Ivo Gormley’s one hour documentary “Us Now”, shot in London
in 2009, traces the online activities of some ordinary adults as they use the
web to procure and offer services in innovative ways. This is not about self-broadcast or
self-promotion; it is about life and cooperation.
As the film opens, a young man arrives in London (I think
this is Giles Andrews) from the US to stay in a home and sleep on a couch he
had reserved through “Couch Surfing”
(link ).
Maybe this concept supplements the old idea of youth hostels, popular
for students traveling in Europe. (Yes,
I’ve seen both “Hostel” horror movies.)
Soon, we’re following other activities, like soccer games of
a team Ebbsfleet United, owned by its fans, and Zopa, a bank where everyone is
a “manager”. (Actually, many banks used
to inflate the titles of their employees anyway.)
Other efforts get mentioned, such as “Slice the Pie”, a
vehicle for funding new music albums, “The People Speak” and “Directionless”. The obvious comparison would come from Kickstarter or crowdfunding sites.
The new paradigm pretty much eliminates political parties and their fiefdoms, something Jesse Ventura has long wanted to do in the U.S.
The new paradigm pretty much eliminates political parties and their fiefdoms, something Jesse Ventura has long wanted to do in the U.S.
All of this puts some obligation on the participants. If you help the couch surfers (and use the
service), you have to keep your home or flat presentable. Not everyone has time to do that. In the US, there’s an adhoc service where
people can let others rent their cars while they travel by air. And it’s possible to rent your home short
term – a lot of people do this with beach properties, and is that what timeshares
have always been about? And think about
how Zipcar works, taking up more urban parking spaces all the time. I personally love the idea of bike share.
There is, indeed, a new idea that we can do well ourselves
by doing good (outside the corporate state), and that value is found in whether
something helps other people, not just in short term profits or numbers. Are “likes” the new barter? Not exactly, because we can get caught up in
counting those, too.
The film (official site) comes
from Banyak and IndieFix. I watched it
on Amazon Instant; it was free to Prime subscribers.
The film could be compared to the PBS Frontline report “Generation
Like” (reviewed on the TV blog Feb. 19), and the book by Glenn Reynolds, “An
Army of Davids” (reviewed on the Book review blog Feb. 19), as well as Rohit
Bhargava’s “Likeonomics” (Books blog, Dec. 19, 2012).
Wikipedia attribution link for Twickenham Stadium, rugby,
London. Looks like quidditch.
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