What I’m Reading
Posted: 2/4/2010 4:04:19 PM by
Lesa Ukman | with 0 comments
I read everything Cory Doctorow writes, and when I got his newest book, Makers, I suspected it would be a binge read, i.e., an all-nighter.
It was. Set in the near future—the U.S. is a third-world country, drugs have eradicated obesity and a tanking Disneyland is catering to Goths—the book's heroes are a pair of indie, open source creators who mine garbage dumps for the electronics in the trashed products and empower squatters and homeless with tools to be self-sustaining. Funny, insightful and alarmingly close to reality.
Doctorow’s first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, anticipated social media and its driver—social responsibility. Published in 2003 and set in Walt Disney World in the 22nd century, material goods are no longer scarce and the new currency, Whuffie, is a constantly updated rating that measures how much esteem and respect other people have for you. This rating system determines who gets the best housing, a table in a crowded restaurant, etc.
Think Facebook Causes, Tweetsgiving, Twestival and all the other opportunities popping up to raise funds and awareness for causes while enhancing our social karma. Sponsors are tapping into these vehicles, using their support of nonprofits to give consumers a reason to share brand messages. Target’s "Bullseye Gives" on Facebook and Sun Products’ All Small & Mighty detergent brand on YouTube are but two examples.
If you prefer nonfiction, Doctorow’s Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright and the Future of the Future is a must read. Topics include “everything from copyright and DRM to the layout of phone keypads, the fallacy of the semantic web, the nature of futurism, the necessity of privacy in a digital world, the reason to love Wikipedia, the miracle of fanfic and many other subjects.” While it didn’t keep me up all night, many essays were worth more than one reading.
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Filed under: cause marketing