Airplane & Crow: Many Ways of Viewing

The Story

Every so often the local airport changes its typical flight patterns, rerouting planes on their final landing pass over my neighborhood. Picture this: one afternoon I heard the rumble before I actually saw the low flying jet. Looking towards the sound, I was greeted by a plane in a landing pattern, combined with the additional image of a crow, that visually appeared only slightly smaller and to be following the plane.

Image courtesy of: http://catbirdcraft.blogspot.com

The two images - plane and crow - were not particularly unusual in and of themselves. What was remarkable however, was the combination of the two forms sharing the same space and moment in time and appearing related because of proximity and relative size. The plane, at its higher altitude appeared to be leading the pair as it turned from the east to the south on its approach to the airport. The crow, appearing to be nearly the same size as the plane because of its lower altitude, was also traveling in an easterly flight pattern.

Frozen in time for a brief moment, the two appeared to me to be flying in formation. Man-made, technological flight was metaphorically leading the very natural elements which previously inspired its creation. The deep connections available in exploring the combination of these two images have stirred my imagination. I have, and will continue to explore their interaction, allowing many personal metaphorical translations to unfold.

The Technology

On the heels of last week's post, I've continued thinking more about mindfully unplugging, the notion of taking digital sabbaths, and more deeply about bringing awareness to our relationship to technology. I discovered a new book by author Alex Soojung-Kim Pang entitled "The Distraction Addiction." While the title appears to disdain the use of technology, the book's message does not match its cover. Alex's academic efforts to promote the notion of "Contemplative Computing" are remarkably broad, and very compatible with my own interests in encouraging "Mindful Technology" use.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I've noticed over the years, a propensity for writers and scholars to create models to explain the complex relationships formed between technology and its users.  One model used to describe the adoption of technology employs the broad categories of: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. An adapted model uses the same terms and adds in the additional notion of a chasm between the early adopters and early majority.  Commonly used by groups who strategize ways to launch new products or initiatives, these models are potentially a challenge because of the value judgements inherent to their chosen labels.

And then there the plethora of terms such as: luddite, geek, digital native, and digital immigrant, which seek to describe or categorize the identifying characteristics of technology users.  Blogger Liz Walter has penned an interesting post about "New Words in Technology" describing the way in which technology is constantly inspiring the creation of new language to attempt to describe it. In choosing singular words to describe concepts, we risk potentially judging or alienating whole groups of people. I wonder if we've somehow missed the point.

Connections

In the example of the plane and the crow I have found many ways to personally describe connections. I can imagine one as the leader the other a follower. I can also can compare the two by acknowledging their attributes - one being man-made, the other being alive. In the metaphorical image, because of its unusual juxtaposition, there are no singular labels to describe the two and relationships between. The connections are complex and had to be constructed from my prior knowledge. My interpretations of the metaphor are not the only possibilities. I wonder how you as the reader engage with the image - what connections are created in viewing the crow and plane as a metaphor for your relationship to and with technology?

Image courtesy of Pixabay: http://pixabay.com

The roots of the innovation adoption lifecycle model may have arisen from a similar need to my own. Perhaps from the author's desire to describe and share his perceptions of technological experiences - or perhaps to encapsulate those discovered by collecting data - with others. In thinking about the plane/crow metaphor, juxtaposed with the cycle of innovation model, I see an important caution for us all. All too often we get overly excited with our created models - promoting them as a singular truth versus encouraging dialogue. In looking at the plane/crow metaphor I found myself unable to settle on a single message as turned the image around in different ways. Each time I looked, I gained insight into additional truth to be uncovered. As I examined the relationships between the pair, in relative size, flight position, direction, composition, relationship, etc, I gained new insights on our relationship to and with technology.  I was unable to see the image as a singular descriptor of how things are.

Technology is here to stay and I believe that our relationships will continue to evolve in connection to our tools.  I also believe that images as metaphors can provide us with a more robust method for viewing ourselves and the worlds of others. They provide us with a chance to see the connections with new eyes, and to engage with others in a dialogue about the relationships. Models, on the other hand, seem to encourage us to agree in a singular way upon how things are. I advocate for the mindful use of image as metaphor - allowing us to individually and collective turn images over in our minds. Examining and sharing the co-created connections from various viewpoints, we'll grow far more than we ever could by just adopting a singular way of thinking.