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Bathrobe Revolution

May 29, 2013
by Caroline Miller
"The New Digital Age:Reshaping the Future of People, Jared Cohen, Nations and Business" Erick Schmidt, the computer and social changet
2 Comments

“Urgent!” said the email I opened one morning last week. The note was from a friend alerting me to a plan our city commissioners were considering, one that would put unwanted chemicals into our drinking water. She asked me to communicate my objections to the commissioners at once. I was surprised by her request as I’d heard little about the issue. My most recent water concern was one I was having with a crow that kept dunking bread into the bird bath.

 I trust my friend but sent a copy of her email to a few others to get a response. Minutes later an attorney replied, a friend who’d fought the city successfully on a similar issue 5 years earlier. I forwarded the information she provided to 35 others whom I knew to be passionate about the environment. When I was done, I poured myself a cup of coffee. Satisfied that I’d done my bit for the community. I sat down to read a review for a just published book, The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, co-authored by Google’s Chairman, Erick Schmidt and his colleague Jared Cohen.

 Almost immediately my attention was drawn to the following statement: “The internet is the largest experiment involving anarchy in history.” (“ARTS: Review of reviews; Books,” The Week, May 17, 2013, pg. 23)

 I read the sentence a second time and it hit me like a revelation. Fomenting a revolution, that’s what I’d been doing that morning while still in my bathrobe. Admittedly, my experience pales beside those who used tablets and cell phones to participate in the Arab Spring. Still, on that day, I experienced the awesome power of rapid communication and how it could be put to use for social change. I didn’t have to be dressed, or young or old or physically fit. All I needed was information and a computer keyboard.

 In their book, Schmidt and Cohen observe that, “ …both traditional powers and the leaders of uprisings will be held to a new standards of accountability by a better informed, more readily mobilized public.” (Ibid pg. 23)  I believe them.

in bed with a computer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of koifishcommunications.com)

 

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2 Comments
  1. MaryBethKelly May 31, 2013 at 12:00 am Reply
    Now they need a new superheroine--the robe wearer.
    • Caroline Miller May 31, 2013 at 7:42 am Reply
      I hope the robe is purple.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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