PUBLISHER'S
PERSPECTIVES:
Just the Fax
Michael Vidor/Publisher
December
2008
We are definitely in a rapidly changing paradigm
of information access and gathering that is affecting
the way we conduct our social lives, transact business,
or even play out our fantasies. We are a far cry
from when we had to make the dizzying mental adjustment
from FedEx overnight to fax machine, a mere couple
of decades ago.
In my former business, the fax was a user-friendly
quantum leap. No one resisted, that I recall. The
fax was a simple solution that gave us more time
to meet our deadlines. We could confirm the direction
of our business with clients on a running basis
without interrupting traditional parameters. However,
it did seemingly precipitate technological advances
that were becoming less benign and more intrusive.
I was skeptical and freaked out when the first
Macintosh appeared on my desk unannounced one Monday
morning with a memo that read: Welcome to the
new age of information and paperless technology. It
came without instructions . We were left
to our own devices to learn how to manage digital
information. Pacman was as familiar as
I had gotten to the digital age, much less understand
the politics. And the assumption was that I was
smart enough to figure it out on my own. In a New
York minute, I was expected to make my thoughts
and ideas known on a network where virtually everyone
could read them. The only consolation was that everyone was
being forced to get real, or get busted.
Was I more a paper tiger than an intellectual
geek? Who among us would have the guts to separate
the bull from the truth and post it online--subject
it to the scrutiny of management and fellow backstabbers?
The thought of indiscriminate circulation to unknown
recipients induced the feeling of looking in the
rear view mirror and seeing a police car.
But who knew that rather than cultivating paranoia
and lies, for the most part, sharing information
actually promoted a whole host of positive and
evolutionary sociological and psychological changes
in the workplace? Like empowering facts and belittling
fiction. The Peter Principle bar was raised
forever, thus forcing the hand of bosses everywhere--particularly
those who got to the top by sheer cronyism. This
would increase the odds of my achieving the American
Dream--the first positive turn in my thinking on
the digital age.
My admittedly less progressive inklings were shattered
again 10 years later at the onset of the surging
internet via high speed connection and the emerging
insidious fortunes of Silicon Valley. The speed
of information from person to person was the antithesis
of the propaganda we had been fed; that the faster
information would result in more recreational time
and prosperity. What a crock.
However, those of us with stock in the cynical
downside of communicating at the speed of light,
under the increasing pressure to move forward faster
for the same amount of money, were temporarily
vindicated with the Dot Bomb in the latter
1990s.
The information age in the 21 st Century has taken
another quantum leap far beyond commerce, suddenly
ushering in more positive ways to improve life
than we can factor. Gazillions of megabits of information
are running concurrently with our evolution--in
some cases exceeding our growth and challenging
our ability to manage the facts. Simultaneously,
the internet is empowering us to question and debate
what is true or not, enabling us to make better
decisions. The presidential election is the perfect
example of everyone having better access to the
propaganda.
As in my old way of thinking, I would have felt
as though this new social archetype is too disruptive,
or intrusive, or too real--exposing us for whom
we really are. I'm pleased that my idealism ultimately
prevailed in that the flood of information via
the internet is enabling us to support one another
at the grassroots level--to ensure that the playing
field is level and that those who make decisions
on our behalf are on the level.
Get
More Publisher's Perspectives:
September 2008: Economics
101
October 2008: Right
in the Gut
November 2008: Ramble
On
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