My job includes remaining abreast of the best practices in community-oriented development especially those used by the open source community. The intent is to leverage the best of these for the benefit of my company. We fully believe in paying back the community via participation so this isn't a purely selfish thing. We are take our obligation to participate seriously. None the less, my work in this regard has exposed me to much of the culture in the open source community, blogging, podcasting, and other Web 2.0 (world 3.0) entities.
So, when I encounter something in my daily life that touches on the cultural and societal flavors of this general flow, I sometimes notice. I had one of those moments today. I asked a runner in our local area if he was signing up for the First Annual Phedippidations World-Wide Half Marathon Challenge. He was not sure, but thought that he would. That was cool. Then, I asked him if he was going to start a podcast as a recent survey indicated that he might. And, here's the part that got me! He said that the local charity that supports and benefits by a lot of the organized running stuff he is involved in got a new sponsor and as such they may frown on the podcasting idea. I am paraphrasing since he actually mentioned the name of the sponsor and the charity. Both are big. Both are probably bureaucratic. Both are great, upstanding organizations that do a lot of good. But, how world 2.0 is it for one of them to think that what this guy says in his podcast, if he podcasts at all, is something they should poke their nose into! Yuk! This guy has a following of people that follow his enthusiasm for running and helping to the betterment of Birmingham, running, and both organizations.
This leads me to the Transparent and Authentic rant. The type of control network implied by the notion that this guy may not be able to podcast because of the new sponsor just implies that they want to control their image to this level of detail. I read that as some sort of synthetic transparency. And, frankly it turns my stomach. It is more a function of degree than a dichotomous "real or not real". Hey, I don't tell all here. Nor will I ever. But, I am 100% authentic on the subjects I choose to rant and rave about. And,I will do my damndest to be transparent. At the level of talking about running, I will not hold back. I think it is a shame that this guy potentially needs "permission" to podcast. It is clear what he says will be something he will feel obligated to moderate based on the expectations of some organization. I would prefer his authentic and transparent encouragements and thoughts for runners. I have no doubt that any reasonable person will see the genuineness of this person. The corporate cloud he is under may not make such true. In fact, it now makes me wonder about information spread by representatives of these organizations. Are the motivational things I see from the coaches written by the coach or pulled from the "prayer" book. They are good things and I quote some of them because I find them so good. But, I have to say were I to discover they were recipe based, I would find them less inspirational than less quotables directly from the mind of the individual.
That leads to the last bit. Another comment I heard today was that while Phedippidations was good, that some how The Competitors Radio Show offered something more useful to the person making this comment. Again, I am not going to get personal as to who said this and I am not asserting that this show isn't good or great. This is my rant and this is my reaction which may change as I learn more. For me, I am growing more cynical about statements from the modern so-greats like Lance Armstrong. Don't get me wrong; his achievements are monstrous and very noteworthy. But, did he do them without drugs! The monstrous amounts of money in competitive sports at his level of competition is running the risk of spoiling things if you ask me. And, maybe my perception is wrong and Lance never did any performance enhancing drugs, but I'm suspicious. The payoff is too high and temptation too enticing, if you ask me. For me, the long tail, niche, transparent, and authentic shows like Phedippidations take the day. Somehow I don't think Steve Runner (ok in the name of transparency Steve Walker) is anything but authentic and transparent and I love his show. And, there is a real good chance that the The Competitors Radio Show is transparent and authentic with interviews of equally transparent and authentic athletes. So, don't interpret this rant to legalistically. For me, authenticity, transparency, and passion for the niche rules the day. And, I don't think Lance Armstrong's ramblings will interest me more than Steve's.
By the way, I registered www.TransparentAndAuthentic.com and pointed it to this blog ;)
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