Ground of Play

The profoundly playful Pat Kane has a three simple measures for the conditions governing a successful "ground of play" (as in "play ground")

1 It must have loose but robust governance
2 It must ensure a surplus of time, space and stuff
3 It must treat failure, risk and mess as necessary for development

He applies this to three different environments: Lion cubs at play on the savannah, a play park, and the Internet. Of the three, the last bears slightly more direct relevance to our being here together. I quote liberally, as I am wont to do:

1 Have loose but robust governance? Surely that's the very definition of the Internet. It has a variety of non-governmental institutions which manage domain names, and the improvement of codes and protocols that enable the web. And these codes themselves have come from a variety of actors that are neither public authorities or private enterprises, but exist somewhere in the 'commons' of open source software production...

2 Ensure a surplus of time, space and stuff? Again, that's the very definition of the Net. It ensures the infinite copyability of digital information, it exists in a state of total plenitude of content. Time mulitplies on the net: the way that social networking eats into organizational time is evidence of the way the Net busts the boundaries of our schedules, enables us to break time into bundles that suit us.

3 Treats failure, risk and mess as necessary for development? The mantra for web development is not 'ready, aim, fire' - get it right, hope you hit the mark - but 'ready, fire, aim' - keep shooting, try many trajectories and options, and out of the many iterations a few things will hit beautifully....

So, that's why I love the web. (Listen also to my Funcast called: "Learning by Dying".)

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith