1.2

issue [1.2] april 2004

welcome to cyberspace 2004… bc

A universe of meaning laid atop the mundane world.
Call your local Pharaoh for details.

at the corner of high and broad

About two years ago, when WiFi first started getting big press, I was having lunch with a friend who works in the wireless telecommunications industry. He was waxing on about the magic symbiosis of ubiquitous, cheap wireless data service and ever-more-portable computing devices.

"Your environment will be able to communicate with your personal data equipment," he remarked. "You could program your cellular phone to call you when you pass through an area that has items on sale you're interested in. You could have your PDA alert you when someone on your AOL buddy list is within a block or two of you. You could have live, spoken directions to wherever you're going piped into your Bluetooth headset from a GPS add-on to your Pilot."

As we paid for lunch and left the restaurant, he pronounced his conclusion: "For the first time in history, the geosphere will be overlaid with functioning, interactive media. Real-space meets cyberspace."

We walked out onto the street and I commented, "You know I'm a huge fan of all this stuff."

"You're one of the biggest gadget freaks I know," he agreed.

"But you are completely wrong in one aspect of your analysis," I said.

Eyebrow up, he asked, "And what aspect would that be, my dear critic?"

"That this is happening for the first time in history."

Both eyebrows up. "You want to give me a historical example of the intersection of the terrestrial and the informational?"

I didn't say a word, but just pointed to the street sign above where we were waiting for the light to change. White text on two green rectangles; "High St." and "Broad St."

"That doesn't count," he said.

I shrugged. "High Street isn't inherently 'high' and Broad, while broader than some, isn't the broadest street in town. Their names are symbolic. The data is encoded in maps and phonebooks and countless utility diagrams. The data display is fixed, but highly reliable. You can tell someone you've never met, someone who lives in London, England, that you'll meet them at the south-east corner of High and Broad at noon on such-and-such a date. Highly efficient transfer of information."

Again, he disagreed. "That's not… media. That's not interactive. It's just… signs."

Exactly the right word. "Yup," I agreed. "Signs. Ways of conveying meaning through symbolic representation. And it is as interactive as it needs to be. The guy up there, at the corner of Broad and 3rd, he sees a different sign. The exact one he needs. Just because it's a technology we've lived with for hundreds of years doesn't mean it isn't essentially the same tool."

"Yes it does. I mean, it does meant it's not. Not the same tool. Wireless access to an integrated, global computer network with GPS tracking and environmentally sensitive parameters, coupled with the ability to set personal levels of detail, would provide you with access to much more information."

"A difference in quantity only," I said.

He paused. Then he shook his head. "I guess we just see it differently," was his final comment.

meaning and meat

One of the great cyberspace novelists – it may have been William Gibson – called the real world "the meat-sphere," to contrast it to the world of information, variously called cyberspace or the mediasphere. The growing interaction of these two worlds is, of course, an important phenomenon of our times. The ability to use more precise types of information in more places will provide a variety of benefits (and probably some problems) that will be extremely interesting to those of us who like this sort of stuff.

By "this sort of stuff," I mean, of course, change.

Not everyone does. Like change, that is. Some resent it, some fight it, some disagree with it, some try to reverse it. Sorry, can't be done. And, in terms of technological change, it's happening faster and faster every year. The cycle-time between major innovations is shrinking.

This is not news. As this isn't a newsletter, that doesn't trouble me. People have been going on for years about the fast pace of the "new" economy and the increasing speed of technological transformation. I go on about it myself at times. It's fun. Again, for some of us. But although my friend and I didn't agree, I do still maintain that the overlap of meaning and meat has been around for millennia. We may be on the verge of a huge uptick in the volume of available data and access, but in many ways, we moderns tend to equate quantity with quality.

In short, the increase in the pace of change is much like making the merry-go-round spin faster. Yeah, it's harder to hold on, the kids scream louder, the wind is faster in your hair, everything gets blurrier and you get nauseous that much sooner. But you haven't really gone anywhere.

logging on to the outernet

According to some historians, the very first mathematicians in the world were Egyptian priests. They used a combination of geometry and astronomy to help understand when the Nile would flood, and to calculate the dimensions for irrigation works. Cause and effect in this relationship is unclear. It could be that the priest class, freed from the dawn-to-dusk burdens of agriculture, developed math and astronomy as a result of having the free time to do so. Or it could be that these early astronomers and geometers were promoted to priesthood because the services they provided were so mysterious, impressive, and essential to survival in the Nile delta. Without understanding and manipulating the rise and fall of the river, everybody starves. Listen to the priest/geeks who "read the stars" and "speak with numbers" and everybody chows down.

It is a perfectly efficient, incredibly tangible relationship between data and substance. Let's look at the parallels between this astro-mathematical system and our "new world" of information integration:

We have computers made of silicon, plastic and metal. The Egyptians had computers made of metal (early sextants), stone (reference monuments) and string (plumb lines)
Our data is encoded using magnets and optics. Their data was encoded using stone and papyrus.
We interact with the data through screens, speakers, keyboards and mice. They interacted with their data with metal tools and ink.
Both systems are based on a highly complex symbology; binary data vs. pictographs
Both systems require training to use, i.e. they are not "natural"
Both systems provide tangible benefits (Amazon.com vs. increased production of grain)
We rely on lights on a screen, they relied on lights in the sky.

I'm not arguing that they're the same – but that they are congruent. That they require very similar human skills and talents. And that we miss out on the power and potential of our new technology when we don't examine it in terms of historical context.

but isn't this a marketing non-newsletter?

Somebody always brings that up. Yes, it is. And marketing is about communication, the effective use of information and the enabling of commerce. A few years back, during the Internet boom, everyone got a bit carried away with the "transformative power" of the web. The Internet is an important tool and will continue to change our lives in ways we haven't even considered yet. But many of the changes will be in quantity and speed, not quality and value.

Name one thing you can do on the Internet that you didn't do before. I was involved in Internet marketing from before it was called the Internet; it was called AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy. Dedicated data networks, unconnected to anyone outside their systems. It was cool, and it keeps getting cooler. But I've been sitting here for half-an-hour, and I can't think of anything we do on the Internet that doesn't have an earlier equivalent:

Remote shopping has been possible since Montgomery Ward stated the catalog retail business in the mid-1800's.
Email is, well, electronic mail. Mail has been around for millennia.
Online banking is… banking on your computer. Most modern banking methods owe more to Renaissance Italians than Silicon Valley wunderkind.
Online dating? Ever hear of a Yenta?
Blogs? See the political broadsheets of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Yes, yes, I hear you. They're not "the same." Our new technology offers many benefits. I agree. More. Faster. Bigger. Refined. Particular. Dedicated. Personalized. Efficient.

But not necessarily better. And not, fundamentally, different.

As marketers we try to understand why our customers do what they do. That way we can facilitate their relationships with our organizations. Our advertising entertains them, our merchandising entices, our literature informs, our services impress. All good stuff. But the key ingredients of these interactions are knowledge, creativity, sensitivity and stamina. All of which were as available to Cicero, Shakespeare and Frost as they are to Gates, Trump and Bezos.

You want to experience transformative technology? Use the bathroom. Indoor plumbing has more to do with our quality of life than do computers. Ask yourself which you'd give up first.

By all means, take advantage of the new tools. Have fun with them; I know I will. But do not rely on them to provide a sustainable, competitive benefit. Grow your root networks – your own brain, your creative skills and your relationships. Those values will provide value to your clients far beyond your ability to wirelessly order a non-fat latte when you're a block-and-a-half from Starbucks.

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