Meditation from Reboot11

Reboot11 was my first reboot conference. It was a milestone in my life. Nothing less.

As a member of the reboot book crew, I took notes on all the speakers presenting in the main hall. It didn’t take long to see a pattern emerging – there was actually a sequence to the topics. Speakers were referring to topics already raised – and building on or enhancing those topics. It was stunning to watch this happen right before me.

I asked Thomas Madsen-Mygdal, the driving force behind Reboot, whether he had planned it that way when lining up the speakers. He said that if I saw it that way, then that was my contribution – interpreting the pieces brought together at Reboot.

Here is what I saw emerge at the end of Day 1 of Reboot11.

The Meditation

We Reboot11 activists need the superpowers that let the body become all eyes. Anything we see can be touched. We can see where we are and where we can be – the macroscope. It shows us where we can see and point and trigger the action that is needed.
With such superpowers, it will take very little effort to effect change.

100 hours.

100 hours, or 8 hours a week for the next 12 weeks, can be a simple contribution to a project that can solve problems and invent culture! (1)

Do we need tools for our world-changing project? The world is becoming increasingly complex – more complex than our skills can handle. We cannot work alone. We must connect with others for a collective and scalable effort to make change. We shape the tools we need for our task, but the tools are also shaping us. We co-exist and co-evolve as we shape our digital habitat. (2)

We reach out and connect with others – finding them and conversing with them via our technology. We harness that technology so that it can be shared and used by everyone. Out of the depths of corporations and into simple, everyday devices. We seek, map, find, and connect with each other. We can act on our own time. We own the data. (3)

Our tools have a huge effect on us, and we know it. Reflection, response, reflection, response – that is what we need when we shape our world. Together, we can build our habitat, our cities from the bottom up and up and up. Not necessarily up in height, but up in increased participation from the individuals inhabiting the cities, up in inclusiveness, up in liveability, up in community. (4)

We are linked in our communities. They, too, shape us as we share them. They, too, touch everything and anything! They point AND they fetch, bringing us what we desire, building a cycle of sharing and giving. Generosity. We share a world of different people, throughout our geographical and virtual communities. We have a moral imperative to act and draw upon our deepest hopes for this world of ours. (5)

But how do we achieve and maintain those cities, those communities? Let’s go open source. Our language and comprehension varies and fluctuates. We must begin with transparency and openness. Our collaboration leads to skill sharing and learning. Visibility becomes the norm, participation increases, and … we grow. (6)

As we grow, we work toward common goals and principles through our many layers of communities. Our place shapes and enables our action. Our community is our self-identification. It is how we control our future. It is our macroscope. (7)

Our efforts catch on. We no longer have one-way communication channels shaping the way we think. We are all drawn into the conversation. It is two-way, three-ways, many ways. We control the conversation, the news, the dissemination of knowledge. We share. (8)

We develop our own ecosystem where everything serves some purpose and does not go to waste. We link and we flow. Our civilization dawns. (9)

The Sources

Each of these sections was inspired by a specific speaker. The words are a combination of phrases or words from that person and my own words and thoughts. The sections are also in the order that the talks were given. Those speakers are

I will post notes from these speakers over the coming days and weeks. My first blog posts from Reboot11 were from Day 2 (Euan Semple and Niels Hartvig). Who says Day 1 should be written up before Day 2?

By the way, Reboot11 was held in June 2009. The thoughts shared then are still very fresh and strong.