September 2012

I know I say I'm excited to share things with you all the time -- this is genuinely true, and makes me even more excited. It's exciting that there's so many things to get excited about. In creativity and collaboration, there is more foment and room for possibility at this very moment than I've ever experienced before. And like YES! magazine for the creative community, perhaps, we're here to share the good news, in order to help you actualize that ... and learn who else is doing so.  We've been addressing the use of social technologies and publication  more and more recently, it seems. And with good reason: every day new tools crop up that can be incredibly useful in the establishment and leveraging of "creative agency" that we are working to model here at Exit Strata. For the past few weeks, we've been featuring the Field Notes and field recordings of Kennedy Karate/Nightbus Radio, via which we introduced the community to Soundcloud's fellowship program... as well as, perhaps, to the possibilities inherent in that recording and distribution platform.  Since then, I signed on to begin broadcasting live across social platforms using the Spreaker application,  which allows users to automatically record, broadcast and disseminate audio content (and mix in various audio sources). In so doing, I immediate recognizes the possibilities for this platform as, essentially, another form of publication-as-self-valuation, for creative people of ALL types, not just people who define themselves as "musicians," or "sound" artists in any way. The immediacy of the medium makes it an incredibly powerful one, in so far as it allows for simulcast of thoughts, read material, or whatever the individual so chooses, which can be recorded virtually via any internet connection and/or mobile device.  Of course, to be unintentional with this tool creates confusion and adds to noise - as does misuse of ANY tool or technology, from farming and fishing nets to AI. It's the intentionality and clarity of purpose that makes this most powerful: we can engage with it to create continuous documentation of process in a way that is incredibly human, due to the connective qualities of the VOICE.  After signing up I began circulating both my new channel and inviting others to participate via integration with facebook and twitter, and others began to use it as well and invite others on board. There was an immediate ripple affect, which simultaneously inspired essential conversations about process value and transparency that I knew could be useful to the community as others make their way through this new, seemingly overwhelming, wilderness of potential. I want to comfort people in knowing that the learning curve is gentle. These are not complicated tools, but they do require some quiet approaching, like a skittish animal... or maybe YOU are the skittish animal! Be gentle, it's a new paradigm :) What we've done here is used another powerful tool, Google Hangout, broadcast live via YouTube integration, to record a dialogue around these tools and their possibilities in shifting both community and self in the way we approach creative work. Taylor Quilty, in Asheville, NC, and Lancelot Runge, in Philadelphia PA, both of whom have also begun podcasting through Spreaker this week, join me for the discussion. What you also see here are the notes we co-wrote while on the "hangout" through integration with google docs, and some basic minutes of where the conversation went, including links to relevant information. You'll also find mini embedded players for each of our Spreaker casts, as well as a drop box for the new Exit Strata group on Soundcloud, where we will begin to gather community sound content (anything goes!) for upcoming live dialogues and community curated podcasts. Truly - there is limitless potential here. COME PLAY. {broadcast live via google+ hangouts on air} Rhizomatic Notes / Minutes Tuesday September 18 2012 Lynne DeSilva-Johnson Lancelot Runge Taylor Quilty