Context is one of the most important things a planner or anyone else trying to look for some truth, should endeavour to understand. Context enables you to recognise how things operate and how they are linked or disconnected from each other, in effect it is the glue that binds together all the different sources and research you have done on a project.

I have the strongest conviction that if you understand the context of your brief, client, brand or research- you have done the biggest part of the job.

I also believe that the most common problems brands are facing these days are due to the loss of cultural context. If you think about it, it isn’t marketing that has dramatically changed but the context we live in.

However, I wasn’t really happy with my definition of what is wrong with context… until yesterday, when I watched Dr Mike Wesch’s video called Digital Ethnography of YouTube- suddenly everything became crystal clear. At some point in his presentation he talks about the concept of ‘Context collapse’. Enthusing about YouTube and vlogging, he develops his theory about the context collapse when people are posting a video they don’t know who is going to watch it, how they’ll watch it and where.

Here is what he has to say about it: “The problem is not lack of context. It is context collapse: an infinite number of contexts collapsing upon one another into that single moment of recording. The images, actions, and words captured by the lens at any moment can be transported to anywhere on the planet and preserved (the performer must assume) for all time. The little glass lens becomes the gateway to a blackhole sucking all of time and space – virtually all possible contexts – in upon itself.”

This is what’s difficult with digital communication these days! We are like someone about to post a video on YouTube, we don’t know who is going to see our content, how they will view it and if it is going to be remixed or misinterpreted. This is the beauty and the difficulty of digital: less control and more genuine actions!

You can watch the entire presentation- An anthropological introduction to YouTube (55 minutes!) below.

[Pic Via]