I'm spending time at Chautauqua Institution where modern (20th century) communication began. Founded in 1874, when the US was transitioning between an agricultural economy to an industrial one, the idea of adults being well-informed, able to carry on a discourse in current events, and able to appreciate the arts became very relevant. According to Wikipedia: "Chautauqua is an adult education movement in the United States,
highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua
assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the
mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the
whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers,
preachers and specialists of the day. Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is "the most American thing in America."[1]
Today, Chautauqua continues with live lectures in the am - in which the most interesting part is often the Q&A session at the end. In the evenings, there are concerts. One pays for a pass to enter the grounds (feels like a college campus). This pass is the entry ticket for most events.
Being immersed in live communication and entertainment refreshes my experience of the gold standard. Initially all media evolved as a means to emulate this gold standard to the best of its abilities. Print shares content, radio shares the sound, movie and tv adds the visual.
BUT all media struggle to overcome several barriers:
1) Context: when everyone is gathered together for the same reason there is a context to start from for the speaker or the artists to relate to. In contrast, communication and entertainment via almost any mass medium risks being taken out of context.
2) Collaboration: there is a sense of mutual investment in a live event that fosters a willingness to collaborate - the promoter/theater owner wants a full house, the audience wants to enjoy it, the speaker or artist wants the audience to respond, the backstage support knows there are no opportunities for "another take"
3) Timing: The audience has planned to come. Anticipation has been built. The imagination is primed to receive and process more nuanced, sophisticated stories.
4) Live: As the story unfolds, the opportunity for the magic that only happens spontaneously and authentically happens. No shooting scenes out of sequence and building a story post facto in the editing room.
5) Affinity: As Ken Burns said on Monday night about speaking to a Chautauqua audience - "I feel we are kindred spirits." This is the energy that is only realized to its fullest potential at a live event.
The interactivity of the internet is an advantage for media to overcome many of these hurdles to emulate the gold standard of communication and entertainment and deliver the energy of "kindred spirits."
We haven't begun to tap this potential. The first hurdle is establishing a transaction system to support the "link" economy that is "frictionless" as Fred Wilson says. Chris Ahearn (Reuters) is looking for ideas. Here's my "ante" for a conversation starter.
