Do you use Facebook, or is it using you?

Rushkoff debates over whether the Net is good or bad for us fills the airwaves and the blogosphere. But for all the heat of claim and counter-claim, the argument is essentially beside the point: it’s here; it’s everywhere. The real question is, do we direct technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it? “Choose the former,” writes Rushkoff, “and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.” In ten chapters, composed of ten “commands” accompanied by original illustrations from comic artist Leland Purvis, Rushkoff provides cyberenthusiasts and technophobes alike with the guidelines to navigate this new universe.

In this spirited, accessible poetics of new media, Rushkoff picks up where authors let go, helping readers come to recognize programming as the new literacy of the digital age––and as a template through which to see beyond social conventions and power structures that have vexed us for centuries. This is a friendly little book with a big and actionable message.

World-renowned media theorist and counterculture figure Douglas Rushkoff is the originator of ideas such as “viral media,” “social currency” and “screenagers.” He has been at the forefront of digital society from its beginning, correctly predicting the rise of the net, the dotcom boom and bust, as well as the current financial crisis. He is a familiar voice on NPR, face on PBS, and writer in publications from Discover Magazine to the New York Times. 

I think Douglas Rushkoff is one of the great thinkers––and writers––of our time.

“Thinking twice about our use of digital media, what our practices are doing to us, and what we are doing to each other, is one of the most important priorities people have today—and Douglas Rushkoff gives us great guidelines for doing that thinking. Read this before and after you Tweet, Facebook, email or YouTube.” —Howard Rheingold

Making the invisible visible

In 1991 Troy Davis was convicted of the murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhall without any physical evidence to prove he was guilty. Of the nine witnesses that testified against him, seven have now changed their testimony and four admitted they had lied, yet Davis still remains on death row in the U.S.. In August of 2009 he was granted another trial, yet when it took place in June of the following year and witnesses came forth confessing to lies and wrongful police action, Davis was still presumed guilty.

His lawyers and Amnesty International have been fighting for his release, which brings to light another issue, how many innocent people are given the death penalty around the world? In order to bring attention to Davis’s case, Amnesty International has joined forces with the German street art collective, Mentalgassi. As part of their street art project, Making the Invisible Visible, the group painted a portrait of Davis along a street fence in central London, forcing people to pay attention.

Read more about Troy Davis’s case and take stand! www.amnesty.org.uk

This goes to show that, not all great experiential communication need cost millions and shout at you like an army drill sergeant. Done for Amnesty International, the image on a fence can only be seen if you look at if from the right angle. It’s known as a lenticular fence poster. That’s going to be my word for today, Lenticular.

Hope we don’t confuse it with Test.....