I know that, in blogging, you’re supposed to “change your content” regularly but following such a directive can be an empty exercise.

I would love to think that someone else might be interested in reading what I might jot down here, but I don’t really have any illusions about it. While I might fancy making money as a blogger, that desire is not the reason why I write here. I don’t want recognition, although it would be nice. I don’t necessarily even want to be right, although I would love the change to be proven wrong. I am mainly here because I can be, it’s central, and I like to think, and occasionally write down those thoughts.

What I caught myself thinking tonight was in the context of having an email conversation, although the same idea could be applied equally to Twitter “conversations.” I’m focused on the notion of a conversation because it is a measurable artifact of who we are, and I am presently architecting a solution to the problem of being able to track and make sense of your networks of communication. As a side-note that’s probably not totally unrelated, I’m also working up an idea for a website called dadrage.com; an aggregator of authentic conversations about being a father.

All that aside, what I wanted to say is that I really enjoy the re-emergence of the type of conversation that used to take place through the postal service in the form of letters.  Email is so much simpler and immediate, so the delays aren’t nearly as long, but the fact is the rules remain the same, and I think people are starting to recognize this.  Unlike the telephone system of conversations, if someone doesn’t email us back in four days, we might wonder for a moment, but will probably let it go at for ten days before following up or jumping to conclusions.

I like this first of all because it allows us some to time to take in what was said to us, which may leads to a more carefully constructed response, which is the second thing like like about this pace of conversation.

The rules of escalation are pretty straightforward. If you need an immediate response, use a medium where that is possible: the telephone network.  Short of that, you’ve just got got to sweat out the wait. Like your mom says, it’s probably good for you.

Third thing: the refinement of patience.

Fourth thing, building on the previous three: More authentic relationships.

I know that last is kind of an escalation of sorts, and probably violates principle number three, but it’s really an order-of-magnitude evolution, and should be treated as such.

In blogging, you’re also supposed to have a well-crafted structure, with a rousing conclusion.  Sorry. It’s just a random jot.

Introduction

In preparing for this post, I did a Google search on “Conversations with Edith Head.” This is the Invisible Theatre play currently in production at the Leicester Square Theatre in London through the end of August (2008).  It stars, and was co-written by the Invisible Theatre’s inimitable Susan Classen.

Google’s very first listing was the production’s very own website!  People would pay a lot of money to SEO “experts” for such a ranking.

Kudos aside, what next surprised me was the realization that, from my first pass-through of Invisible Theatre’s website and other online presences, I had never noticed any link or mention of this website.

Putting that insight on the shelf for the moment (we’ll come back to it), I should stop right here to say a few words about the Invisible Theatre and my engagement with it.

Back-Story

If you’ve read in my first post in this series, you know that my wife, Betsy Kruse-Craig, was taken on staff by the Invisible Theatre as an “Artistic Associate.” As for me, I’ve been fascinated by the phenomenon of Social Media and the possibilities that arise out of it’s emergence, and I have been working for over ten years designing and engineering software.  What you are not aware of is that before my career as a software maker began, I was in graduate school studying playwriting and performance.  It was natural, even casual, that Betsy made the request of me that I turn my attention toward the Invisible Theatre.

Not long before her request, I happened to have begun this blog.  It seemed a good mix to write about my process of developing a Social Media strategy for the Invisible Theatre.

So I did.

The Recent Past

This gave birth to my “Social Media Makeover Series.”

My very first post was picked up by Chris Laning, a producer of the podcast “Your Neighborhood Stage: The podcast for everybody who works or plays in community theatre.”  He emailed me, expressing his interest in an interview.

I was grateful for his interest, we made arrangements, and did the interview.  The unexpected thing about the interview was its context.  Chris had arranged to conduct the interview over the Internet, in the virtual world of Second Life.

If you are unaware of Second Life, you’re in the majority.  It’s a free, online virtual 3D (rendered in two dimensions) world.  In the world, you create an avatar (a personalizable, animated self-representation) and you interact in particular locations in a virtual “world” with other people through their own avatars. And you interact directly through voice.  And it’s free.

Unfortunately I hadn’t gotten the head-up from Chris that the interview was going to occur in a virtual world, so I was only present (hooked into the world) via audio.  But my experience, and the interview itself was enhanced by questions from the virtual attendees.

What a great idea!  An online, interactive virtual reality interview.  The idea was totally novel to me, but made perfect sense.

The Present

Yesterday, Chris published the interview, which you can download and listen to.  He entitled it “Social Media and Theatre.”  My only wish is that I had been better able to convey what the Invisible Theatre is.  In the interview, on that account, I totally Fail-Whaled.  My sincerest apologies to Susan Claasen, my wife, and to any of you who hear that part of the interview.

The Future

Chris has inspired me to add podcast versions of my blog entries.  Although I am not starting that just yet, I have already acquired the basic, essential equipment and software to do so.  I just need to rearrange my schedule to fit in the extra requisite time to put out a marginally descent podcast.  In other words, I have a bit more to learn before you’ll be seeing podcast versions of my blog available.

My current thoughts on the Social Media Makeover of the Invisible Theatre will be hitting the pavement after Susan returns from London in September.

Until then, I will keep posting my possibly but not necessarily unrelated thoughts, and working my way towards adding audio feeds (podcasts).