Finding ourselves, finding our myth…

Wener Herzog’s wonderful documentary about the science community in Antarctica, Encounters at the End of the World, reveals a sense of the collective myth of that community.  They are those whose by fell to the bottom of the planet. They are those living most like a space colony.  They are those keenly aware of our fragility, probing to unlock scientific mysteries that might prolong the inevitable.

Then last night, while scanning my twitter stream, someone quoted Twitter CEO Ev as saying in five years normal folks will be using twitter.  Hmm…

Normal?

While I’m not sure the camps in Antarctica will ever be inhabited by normal folk, perhaps normalcy isn’t a fallacy.  Social media will not always be geared toward the early adopters.  Who considers operating a business without a phone.  And look at how facebook is going mainstream, attracting a wider demographic as was reported in all the major media last month.

Who are we?

This is the question I’ll be investigating at SXSW.  What is the myth that is living through us less then normal folks committed to user generated content?  As the technology matures and gets integrated into society, we remain.  Our “little” band will find new fields to play in, to share in and to explore.  In many ways we are the ones writing on the walls of the new technological cave, emulating the experience of our distant relatives at Lascaux.  And we are also more keenly aware that the data bloom unfolding is incomprehensible, and we are only at the leading edge of it. And we keep busy, like bees building a new hive, we have a collective sense of purpose, that there’s work to do. And there’s certainly a social componant about building new types of community based on interest, not geography.

What do you sense of the story working through you as you yet again return to your screen and keyboard?