The other day I read the most interesting article stating a thought that really made an impact on me. The thought was made up by Claudio Gandelman is the CEO and founder of Teckler.
To sum up his entire blog entry called: Your social media obession won’t leave an eduring mark on the world, in a single phrase it would go something like this:
In every age of mankind since we were able to carve cave prints, decorate pottery and later even write books people sat down and crafted ”master pieces” ful of passion, time and effort only hoping that it would create value enough to be viewed or read again or even sparking up conversations. Some books made it to become classics and most of them still living their long lifes in libraries. Same story goes with many different ways of expression such as art, decorating different walls in different countries and some ending up in museums for everyone to cherish.
When the monk, scribe or intellectual sat down to pen something, they probably did so in hopes that someone would read it, find it worthwhile, and add it to the collective stream of knowledge.
From Clauidio Gandelmans blog entry
I think you already guessed where Claudio going with this, aren’t you 
!?
Yepp, nowadays a lot of contemporary creations only get to become digital! Even though storage and the web are unlimited and information can lay around there forever for everyone to view Claudio points out a thoughtful view; it won´t make a significant mark on generations to come.
Look carefully! Alexa Meada – wonderful artist making this body art installation. Another footprint that might be lost in the digital age.
Do like Robin Israelson and many others, create your own footprint
This made me think of Robin Israelson, a guy I got to know when I studied communication. During the last year or so he recreated a phenomena called ”Ord i bild” which translates to ”Word in picture”. Its a paraphrase of the sentence itself by utilizing words and pictures describing the words in the most playful manner with pictures.
His work was only made digital until now, on the 31st of october Robin will have a release party for his book Ordvitsar i bild. Its probably not the easiest thing to get if your not a native Swede but hopefully you get the context anyhow.
An earlier project Robin made was printing books of his tweets with one liners. In total he already made 7 books in that theme.
What Robin is doing is to actually leave a ”proper” footprint of our time with his work. Both of the projects mirrors our time and will maybe be read in a future libary reflecting the early years of 21st century.
The question that arises with Claudios entry and that also fulfills my mind is what can we all do? Robin choosing his own path boosting his energy and personality by his printed paperbacks leaves a mark and a more sincere possibility to become rediscovered later on.
Even though I love the digital age that we are entering more and more I’m still are a very physical person. I think we all are and thats why we need people like Robin to translate their work into a more sustainable and physical form. Like Claudio states, write every line like it matters and make a cultural in heritage.
So next time you write something, write like it matters. Keep your own blog, write a guest post for a blog that has steady readership, self-publish an e-book, or put your thoughts in social media sites that actually make content permanent and searchable rather than ephemeral. Publish somewhere your words can matter today and hopefully matter 40,000 years from now.
What do you think?
The post What footprints do you leave behind? appeared first on Change is Constant by Feffe Kaufmann.
