Consumer Tribes by Bernard Cova, Robert V. Kozinets and Avi Shankar.

“Consumer Tribes” is a book edit by Bernard Cova, Robert V. Kozinets and Avi Shankar.  The book is a collection of articles drawn together from scholars all over the world on the emerging research field of consumer tribes. According to Prof. Cova, consumer tribes denote consumer who not just consume in a traditional sense of “using”, “destroying” and “depleting” economic goods but who consume things while at the same them changing them.

Consumer tribes in this book are doing far more than consume. They do not consume things without changing them. They cannot consume a good without engaging in a dance with a service provider. Participatory culture is everywhere. Cova further explains the different roles consumer tribes engage in. He distinguishes between tribes as entrepreneurs, tribes as double agents, tribes as plunderers and tribes as activators. The other chapters in the book dive into each of these roles in more detail.

NOTE: If you know any book related to this topic, please share it with me. I'm studying groups and community phenomenon at the moment. CF. Web 2.0 and the community factor.

More about this book...please click here.

Do you know Lhasa de Sela?

Lhasa de Sela is one of my favourite singer and songwriter. I discovered Lhasa with her 1st album : la Llorona.Thanks to a friend of mine who played the CD for me in 1998, at that time she began to be popular in France. I immediatly loved Lhasa's music for the emotion and creativity of her music...I can't really describe it with words! The album la Llorona is infused with a certain nouvelle nostalgie, exuded the fragrances of Mexico and the colors of the Romany, full of sensuality and striking instrumentation.

2 weeks ago (24th Dec 2009), as I was about to leave for a road trip to souths east Australia, I took her second "The Living Road" album to listen in the car.
This second album is a gathering of original titles sung in Spanish, English and French, the album bridges physical distances as it links the musical traditions of the present and the past. Lhasa’s voice and lyrics cross borders freely. The melodies themselves are timeless and the rhythms textured. And in every song can be found Lhasa’s clear conviction that life is a living road, that nothing repeats itself, and that nothing is ordinary.

I came back yesterday and found out that Lhasa de Sela passed away in her Montreal home on the night of January 1st 2010, just before midnight!!!
Well, this is a really sad news and a huge lost for the artistic scene...I feel really sad!!
I really encourage you to listen to her music, and if you don't know this singer, it's a good opportuity to discover it.

Click here is the link to her "Myspace page".

Click here for her official website.

Merry New Year!

I wish all the best for you and you family ,

lots of LOVE, money and prosperity for 2010.
I also wish more peace in the world, may 2010 bring us more serenity and better life for EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE on the earth.

"How is the Internet changing the way YOU think?"

This is the question asked for 2010 on the website of the edge.org, (World Question Center)!
The question is asked to each of us, they specify on the website that not WE, but YOU.

172 essayists (an array of world-class scientists, artists, and creative thinkers) have created a 132,000 document. (Click here to go directly to the responses).

I found that intersting to step back a little bit and think about how this technology is affecting the way I think and wanted to write my feedback on my blog.
From my perspective, as a web consultant, dealing with ecommerce and internet project everyday, the way I think is certainly deeply affected by Internet, and here are my thoughts.

1. The time and space
internet is affecting my relationship with time and space, there is no more one time concept for me, living in Australia;  but I think "common time space". When I'm chatting with my friends or clients simultaneously in Cameroon, France and Japan, and sometime even USA,  the time doesn't exit anymore. Therefore when I'm back in the real "local" time, I feel restricted to one track! This could have direct consequence in terms of behaviors and what is possible for me or how I THINK the time in reeal worl.
The other way the web is affecting the way I think the time is how I shop online - there is no shopping time or business hours online, where ever I am, Brisbane or Sydney or anywhere else. Only the delivery address is important.
I shop online when I need not when the shop is open and expect my parcel to be delivered very quick, probably quicker than if I order something in a "real shop". The concept of time on the web is a machine time, processing time, downloading time, ADSL time...Because I can login anywhere and anytime, this is creating a habit of immediate result and immediate accessibility!

2. CTRL + Z, Copy/Paste
Control + Z for those who doesn't know is the short cut to cancel the last operation you've done.
I saw myself many time being a bit frustrated because I couldn't cancel something I've done and wanted to have the possibility to use CTRL + Z. I also often miss my  "copy / paste" in the real worl...because I think efficienty, shortcut.
I know this sounds funny but I think it reveals a lot about the impact of the machine on me.

3. Organising and using information.
The way I think and store information in my brain has dramatically changed with the Web, I litteraly THINK "search engine". All my logic is changed and the concept of "keyword" or anticipating the machine algorythm before doing a research has changed the way I think informations and the way I use my memory.

Conclusion:

Internet is a virtual place with no location and no time where we're building/shiffting our life: shopping online, entertainement, business, meeting people etc...

These 3 concepts of Time/space, Abstract world, and Information, are driving us to the concept of simultaneous world. Consequently, I think the major change in the way Internet is changing the way I think is creating the feeling that I can be multiple, and I can have simultaneous actions. The question is what is the real positive impact on MY reality?!....thats another topic :)

Please feel free to answer to this question by adding a comment...and share your vision of Internet for 2010.