Nomads, et al

I just left a post on idealgovernment.com that reflects some of my thoughts on the "e-" projects that seem to be all the rage (e-Democracy, e-Government). My scepticism about such efforts finally spilled over into comments when William Heath of idealgovernment asked for my reactions to the latest fad/buzzword among "e-"ers: co-creation. I have been a non-contributing member of that blog for more than two years (Heath is obviously a persistent man -- he never gave up on me), and this seemed the time to toss my ideas into the mix. Having done that, I was listening to a podcast (from Weekend America) this morning that included a segment I think provides a clear example of the emerging generation of "nomads" I write about in that post. Listening to the folks interviewed in that segment, I realized that these were of the generation I was writing about. And it really wasn't about what they did in front of some computer, but rather the immersive lifestyles they sought. These are the folks that form the target populations of the future for e-Democracy and e-Government. And as if the put a point on it, another recent podcast came to mind -- this time a segment from yesterday's On The Media that explored the world and development of Second Life. Interesting stuff.... Tags: Second Life, On The Media, Weekend America, e-Government, e-Democracy, idealgovernment.com, co-creation, Marshall McLuhan, nomads, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick