is not ‘homeschooling’. I consider it a blend of the worst of both worlds.
In a recent post, Erin Bromage discusses the risks associated with a number of spaces. Interestingly, one space that is not mentioned was schools. This is something that David Truss captures:

Common lunch time, after work socials, ‘check-in’ meetings, team building activities, common work hours… there are many conventions that bring staff and work communities together that will change, and ‘undermine’ (?) the social fabric of previously positive work cultures.

There seems to be a lot of discussion about technology as the answer, but Naomi Klein suggests we could also re-imagine the spaces and the way we work within them:

[Eric] Schmidt is right that overcrowded classrooms present a health risk, at least until we have a vaccine. So how about hiring double the number of teachers and cutting class size in half? How about making sure that every school has a nurse?

I have been listening to a lot of TISM lately. One thing that has occurred to me is the strength of the music. With so much attention to the message, it can be easy to overlook the medium that provides space for such lyricism and performance. This is something Cowell addressed in a reflection. In some ways this is captured in their performance of He’ll Never Be an Old Man River on John Safran’s Music Jamboree

For Cowell, it is about giving the kids an anchovy. Although this often focuses on the lyrics, this can be said to apply just as much to the music. As Michael Dwyer captures in regards to Damien Cowell’s Disco Machine:

“If Damian wanted to be,” says Martin, “he could be a comedian. A few years ago he did a show at the comedy festival and it was as funny as any other show. But he takes the music very seriously.

I have been dividing into the music of Oneohtrix Point Never lately. I remember when I first heard his music I struggled to find an entry point. At the time, it was not for me, I was in a different space. I love electronic music, but what I heard at the time did not gel. Of late, I have returned with new context and new interest. I remember having similar experiences with the art of Vermeer until I appreciated the innovation and Jane Austen until I realised that there was something beyond the BBC adaptations. In part, this is why ratings can be problematic.
Tom Breihan wonders if The Weeknd’s After Hours will be the end of a particular niche.

As an entire world stares down a long and confusing struggle, I have a hard time summoning any empathy for the shit that Abel Tesfaye is talking about.

With our world and imagination changing, it makes me wonder if the art space will enter a time of nostalgia to cope with the growing uncertainty or a new form of literature that grapples with the minute aspects of the current crisis. As Dave Winer posits,

Future porn will be people talking without masks in public places.

Thanks to my wife, I went out today to the bike shop. We had to get Ms 4’s bike fixed. (Brakes were broken and stopping is important.) Although I had been out for a walks with the girls and ducked out last weekend to get tested (came back negative), I had not really gotten out by myself. I was only gone for an hour, but this time away was priceless for clearing out my head space. Oh, and I also picked up lunch for Mother’s Day.