When I participate in particular movements and events I see myself as collaborating with others to enrich the whole. For instance, a short list of activities form the past few weeks would include witnessing the Transit of Venus, using a corporate website to apply for a job, attending an walk downtown, watching an old movie, volunteering at the Bike coalition and contributing at the Transit Union fundraiser. I think that each item on this short list is related to this process of collaboration and enrichment.
I have noticed that I tend to engage this process from a myriad of perspectives both physical and digital. However, I have also noted that many of these perspectives develop from different bases. For instance, type of engagement, which I will call “meetings”, tends to be scheduled and each event tends to be planned to gain broad support for a cause or pastime. Examples from my above list may include the Art Walk and Sunday Streets, and others may include sports venues. Another, which I will call meet ups, tend to be on a more personal level and are usually organized ad hoc.
Naturally the distinction between instances of “meeting and meeting up” may be somewhat blurred as many may have developed out of planned events or more carefully managed events. However, I can definitely say that I have passed through several turns of this process: going out and bumping into people, arranging to meet again and then starting over. I make the most connections at large events and they often result in meet ups where I get to know people on a more personal level.
These two spheres of engagement, while not exclusive, involve two different types of social activity and these have a lesser digital or automated component. For the larger events, meetings, there is generally a broadcast to a large audience (ads, flyers or posters) whereas meet-ups are via texts or word of mouth. Putting too much focus on the digital/automated or face-to-face and participatory elements of the process would cause a person to miss out on a whole world of interaction.
I see it as a process of sorting, where the basic concept is that one’s consistent engagement in the public sphere is essential. Individuals need human engagement but would prefer to learn about what is out there before committing to anything in particular. At first one may find that they should engage the public at larger events and then later on an individual level. Different scales of activity allows the individual to learn about what is possible before they make a decision about what they want to get involved in.
Here is a
GIF I made of the recent eclipse.
This is a regular series chronicling my life at regular intervals. This Memo series is meant to be a retrospective of what I have written and experienced. In each of these posts I use my notes in conjunction with memory, mementos and souvenirs to create a snap shot of my life.
