folkdevil.com™
independent culture_fieldwork magazine
Matt Hardisty
matt@folkdevil.com
10th July 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
'New Online Resource for Britain's Creative Entrepreneurs'
Folkdevil.com™ is a non-commercial platform mapping the future dynamics of 'independent' creative and media enterprises on the Internet and is now looking to those operating within these realms to complete a questionnaire at http://www.folkdevil.com about their experiences in the online domain. Jim Muotune, New Media Manager at Soma Records, talking on the future of creative culture on the Internet says; "People should embrace the multi-media aspect. There has to be sound, visuals, interactivity and creative partnerships, all focussed towards building the creative community infrastructure. I believe all of these things are important when developing an e-commerce strategy…We now have a role to represent counter cultures and to inspire others, whether that is through music, writing or through visual arts".
The site seeks to challenge the illusionary 'voodoo economics' of the 'e-bubble', by identifying and examining some of the challenges and opportunities presented to 'independent' creative and media enterprises which have entered the on-line domain and are now tackling new modes of cultural production, branding and 'organisational' structures. A passionate and exploratory account, documenting the strategies taken by niche targeted and credible aesthetic lifestyle orientated enterprises across the world. A portrait of the progressive forces operating outside corporate employment, fuelled by the desire to communicate to the widest possible audience on their own terms.
Folkdevil.com™, the online research arm of 'Combated Folk-devils on Planet-e' (a Master's dissertation in Creative and Media Enterprises at Warwick University, UK), documents the dissertation's development with fresh ideas along with web links and a showcase of best practice. The site is moreover an experimentation in viral information communication and an illustrative example of the network which is created by media - showing how the constantly emerging technologies facilitate the disbursement of knowledge. The need not to mass inform, but with the help of loyal contributors how information is forwarded to others. The aim is not to increase 'hits', but to increase the compatibility between the content provider and content indulger.
We have now entered a new phase in the development of the Internet after the initial six-month honeymoon period. The venture capitalists, once so eager to toss money into the dot com well, have retreated with their bags of cash stung by the death of boo.com and plummeting prices of Internet shares. The merger between AOL and Time Warner also highlights how the Internet is becoming a more commercial tool, raising the issue of whether the Internet is still the wide-open frontier imbued with counter-cultural values of democracy and spiritual empowerment born during the 1960s. It is therefore of primary importance for 'independent' creative and media enterprises to share and learn from each other's experiences, in order to ensure that their ethos and ideals of 'independence' are sustained into the twenty first century.
Is the revolutionary spirit of Che Guevara just one inspired thought and a software package away?
© Matt Hardisty, 2000,2001
