Pat Kane defines his "Play Ethic"

Pat Kane, author of The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living, is a musician/philosopher. His insights into play, society and the Internet are often as intricate as a dance score or a Bach fugue. In a recent interview appearing on the Creative Maverick site, he gives us a more, shall we say, melodic insight into his vision. He explains:

The play ethic is what comes after the obsolescence of the work ethic. The work ethic is an ideology or belief-system which asserts that any job has dignity and worth, despite how alienated it makes you feel or how disjunct it is from your desires and aspirations, because society recognises this submission to the job as the basis of social order.

The play ethic is an alternative belief-system, which asserts that in an age of mass higher education, continuing advances in personal and social autonomy, and ubiquitous digital networks (and their associated devices), we have a surplus of human potential and energy, which will not be satisfied by the old workplace routines of duty and submission.

The identity of a 'player' - optimistic, willing to try and experiment, open to participating with peers in a multitude of projects - fits this new landscape, this new social order, much better. But we need to forge a convincing 'play ethic', particularly for organisations and government, which will help them to change their structures (or make way for new ones) to accommodate the expanding constituency of networked players.

Every time I read his words, I grow more appreciative of the many gifts he brings to our conversation about the increasing importance of play to the evolution of the human spirit. This latest is especially accessible. Enjoy.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

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