3DUBDOTJAMARAMA 1.2
mark petrakis

When we launched electric minds on November 11, 1996, I ran a report in this Flash! position entitled 3DUBDOTJAMARA. It was real folksy, because at the time that's all we were, a bunch of folks, who had come together a few months earlier without an office or a T1 connect, with nothing but a shared belief in our need to hijack Internet history away from the usual suspects.

We had all experienced connectivity and community in various but similar ways and we knew there was no other mission more worthy of our pursuit. What we wanted to do was to make electric minds the most user respectful place on the net to document, discuss and so come to some understanding and appreciation for the events, people, and ideas that shape our collective life. If you look at the different sections of this site, you will see that question being answered in different ways.

* In Edge Tech, it's Laura Lemay spilling the beans on WebTV

* In VCC, it's a run down on how demographics and online diversity are being tracked on the web.

* In Tomorrow, it's asking tough questions of genius guys like David Gerlernter.

But here, in the World Wide Jam, it's the bump and the grind of daily life, that's what it comes down to...not some pre-digested packaged media event, but the shape of things to come as seen through the eyes of folks not so different from you.

Hey Sydney, -- Jonathon, what's cooking down there? My little 21st century neighborhood he says, and he's right.

What's up Tokyo? Joi Ito, Geishas he says. And in the meantime Reiko's having fun in Gadgetland.

Austin, where we going next? Jonl bounces back with a little blues rhapsody to his home town.

And me, what shook my boots? Always the state of the arts and the junk food sated state of media culture.

And if you missed it at Xmas time, MarkMac will bring it back for you -- New York-style. Or how about Jessica's trip downtown to a live recording of an internet soap opera.

And the Waveydavey man, what's he pulled out of the hat this week, a great interactive novel, 253 and the man who wrote it.

And in Paris, Lionel where you been hiding? Inside Education Nationale, while Annick is over at the Vidèothéque.

Which leaves us wondering where Station Rose went -- obviously clubbing to scare up the next twist of eastern ambience.

And even Justin jumped in to set a permanent jam Marathon record.

And right alongside of those reports (like right alongside this one) is an actual piece of conversation from the Flash! conferencing area, which just like the rest of the Jam Conferences is hosted by the actual writer or writers from those particular cities.

That is the action behind the curtain here. In joining in these conversations, you take on an active role in shaping the future of our jam. It wasn't clear when we launched in November how that would work. It's more than clear now.

Cause now we got the evidence...

Like the old motorcycle guy, George (gwrlee68) who tells a lean tale of surviving a forest fire on the Yukon River.

Or John (savageau), the ex-marine now network administrator in Beijing who captures the scene on the streets of the capital.

Or maybe it's Ivan (ivanski) in Lima, Peru talking to us from the scene of the embassy takeover in December.

Or the ex-New York Cabbie, Jake (jakepress) putting up pix of the city and asking you to "Guess the Spot"

What do you want, experts all the time? Where's that gonna get you? Come on, that's what your TV is for. You already get plenty of that. We're the net jam industry, here to make some music and so find ourselves some common ground. To do that, we need to bring out the best in each other.

Make sense? Hey, if you're an expert on something, great. Go ahead and tell us what that is, right here. Or maybe you'd rather think about it first, talk about it...No problem. Just drop into the Jam conferences...That's a good place to start.

Real-life reference -- that's always been my flag, but I tend to be a little weird that way. I came up in the theater, and so what makes me laugh is the HUMAN comedy. Mostly that means my friends. It is the people that are in my sphere that matter most to me. Cyberspace has given us a very expansive sphere in which to discover each other. All we can do is try to look at it in the big 360. Just because it's big and a little overwhelming, is no reason not to test it out. I mean the ocean's a little overwhelming too, but that doesn't scare us off. Might as well jump in now... Right? No time like the present...

Jam on, you know.

windwalker said:

I am once again a very small child exploring the paths through the Montana woods and find a place of total enchantment where there lived a very wise old man who taught me to talk to the fairies on their huge sunflower telephones and walk down a magic path to where the trout filled pond lay glistening in the sun. An old dead tree stump, carved with nitches here and there and a crow's nest sat atop it waiting for its owner to come cawing back, while I, in awe and wonder, saw a Fairy Post Office which held from time to time, a pack of Wrigleys Juicy Fruit gum, a string of pearls or a nail set to fix my nails. How I loved that gentle soul and often wished his tale be told. His name was Hawkins and the place was Absarokee, Montana

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