Hey all,
long time to see.
the following discussion started 2 weeks ago at Wolfgang's place in Berlin and we decided to put it into a bigger circle of like-minded, interested thing members....
I wantto quickly reflect on a few points.
There was a repeatedly stated desire not only from W but from many others, to bring back The Thing as an active platform for many different reasons and certainly for a number of different activities - A moderated (filtered) event announcement board, art criticism, and a discussion forum for all who stay away from Social Media for the obvious reasons. But also for activities that would not replicate what all others in the world are doing so avidly. Could it even possible become a mini Social Network for a like-minded community (and reviving the existing THING community) ?
A few points:
*secure yet subversive* And along these lines we discussed pgp aspects, the beta version of new open source mail program mail pile and other alternatives to Google controlled communication platforms that could be implemented. Pit mentioned how one could link THING as a site/platform to FB without a full submission however not to bypass the option of making use of existing social media sites as springboards.
To paraphrase Walter, he mentioned that for him the importance of the Thing’s legacy was beside the “pioneer factor” it’s continuing uniqueness allowing political involvement and activity on the web that was impossible elsewhere, and he felt that this is an essential aspect which could / should be continued.
*framework?* But what else? How could all this be bundled in an unusual way, not to look like a .gif animation happy hipster infotainment site but also not like a dusty blog. And speaking of the latter: The sad (Drupal?) interface of post.thing.net is for me a literal PostThing.net ...bit of a Dorn im Auge it make me already 5 years ago initiate (unsuccessfully) a similar discussion.
*content? appearance? * So besides the basic idea on WHAT and HOW this all should materialize, it seems relevant to ask what issues should be prioritized at the same time how this then should look like? Regarding this Marc’s and Ruth’s Furtherfield was for me - not so long a go- still a highly interesting model to study, although nowadays I am more and more questioning the self-imposed limitations that come with the strict focus on networked culture. I nowadays are more excited about an "all-inclusive" framework ....needless to say one that is somehow balanced between deep, witty art criticism, activism..and otherwise wild things (i.e. a la MOUSSE, etc)
*support structures?* Pit brought up the possibility to find support right within the dead center of the commercial art world, collectors and art patrons that could be won as sponsors. We discussed how labor of love works for a limited amount of time for certain people and how essential a long form support structure is. W … sorry to repeat issues that are as old as THE THING, question is what kind of individual donation support can still be found in todays German/European landscape within such a multitude of cultural activities, crowd funding culture, etc.
Feel free to correct whatever I didn’t mentioned or sounds off.
It would be nice to hear from all others some key ideas, what anybody imagines the THING to be like and also to what extend you could get involved. I guess apart from an already forming work group re the technical aspect, among all mentioned aspects a second work group could think about interface design - and all of us should throw concrete ideas for content.
Ahoy,
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