Two Trends: Micro-Localization and Macro-Realization

I’ve written on this before, and remain fascinated with the topic. Specifically, I see fantastic opportunity in the convergence of two trends: micro-localization and macro-realization.

Micro-Localization

This is a trend that seems to be fast spreading is that people are seeking a (renewed?) sense of place, a connection to their community. Whether it’s connecting with their food supplies by shopping at local co-ops, farmer’s markets, and sharing in a CSA – or through participating the rise of community groups such as Seattle’s SCALLOPS groups – people are reconnecting. Likewise, local groups everywhere are refocusing their messages and efforts to take advantage of larger trends – Obama’s “hope/change” mantra being a recent example. In short: people are trying to connect locally, support others in their communities, and know their neighbors.

Macro-Realization

People globally are connected to one another more than ever. Simultaneously, we can focus on supporting our local farmers, and we can learn what innovative methods people across the globe are using to support their local farmers. This presents unique and immense community-building opportunities – particularly around business.

Convergence

The convergence of these trends is perhaps best exemplified by the growing use of tweets to not only update people on one’s current temporal reality, but also to discuss one’s business models, marketing opportunities, and visions for collaboration. In a sense, I see these threads as a giant conversation: where once people who left their home towns lost connections and “forgot” old relationships, now we have an opportunity for a lifetime connection and conversation. Likewise, where one might formerly have been working in a regional vertical, one can now interact – daily and in depth – with people working on similar problems across the world.

That awareness and those interactions could be as “lite” as global fantasy football leagues. However, those interactions can also be hugely powerful. No longer are we, as individuals or as work groups, confined to our physical location. We can truly appreciate the depth of problems, and can simultaneously realize significantly stronger and nearly endless working groups to address those challenges.

What makes these two trends so interesting is that I perceive to be gaining strength – both in opposition and in direct support of each other. The more we know of what’s available to us, the more we want it in our own communities. Likewise, as we spend increasing time glued to boxes of communication and entertainment, we seek out new, more powerful (and perhaps more efficient?) ways to connect with our communities.

Power for change and opportunity lies somewhere at the juncture of these trends – of this I’m convinced. Tomorrow’s successful companies will appreciate and fully leverage their connection to place(s), while simultaneously engaging a global audience. Re-Vision Labs looks forward to working with those companies.

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Published 26th February 2009 at 2:45 pm in Collaborative Technologies, Community Organizing, Global Development, Networks and Partnerships, Written by Gabriel with Comments
Tagged with collaboration, localize, macro-realization, micro-localization, sustainable business

Toby

nice reply, gabriel, and you make great points, as always. in summary of both our posts above, i would say to focus on four words/things:

1. Peace
2. Passion
3. Balance
4. Discipline

if you can find what brings you peace and passion and then balance those two, you should be enlightened on a regular basis. if you can then discipline yourself so that you stay balanced, you should be(literally) good to go.

great stuff and good reminders on how to live!

Toby

interesting post, gabriel. i've recently read, "the power of place" by winifred gallagher and find the topic fascinating, as well. i just read an article by miami herald's leonard pitts jr. about twitter and it has convinced me that this latest trend is something i am going to try to stay away from for a little longer...at least. as you know, i used to own a blackberry (aka. crackberry) and it's so easy to become absorbed by all these technological "advances" to stay "connected". facebook is my method of choice these days with emails for the non-facebook peeps. why facebook? because you can share pic's (1,000 words, right?), video's and still give a "status update" on occasion to let people know what you are doing (personally or other). From what i understand, twitter is all about the latter and i have to agree with leonard pitts jr. and say that, "i'm not that interesting. no one is." more importantly, i think that staying "connected" is very important, but you also need to stay connected with your own soul and what brings peace/passion to your lives. for me, that is getting out into nature on a regular basis and to places where no people are and you can just immerse your sould into mother nature's gifts. checking email, texts or status updates while in these places would distract me from this connection (with nature and my soul) and makes me think more about the balance of connection. i appreciate this post, though, for it was a good reminder of what's important to me. and, of course, to each their own. ;)

Gabriel

Great thoughts, Toby; thanks for sharing! That said - I think it's finding balance that you're hinting at. Indeed, your Facebook feed can convey a ton - your photos, thoughts, videos, etc. Shutting it off can allow time for reflection on what was just seen on someone's Facebook. My point in this post, though, was really trying to hit that sweet spot in the middle a bit more. In other words - because I can see what's going on anywhere, with anyone, via Twitter & Facebook and the rest, it gives me great food for thought on how I can then go and live. For example: historically, the examples upon which I might base my life were largely those demonstrated by those around me - a very limiting, and limited - perspective and set of examples. Sure, I could read of how others lived, and eventually with TV, view it. But still - the view was largely on the majority social reality.

Imagine the civil rights movement had people been able to see that there were places in which people of all colors had equal rights? Imagine understanding what was actually happening in early Nazi Germany, because of tweets from people living there; would the world have acted sooner? Macro-realization, to me, is the ability to broaden what one can even imagine being possible; by seeing how others are doing things, all over the world - whether through tweets informing me of an amazing South African blog that helps me re-think waste, through a Facebook feed that shows me how you plant your garden in Japan, or etc - I have a fundamentally new view of the options available to me and to the world. And with that knowledge, I can go engage in my community, do good work, connect with people. Balance. So hard to attain (I rarely do), but that's what I see in the convergence of these two trends.

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