Tools and Influence.
Adina picks up a conversational thread from the Emergent Democracy Happening on the use of tools that could help political action emerge from decentralized online communities. I actually think the scope is political influence, not action. Activism is one form of influence.
Her key points:
- Tools that make it easy to form self-organizing groups.
- Tools that make it easy to increase the intensity of interaction.
- Tools that help communicate with governments.
- Tools that amplify memes.
One thing that's unique about blogs and other emerging tools is the density of feedback loops between participants. These tools not only amplify memes but, as Joi would say, creates a competition of ideas -- leveraging nested feedback loops with varying degrees of intensity. The dethroning of Trent Lott was a case of a meme that had a fitness level that led to discovery, won in competition to be amplified as well as sustained. Compared to the mass media, this pattern of emergence outpeforms in discovery and sustainability (beyond the news cycle) -- that impacted the mass media to influence both individual and institutional pluralistic mechanisms for change.
Discovery and honing the fitness of the meme takes place in creative networks. A phase transition occurs from the creative to social to political networks within a competition of ideas for amplification. Social networks sustain meritous memes within the social and political levels. More on this meme later today. [Ross Mayfield: Social Networks]
9:39:37 AM 
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