This MediaFree and Gridless arc has thus far explored - what is "accessibility"
- how important is it to be accessible
- how to become a god
- demonstrating godhood
- how much accessibility is enough
At this point I'm starting to think accessibility isn't the real issue. Availability, though? If you can get a message to them then they are accessible. However, they may not be available when you want them to be available.
That's a totally different issue.
You can find cafes in virtual worlds where you can sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with someone who's thousands of miles away. Except it's not real coffee and the avatar rarely looks like the person who created it, at least according to a recent NPR Morning Edition story, Alter Egos in a Virtual World. Part of my training is that anything perfectly imagined is real (shades of Brainstorm!) and the difference is that real imagination requires lots of effort. It is work to generate an internal reality so compelling that the external reality is denied or ignored (don't think so? Work with the insane for a while). Virtual reality doesn't require as much imagination because you still need to bring parts of your physical reality with you. You can leave your body behind but your body still needs to operate the controls.Email autoresponders, answering systems, gatekeepers, handlers, entourages, ... These are also avatars. Email signature files, something I devoted an arc to and that drew quite an email response, are avatars.
All of such things are extensions of ourselves into the real and virtual worlds. Whether an email signature file, gaming avatar, SecondLife sim or handler, these extensions of ourselves -- these definitions we place on our accessibility and availability -- are attempts at setting boundaries and limits.
Boundaries and limits? Those are the places in our emotional, physical, spiritual and psychological space beyond which we'll neither pass nor let others enter.
(more to follow)
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- The Curse of Social Networks
- Email Bankruptcy blog posts
- The Eventing Yourself Blog arc
- Going Off the Grid
- The MediaFree and Gridless arc
- MediaFreeZones
- Proof I'm a Luddite
- Unplugging... why is it so hard?
- Voluntary Simplification blog posts
- IMedia Brand Summit on 9-12 Sept 07
- XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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