In many ways, what Marshall describes is similar to state of Empire depicted by Hardt and Negri, where politics and culture serve the economic interest of global corporations rather than individual nation states.  However, what Hardt & Negri, and to a degree, Marshall seem to overlook is that this is not a new trend or phenomena but rather a continuation of what is afforded by technology.  The invention of writing afforded greater expansion and progression of cultures through commerce, learning, and consistency of message.  The invention of the printing press was significant to the Protestant Reformation because it afforded access to the word of God without the gatekeepers of the church.

In light of Barabasi’s example, I thought I would share this. This is a bacon press I made for the National Ornamental Metal Museum. 6 degrees of Kevin’s Bacon.

The basic structure of any network is the connection between nodes.  Humans, like most animals are social creatures and are driven by a basic, hard-wired need to connect to others.  Maslow’s ranking to the contrary, social connection may be the most basic need we have.  It is our desire to connect that pushes us to mate.  Our connection to the offspring of that mating drives us to feed and nurture infants when they can provide for themselves.  Social connection makes fulfilling all the other needs, food, shelter, love, safety and so on much easier to acquire.  That we would exploit every means of connecting afforded to us by technology or circumstance seems to surprise some theorists, when in fact it is the most fundamental urge we have as living creatures.

My views on the nature of humans, expressed above, colors how I processed boyd’s discussion of networked publics.  To me, they are nothing new.  The expression, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, precedes new media by a century or more.  All cultures, communities, and societies are networked publics in essence where people have public and semi-public profiles, a list of “friends” (in-group and out-group members), and a means to observe the connections between other members of that network.  Gossip has been around much longer than the internet.

What I did appreciate about the boyd chapter was the discussion of context.  One of the most profound changes in our networking has been the change in context of our connections.  We are no longer bound by special and temporal constraints to the degree we were just a few years ago.

I will end my rant, not by telling Castells to get off my lawn, but rather that it’s the same grass its always been, only the seasons have changed.  It is significant that we are looking not simply at objects and nodes but also the connection and context in which they exist.  The major shift is not the emergence of networks but rather the number of nodes connected to each other and perhaps more importantly, the number of connections between nodes.  More frequently people are not connected to each other in a single context such as work, church, or family, but may have many lines of connection.  These increased connections alters the relationship between the nodes.

So here is the professional bio-statement:

I have extensive professional experience in the areas of political communication and public relations.  As founder of Gallagher & Associates, I have worked nationally as a public and government relations consultant and have managed or consulted in more than 50 political campaigns, including Clinton/Gore in 1996, A C Wharton’s first election as Shelby County Mayor and Steve Cohen’s 2006 Congressional Campaign.  I served as Director of Public Affairs and Assistant to Mayor Wharton, was the Mayor’s liaison to various community groups.  Currently, I am a weekly guest political commentator for Fox 13 News.

In addition to my professional and achievements, I am actively involved in the community.  In 1995, I was appointed to Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth by Governor Don Sundquist.  I also served as a commissioner with the Center City Commission an on the boards of the Memphis Redbirds, the Riverfront Development Corporation and currently serve on the board of the National Ornamental Metal Museum.

I hold a M.S. in Education Leadership and a M.A. in Communication and am currently pursuing a PhD. in Communication at the University of Memphis with a focus on communication and social cognition, particularly in the areas of political rhetoric and public policy.

Now the Not-So-Much stuff:

I have been married for over 18 years and have 3 kids.  I am a blacksmith and bladesmith.  When I get tired of talking to people, I go beat on metal.  I like to cook and often cater dinners for various groups.  I have a food blog, which is in desperate need of a new post.  I am sarcastic, bordering on obnoxious, but I think I am easy to get along with.