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Harpo Gang

We recorded the Gillmor Gang this morning, with Calacanis, Arrington, Farber, Searls, Gardner, and Anderson present and accounted for. What with the usual bifurcation between enterprise (MS/Novell) and Web 2 oh (Arrington/Calacanis), I should have spent more time trying to stitch things together than I did. But I made the decision early to lay out as much as possible and see what the underlying dynamics of a Gillmor-less Gang felt like.

At first, it felt awkward to not jump in when I normally would. But I was listening for the air around those moments, wondering whether my thoughts would be obvious by their absence. In gestural terms, not a negative or neutral gesture, but something different. Perhaps a gesture of silence, where the listener/other party is encouraged to either fill in the blank with some of what might have been said if I were more active, or failing that, some cue to indicate whether the silence could be inferred either as support or opposition to the thrust of the audible content.

Once I started listening that way, I could hear various of The Gang stepping up: of course, Jason, Dana, then Farber (who tried to draw me in), Arrington and eventually the usually silent Robert Anderson, who overtly drew me in with direct questions about what I might be doing. Only then did I directly respond, saying I couldn’t talk about it or words to that effect. While some took that as an evasion, in fact I was trying hard not to disrupt the balance of the show that was in the process of emerging.

Many folks have commented on my role as moderator, presuming that I see myself in that role or don’t do enough to keep things entertaining and moving along. In recent weeks, as the show became more soap operatic and less tied to any overriding theme, most forgot those concerns and sat back and enjoyed the interplay of the personalities. Today, I got a chance to do that as well, albeit with a small amount of guilt at not living up to that moderator role that I never have really taken on. By maintaining radio silence I hoped to coax out a new sense of responsibility on the part of The Gang for keeping the flow intact, and to some extent that worked.

But I wasn’t particularly hopeful that my opting out would have a particularly entertaining effect, as I assumed that the balance of the show would suffer from my absence. But, as time went on, it became easier and easier to remain quiet, even when what I was hearing was so diametrically opposed to my view that I strained to bite my tongue. Each of those moments came and went, and each time, the Gang grew more comfortable with their new shared role as moderator.

The net effect: a self-correcting organism. Although the group periodically rebelled against the change, and took to punctuating points or riffs with deprecating swipes at me, by and large the show settled into some usual rhythms. I tried to remind the audience of my presence intermittently to delineate the difference between being there and remaining silent and not being there at all. This was not entirely successful, right up to the moment at the end after Jason took it upon himself to deliver my usual signoff, where Doc waited a beat and then said quizzically, “Steve?” I immediately replied, and Doc delivered a good chuckle.

Doc and I have been on hiatus recently from Attention Deficit Theatre, which is essentially a full-blown version of this type of experiment every time. It is created in an opposite manner, by talking incessantly until we hit the mode where Doc’s funny light is turned on, but the effect of listening for the silences in the spaces between the words produces similar results. There were several moments of counterpoint on the show as well, where discussion about various maters took on overtones of irony and “found” music in the cracks.

If you’re assuming there were untold reasons why I took this route, of course there were. Existing in the eye of a hurricane where the context and suppositions about media, technology, authority, and monetization swirl and intermingle with the professional and creative lives of the people on the show, the themes are so intertwined with career, strategy, and ego that they are hard to engage with without becoming overwhelmed and depressed by them. But coming from a place where a small group of us started these experiments not so very long ago to one where audience expectations and business relationships appear to trump those original motivations, I will still come down on the side of discovery, transparency, and hopefully, trust.

After the show, I tried to reach each of the Gang to do a post mortem, particularly Dan Farber, who seemd a bit non-plussed by the experience but not suprisingly, fundamentally supportive of what I was dealing with. In general, I think you’ll see that the show has its moments as they all do, suffers a bit from my arbitrary silences, and in the end prepares the way for a more supple shared authority that will be an important part of the next phase of things.

Friday, November 3rd, 2006 at 5:13 pm.
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10 Responses to “Harpo Gang”

  1. Andrew Jaffe
    November 4th, 2006 at 3:32 am

    Dear Steve,

    Since this show isn’t actually out yet, it’s hard to comment on what it will be like, but this then becomes an opportunity to ‘pushback’ (that term you like so much) on a couple of other Gillmor-memes (yes, the obvious ones, so just delete my comment if it will bore everyone to tears).

    I don’t think any of us begrudge you your experiments; this one sounds interesting, although really it isn’t always to listen between the conversations [audio equivalent of reading between the lines?] when we’re not as familiar with the topic as the participants. But still I look forward to hearing it. But of course this is reminiscent of the ‘links are dead’ controversy [sic]. Discounting what I actually hope is your enjoyment of stirring the pot, I think the argument there does forget one aspect of links: they’re for linking. That is, yes, they are gamed, or easily can be, as global indicators of interest and importance. But if I want to point my readers to something specific, it seems appropriate to actually link. (I’m an astrophysicist, and there’s not always an easy path to some of the technical information I want to point to.) Indeed, didn’t Dave Winer once claim links as one of the ‘core values’ of blogging at a BloggerCon a few years back?!

