RadioBack

The Cluetrain Manifesto

Dave's Log:  Cyberdate 6.17.07

Today we are going to test Emma, like she's never been tested.  But first...  It began a couple of days ago while a few of us gathered in the lounge.  Elle told us of a conversation that she had with Christopher Locke.  Christopher was in 1999, Elle 2007.  Elle was curious, prior to the explosion of blogs and social media, who or what was, in Tom Friedman's terminology, flattening hierarchy in the business world?  So she queried a sector of thought particles in the year 1999, using elevated emotion as a filter.  Here is a sample of the data stream that led Elle to Mr. Locke: markets...hierarchy...corporate...ivory towers...subvert...rage boy...conversations...community...tired and not gonna take it any more.

"Destination: the planet Conversation located in the in the quadrant of Change."

Avelina's voice drips with excitement and anticipation.  Is Emma doing this or is Avelina emerging as a life of her own?  Time will tell.

With the coordinates of Conversation as it was in 1999 secured in navigation, Emma is challenged to take the Starship back in time.  She must get our craft 100 times past the speed of light, to a value known as the speed of thought.  It is at this point that we cross over.  Emma pulls it off without a hitch.

We land a short distance outside of a town called 95 Thesis.  Wood burning and food cooking loosen our taste buds and place us in a festive mood.  The town is a series of cobblestone roads and open front shops.  A wooden plank sidewalk that in places juts out to full fledge porches, lines each side of the roads.  Not only have we walked into a vibrant town, we have been swallowed by a community bent on sharing.

Over plates of barbecued pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad and tall glasses of ice tea, we talk to the town elders.  They tell us of four energetic lads who road into town on a private train.  This train was unlike any ever before seen.  Picture the ice-cold Coors Bullet mashing up with a fire breathing, vapor spitting, version of a train created by a sixteen year old fantasy gamer.  They called it the Cluetrain.

The four men barnstormed the country online and with a sacred printed document.  Their message was simply an illumination of what was already going on - the end of business as usual.  The World Wide Web allowed conversations between networked employees, customers and companies, networked employees and customers and maybe most profoundly, customers and customers.  Message boards, chat rooms and e-mail were the greased conduit.  Conversations eroded boundaries, ivory towers and conventional media.  Who listened to the ad media when an online community of people either ranted or railed a product?

The elders thought the lads had a legitimate platform from which to build upon their message, elevate the Cluetrain movement, and even perhaps, carve out a new philosophy of management.  We could only imagine the management instruction that coaches how to conduct your business in a transparent world, a world view open to employees, customers and the corporate world.  But that was not to be.  Before tee shirts were printed, Web sites were spun off or cults formed, the Cluetrain blew out of town leaving a vapor trail of imaginative what-could-be's.

Elle believes that the Cluetrain mindset still prevails today.  It has become more a way of life though, than the shock and awe it produced in the nineties.  She thinks the tools of blogs, podcasting, video-sharing, instant messaging, wiki's and others take the art of conversation from single engine prop planes to the Space Shuttle.  We raise our eyebrows and stare inquisitively at Elle.  "Elle, we just traveled back into time, flying one-hundred times faster than the speed of light.  Isn't the Space Shuttle so 21st century?"  "Yes David it is.  It is what is yet to come in methods of conversations that I save the description...from Space Shuttle to Starship for."

Ahhh youth.  We should have known better.

Elle

Dave's Log:  Cyberdate 6.10.07

Unlike Emma, Gabriele and Avelina, Elle is a real human being.  Although Elle has been with us for awhile, she first came to prominence in the mission to visit Roger von Oech. 

Elle is thirty-two years old with long, jet black hair and blue eyes.  Her hard, athletic body glistens with a natural brown tan.  Proudly, Elle wears hip hugger pants and short shirts that display a diamond in her midriff. 

Elle has the ability to communicate telepathically with people across both time and space. 

deviantART

Dave's Log:  Cyberdate 6.9.2007

Prior to today's mission I sat alone in my study contemplating the Edge...

My study resides between the general living area and bedroom in my quarters on the Starship.  A recliner faces an eight by eight window that looks into Space.  A writing desk flanks the chair, surrounded by walls lined with books.  Although I am one click away from mankind's total collection of knowledge, thanks to a Google project years ago that began by scanning books and of course evolved, I relish books, paper and pen. This is the only location on the Starship where I can personally disengage Emma...and I have.

