Hey,

I realize I haven't corresponded in a while. Starting up the new media studies masters program at CUNY/Queens (while also finishing my upcoming book on digital economics) ended up taking up way more of my time than expected. I've done almost no other writing, very few talks, and zero socializing. But both the book and program are essentially formed at this point, so it feels like the heaviest part of the combined lift is over. 

For anyone interested, here's the website for the new Masters program: http://queenscollege.media  I've extended the deadline for applying to the masters program until the end of summer, so don't hesitate to jump in for the Fall semester. We did an experimental Spring semester with a group of particularly determined students from around the world this semester, and had a remarkable experience. 

It's hard to describe what we're doing. The whole program was inspired by the teach-ins and learning circles I participated in at Zuccotti Park during Occupy Wall Street. The subjects were entirely emergent, based on the learning needs of the people there: alternative currencies, how to set up an ad-hoc WiFi connectivity solution, communicating with mainstream news media, messaging to activists, non-violent protest, consensus mechanisms, and the greater political economy. Could a curriculum be built this way, from the bottom up, and constantly changed and renewed based on the real-time needs of the students? And could such a curriculum also be geared to include the foundational ideas and texts - no matter the particular application? And how can a graduate education stay grounded in the realities of social change, instead of evaporating into increasingly abstracted forms? 

What I realized was that learning is itself a form of activism - or at least it can be, if it's constantly checked against purpose and possibility. And the easiest way to do that is to gather people who want to make change through media. Amazingly, the ten students we've accepted so far were unable to find a similar program anywhere else - which is why we've got people from Nigeria, China and Italy alongside locals from Queens, Manhattan, and New Jersey. Of course, I'm learning as much as they are, because I'm developing courses to match their interests - or finding faculty members to come teach new areas. We've done interactive narrative, persuasive technology, media archeology, media and social change, hacktivism, and even media and magic. We also run a colloquium series with guests from Dan Gillmor to Astra Taylor. 

So yeah, that's been a real time commitment for me, but a life-changing and life-affirming one. 

As for the book, it's tentatively entitled Distributed, and it looks at how we used digital technology to amplify and exacerbate the ills of the industrial economy, when we should be using it to develop a more lateral, peer-to-peer, distributed economic landscape. And I argue that this latter, more distributed economy is much more consonant with the digital media environment, anyway.  

I've been watching the latest media and technology developments with interest. 

 -  Radio Shack died because they pivoted toward consumer electronics instead of seizing what I always thought was the greatest retail opportunity of the century: Makers. Radio Shack became a cell phone reseller instead of the go-to place for digital electronics, Arduino, Little Bits, 3D printing, and so on. They could have bought a bunch of those little electronic maker companies and created their own brand. Their stores could have been the Maker equivalent of the Genius Bar.  

 -  Periscope is really, truly, interesting. (Periscope is a real-time video streaming service for smart phones offered by Twitter). It's like a science fiction movie waiting for the end-of-act-one event. I'm just not sure what it will be: a murder? a porn event? an assassination? some ISIS stunt? It's going to be interesting to see how the culture and content around the application settles in. I'm hoping to use it to broadcast talks and lectures live. I'm sure that's a misuse of the platform on some level. Then again, I remember in around 2000 when Evan Williams told me not to feel bad that people were accusing me of using Blogger the wrong way because I was writing whole articles instead of daily updates. I'm psyched to try it, anyway.

 -  I'm still a big fan of Loomio.org, and have joined the Advisory Council along with Joichi Ito and others. It's a way to do General Assembly style consensus-building online. I'm also advisor for Kandu, a new digital studio for kids to make their own games and apps. Finally, I'm doing some events with Civic Hall - an outgrowth of the Personal Democracy Forum run by Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej. It's a part work-share, part social change organization. Definitely not like anything I've seen before. 

I am finally emerging to do some talks. They're listed on http://rushkoff.com - Tennessee, NYC, Denver are the main ones. If you there, come find me or ping in advance. 

I'll write more soon. Now that I'm not doing columns, I have plenty to share. 

Douglas