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As many of you know, I am in month six of my year long off consumption experiment. The experiment involves buying only the bare necessities, and nothing but the necessities, for an entire year, with the intent of immersing myself into the subculture of people who have chosen to define their identities by means other than buying or owning things.
As many of you know, I have been recording my experiences during the year in a blog called ‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’, because, well, I am the marketer who went off consumption.
I have decided now that it’s time to say goodbye to the marketer who went off consumption and focus on other stories, on other people who have stepped off the work-watch-spend treadmill, or asked themselves difficult questions about identity, or chosen to define themselves by means other than buying or owning things.
So, I’ll continue to write the blog, and I’ll continue to tell my own stories, but the blog won’t be about me anymore. The focus of the blog will shift away from reality TV mode to immersive journalism or ethnography mode.
I recently announced that I’ll be spending some serious time this year working on MobiChange, a social entrepreneurship venture that will leverage mobile social networking for mobilizing social change.
I have been doing some research on how to use social media for social change and I believe that a truly powerful social 2.0 initiative needs to be –
1. Mobile, because most of the developing world still doesn’t have access to computers.
2. Scalable, because standalone events/ initiatives can only have limited localized impact.
3. Self-sustainable, because it won’t last unless it pays for itself.
I haven’t done a vidcast so far because I didn’t have the right camera, the right microphone, the right editing software, the right studioesque setting. It’s a little ironic, then, that I’m finally doing my vidcast when I don’t even have a laptop, or a room I don’t have to share with someone.
I record my vidcast on my Nokia E71 mobile phone, during the few moments I have the room to myself either at my office, or my hostel. Then I upload it to YouTube from my mobile phone itself, whenever I have access to a fast enough wi-fi connection.
I see my vidcast as a lesson. To do something we really want to do — write a book, make a movie, start a business, travel the world — we need fewer resources — time, money, energy, gadgets — than we think we do.
So, what is it that you really want to do? What is stopping you from doing it? Think about it. Maybe, you already have everything that you need.
The interesting twist is that I’ll record, edit and upload my vidcasts exclusively from my Nokia E71 smartphone. So, the vidcast is also an experiment in what is possible and what is not possible with mobile technology. Stay tuned.
