Commitment
Staying up to date with what’s happening in the world, the events that has impact on your world is personal commitment. In the physical world we did it through symbolic commitments to a daily newspaper, a weekly news magazine and monthly magazines. We made the commitment and the commitments objects arrived on our doorsteps.
It was a commitment, not a choice to read specific stories, it was a format that encouraged peripheral vision on subjects we wouldn’t necessarily read, a commitment to being a human being that took responsibility to know the world around hum/her.
In the new context a lot of this has been replaced by on-demand browsing, with perhaps rss subscriptions and email newsletters as one of the few areas that resembles commitments.
What are the new iconic commitments?
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jeppe Kabell
This reaches into subjects such as democratic responsibilities and values of general education.
Back in the old days the world seemed more simple than today. The newspapers provided the illusion that it was actually covering the vast complexity of the world in a few pages.
If there were a value in society and one’s social circle about staying updated, it was pretty easy to do so and have a sense of actually being informed. Even though some people probably knew how big an illusion it was, it was not that obvious.
Today is different. With millions of sources easy accesible and with trust to the press (and our governments) running at an all time low, it’s really hard to keep living in that illusion. I don’t have numbers on this, but I would think that it has become more accepted to not stay very thoroughly updated.
I refuse to believe that people are less responsible for their surroundings and society than they were ‘back in the days’. The problem is simply at the core of this project: As our information channels has grown exponentially, the tools for structuring all this information in meaningful ways hasn’t followed along.
If we want people committed to understanding the world, they need a set of values and an understanding of why it’s important. And the values hasn’t changed, I think. It’s all about being an responsible and engaged citizen of democracy, to be well informed enough to take part in the important discussions that shape the future of our contries and our world in a meaningful way.
I think most people still holds these values, but we can’t expect them to actually make the effort when the tools provided hasn’t evolved much since before the First World War. The Internet in itself is a pretty advanced piece of technology, but we need to build the tools so it all makes sense.
The iconic commitments is awareness of our responsibilities in a globalized world, where our smallest action has impact all around the globe. It’s basically a commitment to understanding how my place in society and my actions affects people in my country, my region and on the other side of the world, to take action in our democratic systems by voting, speaking up, forming organizations etc. To be engaged.
That’s my try to define it at least, there’s probably many other perspectives.
Jul 24th, 2007
Karin Hoegh
Oh, yes, there are a lot more perspectives.
I appreciate your attempt to make some sense of all this, but maybe it is a bit premature. I don´t know.
Why this need to organize and make sense? And make order, really? When I pass the Royal Library I have a good feeling that all printed material is kept there and organized, in case I should need it one day. What a source of knowledge.
But as for the internet goes, isn´t it more about relations than information, really. Connections more than points. And how is it possible to structure.
Well we can try, I agree.
But still, we should, as I know you both do, embrace the ideas, the creations that don´t materialize into knowledge - and who don´t make sense - but are still useful and important - now or later.
Jul 24th, 2007
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