Words for Webstock is a series of articles from past Webstock speakers we’ve commissioned for your enjoyment. This first Words for Webstock article is by Bruce Sterling.
Like a lot of science fiction writers, I love grand futuristic schemes. A grand scheme of this kind answers the simple question “What’s the future all about?”
We science fiction writers naturally prefer the future to be about one big thing. That’s easy to describe, understand and sell to a publisher. “My new book’s about a Martian invasion. They’re super-scientific and highly evolved, but they forgot about simple old germs.”
You page through WAR OF THE WORLDS, and the dramatic tension has you on the edge of your seat. You never pause to ask HG Wells any modern, Webstock-geek questions about the situation he portrays.
For instance: “Did the Martians rehearse this launch with a beta-pre-release to work the bugs out?” (Obviously not). “How do the Martians plan to monetize their expensive interplanetary invasion? Where does their mesh- network of world-smashing tripods store the backups for their data? Do those tripods have any urban-mapping services so they know which human cities to fry first? Are those open-source heat-rays, or are they fully-patented heat rays?”
We unthinkingly shelve those issues, because a Martian invasion is so high-concept. We just don’t go there, mentally. The Martians are burning up everything! Go for it! We accept this because it’s the future.
However, now consider the past. Ask the big question: “What was the past all about?”
That ought to be easy, right? It already happened, so we don’t have to make anything up. Let’s consider the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). The big story back then? The English invade France, and they burn up everything including Joan of Arc. The population of France gets cut by two thirds. It’s much worse than a Martian invasion because it lasts much longer, and the epidemics kill off the humans.
The complexities are deep and they ramble on endlessly. The guys living “the Hundred Years War” had no idea they were in one. Four generations of “war” isn’t a “war,” it’s a lifestyle. And by now everybody’s forgotten all about it.
So: what does this have to do with Webstock? Well, let’s consider some consensus notions for the future of glamorous Webland. I totally dote on these, for a host of good reason. There are zillions of ’em, stuff like mobile robots, 3d printers, online video, locative tech, quantum computing, social networks. With an almighty effort, maybe we can concentrate on five.
The Cloud! Web Squared! The Internet of Screens! The Internet of Things! Augmented Reality!
Any serious futurist willing to log the hours typing could write a decent book about any of these topics. I already wrote a nonfiction book about #4 there, and my new novel has got oodles of #5. I’m a major fan of number two, while number one is a fogbank of hype that could overwhelm anything. Number five is adorable. A science fiction writer who can’t like Augmented Reality is, seriously, dead inside. You like science fiction but you don’t like Augmented Reality? Come on, you must have lost the will to live!
I can cheerily talk, write, blog and tweet all day about 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. And I do. But there’s a troubling aspect to this effort, because although it’s easy to talk about grand ideas in an abstract way, there is no practical way to pull these grand concepts apart in the real world.
We’re not going to get a future Cloud World as somehow opposed to a future Augmented Reality World. It can’t happen. The ideas can be clearly distinguished, but ideas about technology, labels for technology, predictions and suppositions about technology, they don’t map onto actual real-world technology. Human culture doesn’t work like a logical argument. Distinguishing and describing 1,2,3,4 and 5 is like trying to staple and saw melting ice-cubes.
Here’s what it sounds like: 1+2+3+4+5. When it’s not futuristic. When it’s normal. When it’s banal.
She poured a coffee, then touched the breakfast table. “Where are my shoes?” “Your sister borrowed them.” “Again? Where is Susan?” “She’s downtown now.” “Susan! Why did you swipe my favorite shoes again?” “Look at this dress.” “Oooh, that dress is darling.” “It would look even better on you.” “You’re right. Get it for me. You can’t have it.” “Trade you for these shoes.” “Let me check that with Henry. Yeah, okay.” Karen had another sip of fair-trade coffee. It tasted weird, but it was still hot.
They’re all in that paragraph. All five. They’re phantom far-out notions gobbled up by the real world. They packed in there so deep that nobody notices them. So, yes, I can write about it. It’s just: it doesn’t look futuristic. It looks way too real.
Why isn’t it grand? Why isn’t it as fantastically grand as the spectrum of all possibility? Well, why isn’t today grand? Why didn’t we wake up this morning in direct confrontation with the entirety of past and future? The present day is the only day we’re ever given.
Bek Hodgson is one of the judges for the ONYAs and will be coming out to New Zealand for the awards ceremony. While here, she’ll also be conducting a Master Class workshop on Entrepreneurial Design. We caught up recently with Bek and asked her a few questions.
Webstock: Tell us about what you’re currently doing and how you got there.
Bek: Currently, I am in semi-stealth mode working on two really exciting new startups here in New York that will be unveiled in the spring. The first is in partnership with Rob Kalin, founder of Etsy, for which we are aggressively harnessing the power of the web to redefine and enhance learning and the exchange of knowledge. The second is a community site I co-founded for writers. This site not only enables writers to promote and connect, but provides tools enabling quick, easy and beautiful publication – both on the web and in print.
