stevenberlinjohnson.com: Frank Rich on Dean

Frank Rich has a great column running in today's Times about the Dean campaign's use of the Web. He does some spot-on debunking of the whole McGovern 2.0 meme, and draws some very interesting parallels to FDR's use of radio. But for reasons that will be immediately clear, I particularly enjoyed this paragraph near the middle of the piece:

"The term blog is now so ubiquitous everyone has to use it," says the author Steven Johnson, whose prescient 2001 book "Emergence" is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this culture. On some candidates' sites, he observes, "there is no difference between a blog and a chronological list of press releases." And the presence of a poll on a site hardly constitutes interactivity. The underlying principles of the Dean Internet campaign "are the opposite of a poll," Mr. Johnson says. Much as thousands of connected techies perfected the Linux operating system's code through open collaboration, so Dean online followers collaborate on organizing and perfecting the campaign, their ideas trickling up from the bottom rather than being superimposed from national headquarters. (Or at least their campaign ideas trickle up; policy is still concentrated at the top.) It's almost as if Dr. Dean is "a system running for president," in Mr. Johnson's view, as opposed to a person.

My feelings exactly.

It really is a very sharp piece, and not just because it says flattering things about my book. I just stopped by the Dean blog to see the response there, and it was one of those classic moments of web community interaction: a dozen thoughtful and on-topic posts from people responding to the article, and suddenly a few Clark supporters drop in and make some taunting remarks, a before long everybody's cursing at each other and the Frank Rich article is long forgotten. Seems like 1993 on ECHO or the Well all over again.

The Basics

I'm a father of three boys, husband of one wife, and author of seven books, and co-founder of three web sites. We spend most of the year in Marin County, California though I'm on the road a lot giving talks. (You can see the full story here.) Personal correspondence should go to sbeej at earthlink dot net. Media requests should go to Matthew.Venzon at us.penguingroup dot com. If you're interested in having me speak at an event, drop a line to Wesley Neff at the Leigh Bureau (WesN at Leighbureau dot com.)

My Books

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
An exploration of environments that lead to breakthrough innovation, in science, technology, business, and the arts. I conceived it as the closing book in a trilogy on innovative thinking, after Ghost Map and Invention. But in a way, it completes an investigation that runs through all the books. Sold more copies in hardcover than anything else I've written.
The Invention of Air
The story of the British radical chemist Joseph Priestley, who ended up having a Zelig-like role in the American Revolution. My version of a founding fathers book, and a reminder that most of the Enlightenment was driven by open source ideals.
The Ghost Map
The latest: the story of a terrifying outbreak of cholera in 1854 London 1854 that ended up changing the world. An idea book wrapped around a page-turner. I like to think of it as a sequel to Emergence if Emergence had been a disease thriller. You can see a trailer for the book here.
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
The title says it all. This one sparked a slightly insane international conversation about the state of pop culture -- and particularly games. There were more than a few dissenters, but the response was more positive than I had expected. And it got me on The Daily Show, which made it all worthwhile.
Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
My first best-seller, and the only book I've written in which I appear as a recurring character, subjecting myself to a battery of humiliating brain scans. The last chapter on Freud and the neuroscientific model of the mind is one of my personal favorites.
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
The story of bottom-up intelligence, from slime mold to Slashdot. Probably the most critically well-received all my books, and the one that has influenced the most eclectic mix of fields: political campaigns, web business models, urban planning, the war on terror.
Interface Culture : How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate
My first. The book I wrote instead of finishing my dissertation. Still in print almost a decade later, and still relevant, I think. But I haven't read it in a while, so who knows what's in there!

Comments

Hi, Steven. I wrote about Rich's analysis and you role in it here:

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2003/12/22/rich_clue.html

Your notion of a system running for president kinda counfounds what I call press think. Cheers.

Posted by: Jay Rosen | December 23, 2003 at 02:03 AM

Hi, Steven. I wrote about Rich's analysis and your role in it here:

Posted by: Jay Rosen | December 23, 2003 at 02:04 AM

Your notion of a system running for president kinda confounds what I call press think. Cheers.

I agree, a blog its a great tool to share comments

Posted by: Diseño web | December 26, 2003 at 01:23 AM

I've visited the Dean blog too. If most comments stayed on topic, I don't think it would be the edgy, spontaneous place that it is. The volume of comments, even if off-topic, seems to attract new pairs of eyes. What keeps people coming back? The diverse comments of individuals and the inevitable conflicts (or expressions of agreement) that follow.

I think the lack of deep conversation about Frank Rich's article was a good thing. The topic wasn't beaten to death or made boring. Instead, emergence ideas were validated as something cool and relevant, leaving some people, I think, wanting to know more.

To satisfy their interest or curiosity in emergence, I'm sure some visitors to the Dean blog that day looked you up on the Internet and talked about your book elsewhere. Some of these folks may have then bought a copy of your book! :)

Posted by: Quintus | December 27, 2003 at 05:42 AM

Hi, Steve. It's always rewarding to read your stuff. Not just the words, but the tone.

If Dean's blog discussions remind you of the early 90s on ECHO or the WELL, I can see why. Yes, its often sad when good opportunities get blown by bad manners, but it's not only the intentional collaborators who show up, it's also the juice hogs and social saboteurs who derail good conversations and sow discord.

Sustaining a civil conversation online is a mutual balancing act that can be toppled easily. Trying to build such a house of cards in a public venue is a major challenge. At some point, there have to be means of filtering access, which effectively creates hierarchies.

The closer to the election, the greater the attention and, as we used to say, attention is energy. How much energy can a public online forum accomodate? And they've yet to start up the Bush Juggernaut.

Posted by: Cliff Figallo | January 02, 2004 at 02:49 AM

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