Vacation time and as it is traditional- when I take them (like never) I give out a nod and this one goes out to my respected mentor- Steve Rosenbaum, who recently said,

“So a new class of producers is emerging, and within that class there is some very high quality material that speaks to audience with passion, authority, and conviction. This is a good thing. Its good for consumers, it’s good for new makers, and its good for technology providers.

The shift moves the power from the owner of the network, to the creator of the most compelling content. And that’s going to be important for all of us.”

If you want to see a taste of micro content, of the new rise of creators speaking with passion, authority and conviction read on.

These are the stories that fire me up, that make me believe that media is of the people and for the people. That it is what we do, and what we say that can move mountains. Small sparks that erupt into infernos, grass roots efforts like Paul at Castlecops, or kung-fu artists like Paperghost.

Steve here you go. From an earlier comment on accountability and fraud in virtual worlds Ms. Stewart posts:

What can I do here? What solutions or remedies can I offer? How can I make SecondLife better than I found it? What would I want my children to look back and see?

and…

Am I now just pointing fingers myself, and stirring the drama I dislike? Yes, I am. I am angry and I have good reason to be.

A friend told me this is a pivotal time, an important time and what we do, whether it is perceived as a game or reality, is shaping the world. I could grind axes until there is nothing but a tiny piece of metal left, I could keep up this warfare and allow it to serve no purpose other than an outlet for my anger.

What can I do here? What solutions or remedies can I offer? How can I make SecondLife better than I found it? What would I want my children to look back and see?

From here, the warfare will cease. This will be my time to cool off and offer up solutions to those willing to listen, instead of pointing fingers. We can share Ideas instead of pointless bickering.

and…

Life is full of deception. It’s how you handle the deception by prevention and education that helps mitigate losses, and ultimately risk.

This is Shania. I have officially spoken my peace.

You can accept me for who I am and what we can do together, or you can point your fingers in the mirror, keep in mind the mirror will point back.

This is Shania. I have officially spoken my peace.

That is what it is all about- our stories, our lives, our convictions, our passion and knowing that what we do and what we say can make a difference. That difference can ripple the fabric. We are people and we are human but we know what to do, and what must be done.

But back to Steve….who has inspired many posts:

History:

We ended up conversing back and forth after a brief intro from collaborator and another mentor, Brian Clark, as I had been blogging on censorship in India and javascript injection and caught up in what I called Rosenbaum’s dilemma.

We bonded around our views of that “Web 2.0″ thing, and I was intrigued by his Magnify.net platform- with the ability to create channels and get feedback it led to my own thoughts on ways to do this tool- we talked. Takeaway- Think niche, think long tail, think community. (And I think I showed Steve a thing or two about thinking like an A.I. agent.). During that time I wanted to see if any community could be built with just a lump of symmetrical media. Would we, as people, seek to put order to the mass? No other agents. No big budgets, just media on a niche topic and some passion.

Yes. It worked shockingly well, and the little known niche of “machinima” (Hat tip to moo money) gets a little more exposure. Then we talked about monetization since I had some experience in that realm and a strange hybrid of security genes. It is a long story- maybe I can get movie deal Steve? Not with Clark…

So going on into my vacation I wanted to leave some thoughts- and perhaps the conviction of Shanai Stewart as we talked about how do you make it sustainable? Ack…boring inventory…Well you could widget around it, but no- that isn’t the full answer. Steve I think the key is, as I keep harping to you on skype over and over- break it out and hand over inventory control to platform users on the 50/50 model…let the users decide for themselves what and how to monetize the channel (watch out for those “Adware” deals- stop that cold) or not too monetize it. The know it. It is their passion.

The choice of coin is in their hands. As Sam and I like to say- it could be influence, or making a difference, or just having different and unique ideas to expose. At the least you and they can always use the mass of the collective and if they can’t beat that- they can join it. Some will fail, some will fail badly- but we will learn.

Open up the inventory at Magnify and just as we know what to magnify or to create, and measure we will figure out what to put there too…or work together and find that solution.

I am Wayne Porter…off to rest on my vacation and think about what I may contribute in the way of solutions and more importantly recharge with my wonderful wife (saint) and two kids who tolerate the crusader inside Dad…and Steve- the Monkey Phone Call is on the house…and another chapter is written on media I hope we can read in 100 years. Video your thoughts…or twitter them.

The Sounds of Thunder echo…Snowcrash has arrived at our doorstep…and the fiery chain reaction is closed in loop or rather it spreads further as I finally meet Fleep today and we talk about education, memes and graffiti moving to tee-shirts; on to zines and into blogs. This as we move and socialize around what we create and others create for us. “Social Media”.

I thank you all for your campfires, your stories, and your convictions. As a jedi master once told me- find your Zen.

ADDENDUM: Gigaom’s property covers Rosenbaum’s decision. Steve just keep the malware or adware out!

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