As part of our final summation of the Urban Tapestries project we developed four 'principles' of public authoring:
Cooperative Not Hierarchical
Public authoring relies fundamentally on cooperative, and largely anonymous, sharing of the kinds of knowledge, stories, memories and information that people think will be of interest to others in their vicinity. It complements and augments traditional centres of knowledge but side steps their top-down validation through trust, risk and chance.
Co-creation Not Just Consumption
Public authoring relies on the co-creation of its own content by the people who participate in sharing it, rather than the consumption of pre-prepared content offered by media companies. It is essentially another form of personal communication, differing only in its link to geographic places and the public nature by which it is shared. It is a reminder that people are not just consumers – they are the actors, agents and authors of their own experiences.
Organic Not Static
Public authoring should both grow and fade with time, at the pace set by the people who participate in it. It is both the layering and excavation of layers of knowledge and experience – a real-time microcosm of how our cities and communities develop, change, prosper and die. It adds persistence to local memories and knowledge that otherwise might completely disappear. Sharing in an open, distributed way enables knowledge and information to pass beyond the limits of its originators social circle or the immediate situation and context. Yet it shouldn’t point to an over arching desire to record everything or that all content should persist indefinitely... Some content might be time-sensitive and expire automatically on the date being passed, other material might belong to a class or category that fades with time. The point of public authoring is to reflect the complexities of the world we live in, not to simplify it or attempt to replace any aspect of our human interactions.
People Not Systems
Public authoring should augment and assist our everyday life, not seek to replace any aspect of it. It should be the trigger for social encounters, not a barrier to participation in social or community activities.
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