A Case for Common Cause: The MyGigNet Revolution

The benefits of the Internet, with open access to more information are obvious. Opportunities abound for the connections of innumerable resources, along with their creative, productive use. For the innovator, this is a vast, uncharted territory. There is, however, a caveat. The value of any tool is directly tied to its more common use, as well as its varied applications. The problem with holding a wealth of data is that, for the average person, it becomes a double edged sword. First, it requires a certain disciplined skill set that, furthermore, is tied to a substantial analog effort that taxes memory, time, and energy in exercising a determined, desired result. The second is an outcome of the first; with this abundance, coupled with the attentive demands of other media (in the form of news, information, and advertising), there arises the imminent potential for sensory overload. This, in turn, results in a basic response – in order to survive, a certain shutdown occurs. One has to look no further than the majority of MySpace users. Even in a more focused environment, the efforts required just to make connections become too involved, relative to the benefits.

Creative minds, scientific and artistic, hold a common trait. They thrive in environments that are devoid of stress. The issue, then, is centered around delivering the technological innovation that reduces this stress and, in turn, implements a boost to the strength and utility of existing tools, along with the creation of new ones. An example of this is the development of smelting techniques; it is further demonstrated by the implementation of tempering processes. The most common of tools were benefited by these keystone points of discovery and integration. Their applications built civilizations.

Data, by its very nature, is staid and stagnant. It is like a library, whose books, for the most part, gather dust. Even when they are read, the ideas within are still only potentials until put into action. A word, unspoken, has no power to inspire, to move, to create. Furthermore, the compartmentalization of information lessens the vitality of its potentials. Without connection there is no mechanism for logic, no movement toward a determined goal.

It is not enough to offer a gathering place, whether it is the Internet, MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube. A congregation of individuals has two extreme potentials; one is no better than a roaming mob; the other a unified force for principled change. The fathers of the American Revolution were ordinary citizens, but they were united in common cause – principled, uplifting, looking toward the grander potentials of humankind. So, too, were the French revolutionaries, but theirs was a reactionary force. The outcome is embedded in the many milestones of history. When even the most trying of events threaten to mark the most noble of experiments, even these efforts are insufficient enough to derail the course of progress.

Getting back to creative minds, the task at hand is one that entails key fundamentals of stress reduction. How do we identify the means of delivering information, turning it into functional service, open up avenues for connection and collaboration, and inspire the potentials for creative, productive innovation? How, too, do we directly empower the participants in this process, from the bottom up, in as many beneficial ways as possible? How can we qualitatively and quantitatively measure their results? Lastly, how can we offer the gathering place – the public square – that not only delivers the speech, but offers the framework for its common, purposeful cause – the general welfare of its citizenry?

MyGigNet has, and continues, to do just that.

David Kahl
CVO