The status quo is gone and its not coming back

Flattern the curve of health careI tooted/tweeted a few days ago…

We live in incredible times…
#COVID19uk

There is a lot of panic & uncertainty at the moment with the global pandemic of Covid-19.  But there is also a number of opportunities which are fundamentally changing our society, some good and some bad. To me its clear the status quo is gone, there is no way we can go back to the way we use to live (just like world wars). Simple things like our use of remote working is going to shape culture, society, human existence going forward; that is clear!

There’s been more chatter about universal basic income, but with a stronger emphases considering the huge numbers of people on low income, in the gig economy and self employed; hit hard trying to manage with the chaos. This could be the trigger for it to happen, at least in the short term.

Physical distancing and self isolation has forced those who scoffed at virtual connections into rethinking their position. People are understanding physical distancing is similar to a long distance relationship and similar lessons apply with social distancing. We are learning a lot more about each other, likely more than we do in the workplace. The idea of bring your authentic self to work applies even more when someone is looking through a webcam into your living room; mess, pets, family members and all.

Videoconf-whoopsie

The uptake of video conferencing has been huge and our reliance on the internet has been truly cemented with groups of people who used it ad-hoc finally embracing it out of necessity. Its actually become the number one way and this could have positive effects for the environment.

Online food delivery has really come into its own. On top of this contactless payments has really come into their own with cash being rejected for health reasons (yes I am very aware of the problems with cashless services however its a powerful counter point looking at the public health angle). Maybe this might finally convince America about the merits of a public health system? Ok thats not going to happen but now would be a very good time for it. Especially with so many americans just one pay cheque from poverty.

Our encroachment on nature urgently needs to change but we may have left it too late. Its clear the impact we made on the environment is biting back longer and harder. There are many who have suggested we are due a pandemic but are we ready for more of them one after another? Its also worth saying they will stick around and adapt/morph, so we really need to change our outlook. This could be bring us together more like a common foe (think Watchman) but you would have thought the environment destruction of our planet would have done that already? Flying has already facing a massive backlash but in the face of Covid-19, expect even more changes, if the airlines haven’t gone bust.

The  role of public service health and public service broadcasts has been very clear throughout but also the lack of resourcing them. Flatten the curve is a key message which people are getting their head around. Not just in the UK but across the world. Talking of public service broadcasting, this initiative: culture in quarantine, is pretty amazing and extremely quick for the BBC. There’s certainly some links to the digital public space.

The sheer amount of misinformation has forced the GAFFAs to do something but they are playing catch up on the trusted space to the public service broadcasters. Of course private companies have been throwing what they can to support people remotely working with lots of deals, even if the deals can convince/trap people in the long run? The calls for the end of public service broadcasting have gone strangely silent

John Oliver presents from a short staffed studio with no audience

Its absolutely fascinating to see the mainstream media shows adapt to the pandemic by using the exact technology bloggers, podcasters and videobloggers have been using for over a decade. We are watching news reporters from their homes and once we get over the first shock, it becomes the norm.

Its also around the time of crisis when data ethics is dashed to the wind. Its also when you see new laws sneaked in under the radar. Sometimes the crisis is a cover for what was always wanted.

However its been so impressive to see the local community driven support networks which have sprung up. DotEveryone’s Cassie’s recent posts is a good read looking at the tension for these networks, as theres a long way to go. (thanks Laura and GJB for the links). Douglas Rushkoff is right on the money with his conversation with Helena Norberg-Hodge, who talks about localfutures. All this nicely intersects with open source culture.

The term Stay Safe, Stay Connected is being used so much more than ever. It might be a halo effect but people are more concerned about each other than a month ago.But its perfect…

Stay safe, stay connected!

 

If the mainstream media do not get it, we’ll do our own media

Mobuzz TV

Watching a load of Iptv stuff from my geek download folder today, I've come to the conclusion that there is more than enough content out there to easily watch just this and nothing else. I mean between Rocketboom, MobuzzTV, Geek Entertainment, Diggnation, Twit, NerdTV, DigitallifeTV, The Scene, Hak.5, etc. There's hardly anytime to watch much else, and honestly who would want to when you look at what was on TV last night.

8pm – Just came in from work quite late for one reason or another. Whats on? Well Football (not interested), The Bill (no thanks), 10 years younger special (what the heck?), What not to wear special (no thanks), Natrual world (not quite me). Ok to be fair I've just picked on the 5 standard analogue channels on English TV but none of those are of any interest to myself.
9pm – Cooked and eaten. Would like to watch something while I do a little online socialising. Whats on? Rome, more football, life in the undergrowth, british comedy awards and space cadets. Its actually not till 10pm when Lost and the BBC news is on till I'm tempted to even bother turning on the Digital TV box. And even then, Lost I've already seen because I'm watching series 2 like most people I know and I can consume the news a lot better by visiting my mainstream media folder on my rss aggregator. If I go as far as visiting the BBC website I can even watch AV content from my laptop or even on my Xbox using a nice little BBC news Python script on Xbox media centre.

Not only is podcasts changing what I'm hearing day in day out. I'm also changing my habits in regards to what I watch and download. At the moment I would say by pure megabyes, I'm downloading more legal geek TV stuff than shady American and UK TV. Thats quite a large shift from a year ago when I was only downloading bits of the broken and from the shadows now and then. Niche and genuine content is the name of the game now (insert Longtail business model here if you like). I mean even Sarah likes Diggnation and Rocketboom. Some of the mainstream media will catch on and start going straight to the consumer like ABC and NBC with there Apple store content. Some will use it as a lost leader like in the case of NBA.com, but at the moment its all about the genuine voices and cleverly niche topics and if you feel your under served? Go out and do something about it. The equipment is affordable and barrer to entry much lower than its ever been. The revolution my friends started a long time ago, go get some. I wont go into details, but I'm certainlly looking into doing something myself.

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