I wanted to share a chatroom I’ve been hanging out on, and some ideas that came floating out of it.
- Communication is hard.
- Communication is easy.
Which is true, and why? This simple paradox dominates so much of our social lives, and yet a website for gif chat has put the whole thing in a new light.
Communication is hard because often we misinterpret the meaning. It is hard because our words rarely line up with the things they are supposed to represent. It is hard because we are afraid of the unintentional impact that our communications can have.
Communication is easy because we are social creatures and it comes to us involuntarily. Simple things like tension in the neck can communicate discomfort, or a smile or grimace in a particular context. A simple wink or sigh can betray a depth of knowledge.
We have always been mystified by communication, with great minds dedicating their lives in an attempt to bring back something valuable to the community, something to share with the rest of us. Poets, journalists, artists, musicians, and authors dedicate their lives in order to convey insight. To plant a seed so that it may grow. To go out into the areas of thought not yet before traveled and to bring something useful back to the commonwealth.
The Greek God Hermes was the archetype of this idea; embodying the translation between the mundane and divine. The Messenger of the Gods was the sigil of unification between the arts & sciences, using knowledge transfer as the medium, translating meaning from one system into another.
So what does a gif chatroom have to do with communication, poetry, & greek gods? Social revelations are primarily those of synchronicity and will, of looking at the chaos of missed connections and obfuscated meaning and shaping it into something useful, just in time.
Meatspace has this in spades, itself being a self regulating strange attractor for artists, hackers, geeks, weirdos, subgenius, discordians, musicians, makers, office workers, autodidacts, trolls, machinists, psychologists, professors, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, engineers, & students. And these people communicate with eachother. They chat!
In meatspac we make handcrafted artisinal gifs. We make gifs you can take home to your family. We do take them home to our family. The community of meatspace is full of people who looked into the technical landscape at the current forms of communication and wanted something more meaningful.
gifchat may seem counter-intuitive in the world of omni-present video conferencing, but there is something special about a short, looping snapshot of an emote accompanied by a small snippet of text. How can a simple gif and caption so well capture the essence of expression?
The more complete the emulation of face to face human interaction the more directly we are confronted with The Hard Parts. Did I phrase that right? What will you think of me if I phrase it wrong? Will I have an opportunity to make up for it? Don’t worry, just let go.
With meatspac you can take advantage of the subtle emotional platform that so much of our communication is built upon without any of the pressures of constant upkeep of social appearances thrusted upon us by direct face to face interactions.
On meatspac hit and run communication is common, popping on while at a restaurant, or when you just wake up, go to bed, or have some time in-between work meetings.
Meatspace is a place of sharing, a place of learning, for support, and humor. We have gifs to cry on and gifs to cheer us back up again.
Meat!
On the Internet!
Words cannot explain, come over to chat.meatspac.es and see for yourself!