An interview with a social media guru and Harvard Professor

Update – the interview has been posted in its entirety on the KOSU website (The State’s NPR Station). Disregard the interviewer, a total amature to say the least but Dr. Weinberger’s responses are awesome. If you listen, please leave a comment in their comments section to show your support for their hard work and appreciation for covering a story such as this.

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I was given the opportunity to interview David Weinberger for KOSU, the State’s NPR station and I jumped at the chance. The kind folks at KOSU asked simply because they thought I might have some good questions. Little did they know Dr. Weinberger has had a direct influence on my engagement of online communications.

David is a fellow at Harvard University’s prestigious Berkman Center and is considered one of the nation’s foremost interpreters of technology’s impact on business and society – although when I mentioned that during the interview he kind of chuckled. I would argue he is also very modest.

I should point out all this came about because h0e will also be at Oklahoma State University for our annual Research Week where he will be a guest lecturer.

His latest book, Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder, discusses how the new rules for organizing ideas and information are transforming our culture and business. Its not just a rehash of Technology Determinism Theory but a full blown evaluation of how we try to create order in a digital world using tactile world techniques. This book, by the way, greatly impacted my outlook of organizational communications and really cemented my philosophy regarding a centralized vs. decentralized web presence – something I have been trying to wrap my arms around and apply in practice not just theory. More on that later.

I should also mention Dr. Weinberger co-authored The Cluetrain Manifesto. If you haven’t read it I would strongly suggest you do so. It is still timely even though it was written eleven years ago. And, as I shared with Dr. Weinberger, it really shaped my perceptions and approach toward digital communications, pushing me down a path which led me to where I am today. Today many might not consider it groundbreaking but we sure did way back then.

The point of this post
I thought I would share my questions for Dr. Weinberger. I can’t provide you the answers, at least not yet. I will as soon as the story airs but I am sharing them here in the hopes you will ask yourself the same questions – and answer them. I know I did a million times over and each time I worked through a bit more where technology is leading us.

If you wish, post your answers below or start a conversation on your own site and post a link below. Even better, if after giving it some thought you have a question of your own for Dr. Weinberger, post it! I will have another opportunity to interview him while he is here.

I look forward to your thoughts.

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You are considered to be an Internet and marketing guru especially with regard to social media. Most would assume your background is in technology yet you received your PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. How much of your philosophy background plays into your current work?

In Cluetrain Manifesto you wrote, “A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.” Here we are in 2010. In your opinion, are businesses getting it? Are they taking delivery of the cluetrain?

In 2007 you wrote Everything is Miscellaneous in which you talk about there being no universally acceptable way of classifying information and that no matter how hard we try to organize the internet it all gets filed in a miscellaneous category. Tell us more about this premise? (for more insight feel free to visit his blog)

I talk to my student about social media being three parts culture and one part technology. Is the culture shift really more of our acceptance to embrace a messy world?

Let’s talk for a minute and really define our conversation as being one of not the internet in general but specifically social media – a two-way symmetrical communication model where everyone has equal power. First of all, does everyone have equal power?

The world might stop spinning if I don’t mention twitter during an interview with a social media guru. Almost three years ago you commented, regarding twitter, you weren’t sure how long you could keep up with it, “interrupting your day to post a message that no one cares about.” I know you still use Twitter, do you still feel that same way about it?

You also commented you weren’t sure where the value was or what it would become a platform for. Has twitter become a platform for anything?

A few other quotes I would like for you to elaborate on:

“Transparency is the new objectivity” What do you mean by this?

“Mastering a topic is in trouble and authority is in jeopardy.” So who has more value, the scholar or the individual who has the ability to use the tools – to search google.

Is the online conversation becoming more or less intelligent?

The title of your presentation at OSU is, “Is the web Moral”. Is it?

I wonder if we might play a sort of word association game, I say a word and you share your thoughts:

Net neutrality
Facts – specifically are they negotiable?
Copyright
Decentralized net presence
Education

Okay gang, those are the questions. Tell me your answers, post your own, take the conversation elsewhere (be sure to link to it) and I will be sure to keep you posted when his answers are available to listen to.

Matt Galloway

February 8, 2010 | 3:17 pm

I can’t wait to hear his answers. Is a digital copy of the story gonna be available online?

-M.

Dan

February 8, 2010 | 5:05 pm

This is great, Bill! We used “Everything is Miscellaneous” this summer in a class I took this summer called “Rhetoric of Personal Agency” I learned a lot. I can’t wait to hear the interview.

Bill

February 8, 2010 | 6:45 pm

Matt and Dan, I appreciate the comments but I would really love to hear your thoughts on any of the above questions… Tell me your thoughts!!! Then invite your friends to share their thoughts. I bought the unlimited comments package from wordpress… fill em up!

February 9, 2010 | 11:17 am

All right – I have a paper due at midnight tonight, but I’ll take a look tomorrow.

At the corner of Academia and Practice

An interview with a social media guru and Harvard Professor