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So I have some question about
FringeWare.
>First, what is fringe culture?
We usually describe the denizens of
fringe culture as "neophiliacs." I
don't know how well that translates
into Japanese, but "neo" means "new"
and "philiac" means "lover," so this
describes one who loves to be at the
edges of what's new and what's cool.
That's associated with digital cultures
or virtual cultures, which are the
cultures growing on and around computer
networks, because if you're "wired" you
have the fastest communication, and
it's global, which means that you can
stay in touch with the newest of the
new.
Another way of describing fringe
culture is just in terms of being
outside the mainstream, what we began
to call "counterculture" in the 60s
and, later, "alternative culture."
These folks are not always affiliated
with computers or with what's new, but
because they are extremely perceptive &
aware, they see things that most folks
don't see about the human
condition...so they're on the outside
because they see a different world,
therefore can't fit in with folks whose
vision is different, more limited.
Before we had a global computer
network, the folks on the fringe were
isolated in their respective
geographical and national spaces, but
now they can find each other online and
create communities...it's sorta like
boarding the Mayflower to leave for the
new world, only we don't have to go
anywhere, we just have to log on and
we're in a different community that's
not limited by nationality or ideology.
At FringeWare, we think of the new
neotribal cultures as cyborganic, which
is a term that we coined based on the
term cyborg, a partially organic robot.
What we're really describing is a
friendly interface or relationship of
man to machine. Not necessarily an
implanting of technology without the
body, as described in so many cyberpunk
works, but a uniting of the body with
new technologies in ways that are
life-enhancing rather than destructive
to life.
>Second, how do you establish
commercial market? Is it possiible that
altenative culture can succes
commercially in coomputer culture scene
or new media scene?
We're capitalists, but we don't believe
in economic explotiation, so we're
working with a model of capitalism that
is friendly to the interests of human
beings, i.e. "economics as if people
mattered," E.F. Schumacher's phrase.
Though in many ways we are constrained
by the capitalist environment to follow
the usual behaviors suggested by
"profit motive," we are trying to
evolve toward a concept of marketing
that is integrated with community, that
is driven by affiliation rather than
hype. We sometimes describe this as a
"street market in cyberspace."
>Third, why do you think that this
computer culture have possibiltiies for
you?
For me as an individual? Well, more
than anything, I'm a communicator, and
there is no more powerful
communications medium in the world.
Consider this: you're in Japan, on the
other side of the world from me, but
we're conversing online as though we
were next door neighbors.
Then there's the possibility for
community development, and I guess
we're putting that to the test as more
and more folks find themselves online.
But I think we're building a new kind
of relationship here, one that is
potentially very lilberating. We're
moving our souls over fiber optic
cable, and we have the potential to
evolve a very conscious way of
experiencing the world, if we're not
buried first beneath a glut of mindless
entertainment. I hope you'll all demand
something better than that; I know that
we are...
thx
jonl
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TAZ/CEO, FringeWare