I am thinking about the Edge this morning and our mission to travel there and RadioBack coordinates to the Universe of different to others.  Who am I however, to determine what or who is different?  Am I not revealing to the whole wide world just how under-exposed that I am?  Yes, I guess so.  Do I not consider these adventures opportunities to learn?  Yes.  So, if I can remain cool about my own naivety and continue to venture forth, maybe I'll learn some stuff and beam light on darkened corners of the Universe for others.

Today's mission is a neighborhood cafe for millions of people.  For me however, it lies out on the Universe's periphery.  It is a world of intrigue and one that my soul needs.  It is someone from this or a similar world who we need on the Starship to handle RadioBack's graphic and illustration design.

"Destination: The planet of deviantART  in the quadrant of Creativity."

...Avelina's voice gently rolls throughout the Starship, increasing our anticipation. 

The Starship's powerful engines engage and in no time we land on deviantART.  Two characteristics of deviantART nearly blind us before we take a step; Talent and Community...and by community we mean BIG community.  Emma syncs with Wikipedia and downloads a briefing to our headsets.

We must move forward with great care on this planet.  The culture is rooted in painters, photographers, writers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and cartoonists.  To casually describe deviantART as a planet of artists is wrong.  That would be like a broad brush stroke across a canvass of one million brush strokes, each radiating their individual passion and desire.  Each must be heard.  Although Emma downloads the culture and knowledge of deviantART, we feel we must touch, feel, smell, listen and let our eyes take pleasure in the here and now physical world that begs to bombard our senses.

Elle emits a soft moan as we move along.  She's made contact.  We encourage her to share.

"I have connected with one of deviantART's leaders David."

Elle: Tell us about your passion for community $spyed.

$spyed: We have built a community for artists and those who appreciate their craft, to gather, share their work, passions and desires. 

Elle: How does this help the artists?

$spyed: Our community removes walls and reduces the size of our planet.  It flattens the playing field and gives unknown artists a chance to be heard and seen.  It gives all artists a chance.

Prior to leaving, we experience an overwhelming feeling from those who dwell on deviantART.  It is a sense of graciousness.  Nearly everyone who we met with expressed great appreciation for folks who visit and comment upon their work.  We know, from our experiences aboard the Starship over the last decade, that this characteristic is one we discovered in the most powerful communities.  $spyed, his staff and team have something extraordinarily special here.  We feel privileged by this experience.

Roger von Oech

Dave's Log:  Cyberdate 6.2.07

We start off today in the Starship's Film Room.  It's actually a soundproof theater richly appointed with plush, built-in recliners.  Of course film no longer exists but the retro feel of the name delights our senses.  Emma has extracted a five-year old memory from Dave's mind and we are about to view it.

Rosemary and I walk into Circle Books on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, Florida.  Having discovered my right brain five years earlier, I am in search of books that will help me to develop it.  My main quest is a book containing Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken."  Discovering it though, it doesn't quite quench my appetite, my need.  Driven by the desire of different, my eyes land upon Roger von Oech's Expect the Unexpected.  I open it and am sold.  Its words mainline to my right brain.  It puts an arm around my shoulder and says, "David, lets walk down the creative path together."

All of our missions at RadioBack so far have begun by flying to the Edge.  Sometimes the Edge however, is our state of mind.  And sometimes folks whose state of mind is out on the Edge and have always been there - are waiting for us.  And sometimes these folks are not immersed in the new economics.  Sometimes they deal with the new by dealing with the old.  Roger von Oech's like that.

Emma softens the lighting and Gabriele appears in the theater's corner.  "Not only are Roger's teachings timeless, they transcend generational differences."  She continues, "And, even though Roger is deeply intellectual, learned and schooled, he speaks the common man's language."

"Bell bottoms."  We turn to the other corner of the room where Elle is standing.  Elle, unlike Avelina and Gabriele, is a real live person.  She is thirty-two years old with long jet black hair and crystal blue eyes that twinkle stardust across her naturally tanned, athletic body, stands with hands on hips staring at a point above the rest of us.  Elle has the ability to communicate telepathically across time and space.  Usually communications are initiated by others.  She'll hold these conversations oblivious to her surroundings.

"Elle, who are you speaking to?"

Elle: He asks, "Where has the "Thuban Phenomenon" worked in your life?"

With a trail of mystery following her, Elle walks out of the theater, her hip hugger bell bottom jeans swaying ever so slightly.  Emma knows, but we must link out and think for ourselves.

We are grateful to Emma for bringing Roger to our attention today and grateful to Roger for helping us to be more creative.