    I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t at least comment on the cutting-the-Gang-into-segments controversy [again, sic]. One thing I don’t you’ve ever really explained is *why* you do it: just to generate this ‘push-back’? So we hear the interminable advertisements? Just to annoy us and your Gang members? At present, there is only one mild positive aspect: since the episodes come as MP3s and not AAC files, they don’t restart where they leave off. Hence, it’s slightly easier for me to rememember that I was somewhere in part III than that I was 46 minutes into the program. But I think I would be willing to give that up…

    Finally, I ran into newly-minted UK pod star Hugh this week. Please get him on a strict health regimen, teach him to quiet down when he’s not actually speaking, but do bring him back!

    Hmmm, can’t believe I’ve just spent/wasted/enjoyed so much time and effort on this when I should be doing something productive (or at least astrophysical…)!

    Andrew

  2. everybuddy.org » Implicit meme propagation and affinity proliferation
    November 4th, 2006 at 2:36 pm

    […] With the help of a non-responsive Jason Calacanis, who later unwittingly responded through the very podospheric phenomenon which he outlined in a recent Gillmor Gang, and the hyperbolic responsiveness of Steve Gillmor, by means of linguistic attrition, the epitome of negative metadatic gesture, I’ve concluded what has been a troubling week of uncertainty with a newfound clarity. […]

  3. Robert W. Anderson
    November 5th, 2006 at 9:04 pm

    Usually silent? Steve, I told you: I’m only the show so I won’t have to listen to it in 13 parts. spacer

  4. Phillip Molly Malone
    November 6th, 2006 at 1:15 am

    I am looking forward to listening to it but it went and then came down and the first episode in the series didn’t work! This isn’t another Steve Gillmor tactic is it?
    spacer
    mOLLY

  5. Starked SF, Unforgiving News from the Bay » Blog Archive » Talk of the Town: Monday, November 6
    November 6th, 2006 at 6:58 am

    […] Gillmor and his Harpo Gang. […]

  6. drbrett
    November 6th, 2006 at 2:47 pm

    It was an interesting experiment. At first, I thought you were depressed but as a regular listener, one gets used to your offbeatedness so I discounted a Zoloft-free moment. Chowing down on your wife’s salad delivery was what sealed it for me that you were actually OK, but still wasn’t sure why the silent treatment. If ever you do something apparently weird, I have learned to stop and think … it’s never a mistake, there is likely to be something else going on here. Nonetheless, the explanation is welcome.

    I think the experiment was valuable. Michael Parkinson, one of TVs great interviewers, is a worthy study. Often so much more powerful for what he does not say than what he does … in creative terms, letting things breathe. There is power in silence though with so many smart and creative people on the call, and with the audience in mind, people remain nervous about dead air so instinctually want to fill it. Predictably Jason seized the reins, but he does that - in the most creative and useful way - even when you ARE speaking up. This way he just had some more airtime to teach Arrington how to cut deals and poach talent.

    Andrew - my guess is that Steve cuts the Gangs into 5 because the act of cutting the show up is a gesture in itself, which creates even more attention, which in turns creates gestures like your post and mine. If audience engagement is more important than sheer numbers, I suspect this tactic works. Love it or hate it, people still tune in. I fast foward and don’t care, in fact kind of proud that I have it down to a fine art. The new UK Podshow plugs ahead of the Earthlink ads screw with the timing a little, but I expect Steve is smiling as he reads this because my ad recall is superb, even though I am fast forwarding. Hmmm.

    I expect he’ll never actually answer the critics because (a) it’s his show and he can do whatever he wants and (b) leaving the question unanswered is itself an interesting gesture. The memes of the show always being the last show, Steve not being in charge of anything, cutting up the show into 5 parts and the regular hiring and firing and resigning and reintating of Gang members is all part of the experiment. Not sure what it means to others, but for me it says that so many of the things we take for granted in traditional media are wrong, and don’t matter.

  7. Phillip Molly Malone
    November 6th, 2006 at 6:56 pm

    Brilliant! Completely Brilliant.
    I think I have appologies before (not that you even care) but I didn’t get you when I started to listen to the Gang but now I have a absolutely healthy respect for you and your opinions (and non-opinions). I think it was pretty interesting to see the gang take over your role (even down to trying to do a rating (they almost got you there, would love to know what rating you would have given if you couldn’t have talked).

    I loved the mix of enterprise (I work for Progress who with there Sonic Division are leaders in the SOA/ESB market) and WEB 2.0 stuff on the show.

    I have come to understand the ads at the start, I don’t listen to them, but I understand them (You should sell a one or two word ad that you throw out at the end of the ad (thats the only part I normally catch)). I under stand the split up and in fact look forward to the show hitting the six section mark (because thats more interesting content for me (I am greedy like that). I have to say GG is the one Podcast when I see it available, I don’t even let my Podcatcher go get it, I go get it myself!

    Keep up the outstanding work and I hope you come on the show as a guest some time!

    Molly

  8. Richard Shulman
    November 7th, 2006 at 7:12 am

    It’s Tuesday morning in Toronto and Podshow still hasn’t gotten it right. They may be a supportive platform for your podcasts but their quality of service needs improvement.
    I look forward to the show when its available.

  9. Sam Whitmore
    November 7th, 2006 at 8:30 am

    Don’t overthink any of this. Just enjoy the program…

  10. Graham Walker
    November 21st, 2006 at 12:46 pm

    Episode 5 of Harpo Gang is probably the best and most interesting podcast I have heard in 2006. Great show.

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