The path to get here has been over a decade long adventure – a cocktail of the early-on design bloopers, a traditional design education at Art Center College of Design, working with a host of inspiring startups like Etsy and Blurb, and a fierce dedication to creating purpose-driven solutions that enable multitudes of folks to have a wider reach and potentially greater impact.
Webstock: What makes good design on the web? What makes something great, instead of average?
Bek: For all its complexities, I believe good design on the web simplifies environments and experiences. Understanding the medium, and how it is used, is paramount. It challenges us to say more with less and to make navigating, sharing and collaborating truly intuitive. Making something great, instead of average, means nailing all such things and adding a dose of brilliant execution. Details that delight, language that inspires – revealing unwavering genius.
Webstock: We understand you’re singer/songwriter and avid busker. How long have you been doing that and what are some of your influences?
Bek: I have been writing and performing music since I had the strength to crawl up on my parents piano bench as a toddler. As for influences, I prove the winning odd-ball in this department as my father is the pastor of a church and I was raised on a strict diet of only hymns and worship music. Be that as it may, such influences evidently proved mighty inspirational as hundreds of songs have since sprung from me. I perform by the name Fondly and post random living room and live recordings to fond.ly whenever I get the chance.
As for busking, I find it to be one of my most raw and magical pastimes. I have a great love for adventure and a far greater love for people – so tossing myself into unexpected environments that enables the unlikely to unfold makes me smile. Much like design, music has a profound ability to open unusual paths of communication, to gather diverse groups of people, to heal, encourage and inspire. I look forward to busking in Wellington!
Webstock: As a bonus question, your top five desert island discs, and why?
Bek: Oh goodness – what a task! I will have to race off and get that dose of influence I missed over the last 30 odd years! At least you limited it to a desert island, that certainly tones things down.
Alright. Boldly stated and adored by the admittedly less informed …
Sigur Ros » Ãgætis byrjun
More refreshing than the desert island itself. The perfect awakening.
Bon Iver » For Emma, Forever Ago
Layers of tone, rhythm and harmony. I learn more about design each time I listen.
Neko Case » Live from Austin, TX
Bold and brilliant. Try it with a lime.
Gotan Project » La Revancha del Tango
It just wouldn’t be a desert island without La Revancha del Tango.
The Budos Band » The Budos Band II
They serve it with extra salt.
And a bonus album for your bonus question …
Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)
Iron & Wine, Cat Power, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Ben Gibbard, Feist, David Byrne … to name a few. Need I say more?
Webstock: Your workshop here is called, ‘Entrepreneurial Design’. What’s ‘entrepreneurial’ design and what can attendees look forward to at the workshop?
Bek: I credit Liz Danzico, Chair of the MFA in Interaction Design program at SVA here in New York for the title ‘Entrepreneurial Design’. Liz asked me to join the faculty this spring to teach this course which is an invigorating opportunity.
Entrepreneurial Design really encompasses the breath of fundamental decisions that must be made when pursuing a new and unchartered endeavor. It challenges design to step out of it’s traditional roll as service provider and embark on the risky mission to create what has not yet been created. In this workshop, we will be meeting this challenge head on – exploring how to take a great idea and make it a viable reality.
Webstock: You’re also coming to New Zealand as a judge for the ONYAs. What things will you be looking for when judging the sites?
Bek: [Laughs] I will be looking for future partners!
Aside from scoping the New Zealand webscape for my own selfish desires, I will be paying close attention to the execution of visual design and user experience. There is a profound amount of time and energy that gets poured into making something great and I will be looking for evidence of such efforts and thrilled to be one of the resounding voices acknowledging the boldest and brightest outcomes.
Webstock: Thanks Bek! We’re really looking forward to having you and your guitar here in August.
All the recordings from the Webstock 09 conference are now online. that’s some 24 recordings, plus the opening and closing of the conference. They’re in a variety of formats – streaming and downloadable – and we’ve also incorporated the ability for people to tag and comment on the recordings.
We’ve been asked a few times why we make the recordings so widely available – surely it must impact on numbers attending Webstock? Or why they’re available free, instead of something we could charge for.
It comes down to this, what Tash has called “good web citizenship”.
Most of what we’ve learned about the web, (and I suspect pretty much everyone else except, maybe, some of the people mentioned above) has been the result of others sharing with us. Initially through mailing lists and bulletin boards, then through blogs and articles and more recently through video and screencasts. This culture of openness, of sharing and of feeling like we’re all learning as we go has been a huge factor in driving innovation and growth on the web. It’s humbling for us that so many people we respect and admire have made what they do so freely available for others.
We hope that by making these recordings available we’re repaying that debt as well as we can.
And a huge thank you to all of the speakers who’ve given us permission to do so.
Bek Hodgson is one of the 
