Brainjammed out...

So the Brainjams event was a rousing success - I do believe a good, informative time was had by all. It was an interesting experience working as one of the organizers/volunteers/what have you - in a more democratic view of the world, when does one 'role' end and another begin? Thoughts about democracy have been on my mind as a result of the event; I'll have more to say on the actual details of the event in a future post after I've caught up with non-Brainjam activities and have unpacked the experience fully.

But hearing a room of over 50 people sharing their knowledge and their passions made me hope that this is the beginning of something, and not just another another Bay Area 2.0 digerati-and-brat-pack networking event. It's no secret that I've been itching to see this event become part of a movement - or rather, to plug into an existing movement which discusses and acts upon the intersection of culture, technology and democracy. Only time and the Bay Area digerati community's desire for something more will tell if this becomes something greater. The need is there - we'll see if we connect with the excellent existing initiatives and ones starting up that need our support (like NetSquared - which is a far worthier cause than anything involving 'web', '2.0', 'digerati' or 'technology', for that matter.)

I watched Brian Sullivan's excellent recap of the day over on his blog, and was startled to see the reaction of one of KRON's news anchors after she came back on the air. Her reaction to the idea behind the event was 'far out' - not, 'wow, far out - neat stuff going on...looks like the future of media to me...', but 'far out', in that dismissive, corporate, 'you're a bunch of hippies, aren't you?' tone of voice. It reminds me of how far along we need to come to change everyone's minds - and not just our own.

technorati tag: brainjams