moss.geek.nz

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Here’s the script I am reading off, I do deviate a little, but it’s pratically a transcript:
Hi, my name is Morris Nye. M – O – R – R – I – S Space N – Y – E.

Now I’m spelling my name out because it is my ultimate social networking handle – According to google, I am the only Morris Nye in the world. There are however Maurice Nyes, so there’s a distinction there. Other than the fun fact I’m the only me, I’m just this guy, you know?

And I’m here to talk to you about doing. About being in action.

So, I’m going to do the participatory culture thing, and remix the words of another person. The person I’m remixing is Matt Web, a design consultant from London who did a talk earlier this month at reboot11, a reasonably similar European event to this, except they pay for theirs and get cool people to talk like Bruce Sterling, where we get crazy people like me.

So first off, let’s just say how cool it is to be able to transmit an idea from one side of the world, to the other, within a week. Well, almost since his talk was July 2nd and it’s now the 11th, but that’s just scheduling of these events.

And it doesn’t really faze anyone here. It shouldn’t. At least, I hope it shouldn’t.

And the phrase participatory culture shouldn’t shock you either. We’re used to the idea that we can contribute meaningfully to the world, we don’t need to be “big” to have a big voice.

Anyway, enough preamble, here’s the idea;

Do something new for a hundred hours.

Why a hundred hours? Because we can probably say that’s how long it takes to become good at something. And we can say that because we know that; putting time into something makes you better at it. Saying you’ll become good at it, well, that’s just guesswork.

But it’s easily testable guesswork. A hundred hours is nothing! You can learn to drive a car, from scratch in about thirty hours. You sleep a hundred hours a fortnight.

It’s only one hour a day for three months, or one solid day each week. And I don’t care how busy you say your schedule is already, you can fit that it. You probably spend that much time in front of TV – well, no, sorry, not this crowd, you probably spend way more time than that in front of your computer.

Another aside from reboot11 – Bruce Sterling wants you to buy a good ergonomic chair. Don’t be afraid to spend hundreds of dollars on something you spend so much time in, it lets you account out the cost over time to next to nothing. A better chair than you already have could probably be gotten for a small number of hundred dollar bills. It’ll be like sponsoring a child in a developing nation, except instead your sponsoring your own spine.
Anyway, back to the main point, the call to action, the challenge;

In your head now, set aside one hundred hours over the next three months. And do something new with that time.

So choose what to spend your hundred hours on.

Matt Webb said it best, and I quote now;

I guarantee that everyone in this room can produce something or have some special skill that maybe they are not even aware of. It’s a unique thing that they’ve accidentally spent a hundred hours practising. And ask others what theirs is, because you’ll find out things you might want to spend your hundred hours on. And please, just do that for me. Because when you contribute, when you participate in culture, when you’re not solving problems, but you’re participating in culture, that when life starts to get interesting.

End quote.

And now I’m going to tell you what I’ve accidentally practised. Synthesis. I’ve practised the art of taking two or more ideas, smushing them together and creating something new. I did it earlier today in my talk on Synthetic Happiness; which ended with a different appeal to the hundred hour challenge – an appeal to our personal well-being.

So in honour of participatory culture, I’ve taken the liberty of recording my talk, and I’ll be popping it up on my newly created lifeblog – which I’m taking as my one hundred hour challenge – writing and sharing long form personal stories – I hope you check it out, if only for the talk.

Because I further challenge everyone here to not only do something new for a hundred hours over the next three months, but to spread this idea like the wildfire it needs to be.

Thank you.