Resource Management Innovations
The Birthing of an Agora ....
OK, this one may take some explanation … and I expect it will birth a few discussions of its own. Not a bad thing really, because that’s what Agora’s do.
My dad had one (an Agora) so did my grandfather. But I don’t? (Do I?) That got me thinking. My dad had the barber shop. (When you didn't’t need a haircut). My grandfather had the post office … or rather the benches outside. Although there was little mail to collect, he went twice a day to ‘fetch’ it. (His word). Grandpa was never interested in home delivery. That was of no convenience to him.
I was always invited to ‘be with them’ at both the barber shop and the post office … and listen, as the forum gave way to men speaking as they do about matters of interest to men. I sure wasn't’t the only ‘boy’ there … but a male bastion it was, and the topics were all those considered taboo elsewhere:
- Politics,
- Religion, and
- Women.
That stuff was discussed ! What intrigued me, was that the discussion was usually in that order. Considered (without argument) in order of importance … but with the aged Police Gazettes on the coffee & end tables next to the ash trays at the barber shop … I always wondered (quietly) … why #3 wasn't’t closer to the top of the list? Maybe a blog for another day?
I was standing in line about a week ago with a wonderful friend of mine … one of those folks in your life that you really can talk to about anything … even the politically incorrect stuff. Not to complain and whine about social injustice … just a discussion around a subject of common interest that you (both) really do seek further understanding around. We were at an old country diner … anticipating some great (weekend) sausage & eggs.Or was it the company?
My friend is close in age to me … so the conversation in time reflected back to ‘the barber shop’. A place that was almost always loud, full of smoke … and more often than not there was a glass of homemade something being passed around. Not to worry … because our neighborhood (foot patrol) constable would be there with his boy too … getting a ‘haircut’.
You don’t see them anymore, but a barber chair of the 50’s & 60’s was both a thing of some manufacturing excellence and beauty. A remarkable blend of form & function. You just couldn't spend too much time in one of these. You tended not to mind a slow moving rotation of the chairs occupant ... because the conversation was easier as you did, and it was always worth the wait.
The shop would have large mirrors. Great hand tooled woodwork … with shelves to display the lotions, tonics & talcum that were in use. The history behind the barber shop is legend (as are beauty shops I imagine?) … but of interest is that this was at a time when gender specific was completely acceptable … and I think maybe (just maybe?) this was not inconstant with the predecessor of social media and 'networking.' That got me thinking …
What would the barber shop or post office bench of old have been like? … where have they gone, and at what cost? Ahhh, There is the rub.
In ancient Greek cities for example, an Agora, or open space served as an assembly area and backdrop for commercial, civic, social, and religious activities. Use of the agora varied in different periods. Located in the middle of the city or near the harbor, it was often enclosed by public buildings, colonnades containing shops for protection from sun and bad weather. The highest honor for a citizen was to be granted a tomb in the agora. It was for the most part, a community center. This was a place, where folks came together.
Agora, in Greek literally meaning ‘assembly’, then ‘place of assembly’, market place (in Rome it was The Forum), or the centre of a Greek city. Suffice to say, that is where neighbors came together 'in community.'
Have we lost something? Something that can’t be captured in a Tweet or a Facebook Status … a text or a blog? What is the motive behind it … and what is it social media vs networking vs (physical vs virtual) community intend to provide (I really don’t care that you had a bowl of soup for lunch) … or do I?
Wouldn't’t that be the stuff of conversation at the barber shop? Good, bad or indifferent … I think the guys would talk about the soup. Food and drink seemed terribly important as I remember? (Yes. For reference ... George was my barber).
Is that the stuff of my army days that I long nostalgically for? The Mess? The Barracks. The ‘smoking room’ in the barracks with its large over stuffed furniture, massive (hubcap like) ashtrays … and the largest TV available at the time with its fuzzy ghost like images (this is before cable kids). BTW … the shortest skinniest kid was the remote!
This was not so much a place as it was an experience. The stuff of brandy & cigars. Really. It wasn't’t so much the venue … it was the community. That was the Agora. Yeah. That’s what I miss.
Having community … or as some would say, ‘doing life together’. Having someone to ask over to the garage to help you with that troublesome taillight on the Buick. Yeah. Maybe that’s it.
So … how do I replicate that? Where do I begin? In a post modern society of rugged individual-consumers ... where and how might our wired world fit? As romantic as the notions are of the 50’s & 60’s and going to the barbershop with my dad (when neither one of us needed a haircut) or to the post office with my grandfather … when there was no mail to ‘fetch’ … how do I do that today? Or do I?
I know I don't find it in social media. And this isn't’t a crotchety old guy waving his cane at the neighborhood kids from his porch. It’s a desire to go deeper … with those who are already in my life … and being more (wait for it) …. Intentional in my pursuit of it. So, what is the ‘it’? That is the pursuit. Lets consider some of those characteristics so I can at least begin to architect it … or recognize it when I see it.
So … here is a start. The RMI website architecture will change (If that is the answer). I am going to (attempt to) bridge the two worlds … and create an Agora for us to come together in community, hang out and share thoughts on the issues of the day (not limiting ourselves to three subjects necessarily) … but an Agora nonetheless. Let me know what you are looking for … and we’ll get the web developers busy. While I acknowledge, that "No, that isn't it" is a perfectly respectable answer. Being able to recognize what isn't is half the definition. Maybe our 'virtual reality' is indeed an oxymoron. I for one, would really like to know that. In the mean time, I know what works for me ...
While I wait on you, I'm walking over to my neighborhood coffee shop ... read the paper, try out today's pastries and talk to the boys. I know at least three items on the agenda.
Ciao;
Rick @ RMI
Posted By: Rick Kneeshaw 2011/02/24
Categories: Reflections: Lessons Learned