I’m in the middle of the three-day Transition Towns conference in Liverpool, and so far it feels like the best conference I’ve been to since … well, maybe Ties that Bind in Cupertino in 1996.

That one was exciting because it was a chance to connect with North Americans who had been using the still-new Internet for local community building. Over the past 15 years the emergence of community and social media has given us the tools and inspiration to explore new ways of sharing, creating, collaborating.

Online has been the new frontier, the promised land, the place to try and pull the unconnected across the digital divide. It can offer great benefits, but I think that even the most committed of the digerati would concede tech isn’t enough. Social media doesn’t necessarily produce social behaviours. Just because people can share it doesn’t mean they will … and more and more information and apps can become a burden not a blessing.

Time for a new framework … for me anyway. Transition has a lot to offer. read more »