<nettime> The Slow Media Manifesto

[Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>]

http://en.slow-media.net/manifesto

The Slow Media Manifesto
The first decade of the 21st century, the so-called ‘naughties’, has  
brought profound changes to the technological foundations of the media  
landscape. The key buzzwords are networks, the Internet and social  
media. In the second decade, people will not search for new  
technologies allowing for even easier, faster and low-priced content  
production. Rather, appropriate reactions to this media revolution are  
to be developed and integrated politically, culturally and socially.  
The concept “Slow”, as in “Slow Food” and not as in “Slow Down”, is a  
key for this. Like “Slow Food”, Slow Media are not about fast  
consumption but about choosing the ingredients mindfully and preparing  
them in a concentrated manner. Slow Media are welcoming and  
hospitable. They like to share.

1. Slow Media are a contribution to sustainability. Sustainability  
relates to the raw materials, processes and working conditions, which  
are the basis for media production. Exploitation and low-wage sectors  
as well as the unconditional commercialization of user data will not  
result in sustainable media. At the same time, the term refers to the  
sustainable consumption of Slow Media.

2. Slow media promote Monotasking. Slow Media cannot be consumed  
casually, but provoke the full concentration of their users. As with  
the production of a good meal, which demands the full attention of all  
senses by the cook and his guests, Slow Media can only be consumed  
with pleasure in focused alertness.

3. Slow Media aim at perfection. Slow Media do not necessarily  
represent new developments on the market. More important is the  
continuous improvement of reliable user interfaces that are robust,  
accessible and perfectly tailored to the media usage habits of the  
people.

4. Slow Media make quality palpable. Slow Media measure themselves in  
production, appearance and content against high standards of quality  
and stand out from their fast-paced and short-lived counterparts – by  
some premium interface or by an aesthetically inspiring design.

5. Slow Media advance Prosumers, i.e. people who actively define what  
and how they want to consume and produce. In Slow Media, the active  
Prosumer, inspired by his media usage to develop new ideas and take  
action, replaces the passive consumer. This may be shown by marginals  
in a book or animated discussion about a record with friends. Slow  
Media inspire, continuously affect the users’ thoughts and actions and  
are still perceptible years later.

6. Slow Media are discursive and dialogic. They long for a counterpart  
with whom they may come in contact. The choice of the target media is  
secondary. In Slow Media, listening is as important as speaking. Hence  
‘Slow’ means to be mindful and approachable and to be able to regard  
and to question one’s own position from a different angle.

7. Slow Media are Social Media. Vibrant communities or tribes  
constitute around Slow Media. This, for instance, may be a living  
author exchanging thoughts with his readers or a community  
interpreting a late musician’s work. Thus Slow Media propagate  
diversity and respect cultural and distinctive local features.

8. Slow Media respect their users. Slow Media approach their users in  
a self-conscious and amicable way and have a good idea about the  
complexity or irony their users can handle. Slow Media neither look  
down on their users nor approach them in a submissive way.

9. Slow Media are distributed via recommendations not advertising: the  
success of Slow Media is not based on an overwhelming advertising  
pressure on all channels but on recommendation from friends,  
colleagues or family. A book given as a present five times to best  
friends is a good example.

10. Slow Media are timeless: Slow Media are long-lived and appear  
fresh even after years or decades. They do not lose their quality over  
time but at best get some patina that can even enhance their value.

11. Slow Media are auratic: Slow Media emanate a special aura. They  
generate a feeling that the particular medium belongs to just that  
moment of the user’s life. Despite the fact that they are produced  
industrially or are partially based on industrial means of production,  
they are suggestive of being unique and point beyond themselves.

12. Slow Media are progressive not reactionary: Slow Media rely on  
their technological achievements and the network society’s way of  
life. It is because of the acceleration of multiple areas of life,  
that islands of deliberate slowness are made possible and essential  
for survival. Slow Media are not a contradiction to the speed and  
simultaneousness of Twitter, Blogs or Social Networks but are an  
attitude and a way of making use of them.

13. Slow Media focus on quality both in production and in reception of  
media content: Craftsmanship in cultural studies such as source  
criticism, classification and evaluation of sources of information are  
gaining importance with the increasing availability of information.

14. Slow Media ask for confidence and take their time to be credible.  
Behind Slow Media are real people. And you can feel that.

Stockdorf and Bonn, Jan 2, 2010

Benedikt Köhler
Sabria David
Jörg Blumtritt

Confer also:

	• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elissa-altman/move-over-slow-food-intro_b_367517.html
	• http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/17/pm-slow-media/
	• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/announcing-my-first-pick-_b_310544.html
	• http://blog.oup.com/2008/11/slow_blog/
	• http://www.shep.ca/?p=132

&

http://blog.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/?p=5122 (in German)







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