There Is No New Media Community
Once upon a time in 2004 there was a new media community- back then we called them Podcasters. They were passionate, excitable, and ready to jump on any new opportunity they could create for themselves. Podcasters flew from all over the world to hang out at conventions they organized. For three years, New Media brought people together. Friendships were forged, business ventures launched, and through it all some amazing creations made their way onto the internet. The New Media community felt like a family.
Now it’s gone; the community has dissipated. And that’s okay.
Seriously, it’s okay. It took me a while to realize it, but disappearance of community is just the next major step towards permanence. Sure, it was sad to see some exciting projects lose steam or dissolve entirely, but it’s just the way of things. From the toils of early adopters and pioneers come both fruit and chaff. Once the spring season for New Media ended, it was time to tend the plants. That’s when I began to lament the disappearance of the New Media Community.
Community Exists on the Frontier
The cycle is not without precedent. Bloggers were considered a small group of enthusiasts before CNN paid them for full-time positions. I vaguely remember when there was an “Internet Community”, do you? Back in the days of Archie and UUEncode and Telnet? The Internet Community emerged as a natural product of the Computer Community. This was before my time, really, but I know the stories told by elders around the New Media campfires. Intensely interested pockets of engineers and tinkerers gathered in garages to make boxes that would process spreadsheets or calculate Ham Radio satellite orbits. They held meetings, traded secrets, drank a shitload of coffee.
Was the excitement all about the circuit boards, packets, and wires? No. These communities are not formed because of technology. Technology is just the fertile ground these pioneers settle upon. They- we -gathered and bonded because of our shared love for uncharted territory. Communities like these form because there is the promise of something no one has ever done before. Places nobody has seen. This is what binds us together as a community, and those bonds do not last forever.
Lighting the Torch
With every community formed on the cutting edge, there is always the inevitable dissolution. The band of brothers and sisters on the frontier, connected by their intense engagement, light a torch for the rest of the world to flock to. Sometimes, as with Computers and New Media, they do. The world embraces this new frontier. A small settlement like New Amsterdam grows to a city of over 9 million. Every home houses several computers, none of which were built by hand in a garage. Podcasts and blogs are as ubiquitous and unremarkable as radio and newspapers.
And that’s okay.
The community dissolves, diluted by mass adoption. And that’s okay. Some friendships remain strong, some businesses and ventures hold together, but the attitude towards New Media has changed. Territory has been well-charted, leaving only a few nooks and crannies left to explore. With mass exposure, the focus shifts from how it’s done to what is being done with it. The original community reacts as each individual is inclined.
Some run in ever-growing circles trying to lasso the community back together, wishing the heyday wouldn’t end. Some, like me, mourn the decline of the community. I know that mass adoption is what the community worked so hard to achieve, but sometimes it’s sad to see something mature. You adopt the kitten, but it grows into a cat. The sadness, in my case, comes from the uncertainty of where the next community will form. This frontier is paved and developed, where will the next New World be?
Finding the Next Community
Community is like a drug. I need my fix.
I’d like to be a part of a New Community. Some faces from the old community will meet me there, some will be responsible for inviting me there I’m sure. Old friends never vanish into the masses, but nothing can top the experience of being a part of something new. I want to lead, to innovate, to explore. I want to form new communities that make the old seem superficial. It’s not about the size of the community- quite the contrary, the size it what breaks it apart. The longing is for the intensity.
What communities are you a part of? Where are they going? Maybe I’m leading somewhere undiscovered and I just don’t know it yet. Maybe others will follow and we’ll start a new settlement on this frontier. We’ll form a community that lives intensely, then grows and scatters. Just like the New Media Community.
And that’s okay.
P.S.: If you liked what you read, please share it with others!
