Networking

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Networking

A system of communication praised by many in the New Age movement as the best means of organizing people horizontally around common concerns (rather than veritically around leadership structures) and of data sharing. Networking of one kind or another has been practiced for many decades by means of directories, yearbooks, encyclopedias, specialized magazines, and groups, but with the development of modern computer resources, the facilities for accumulating, storing, and disseminating data on a wide scale have been greatly enhanced and accelerated. R. Buckminster Fuller observed,

"The new human networks emergence represents the natural evolutionary expansion into the just completed, thirty-years-inits-building, world-embracing, physical communications network. The new reorienting of human 'networking' constitutes the heart and mind pumped flow of life and intellect into the world arteries."

The concept of rapid access to topical information has special value in relation to New Age beliefs and practices, since so many groups and centers flourish for a while, then change name or address or disappear, sometimes giving rise to splinter movements. Many networking guides are presented in magazine format for distribution at occult and holistic health shops. Some have related publications in different countries through international networking. Many such publications have diaries of forthcoming events, exhibitions, and lectures. Other networking publications appear in a more traditional directory format, regularly updated.

Networking makes it possible to accumulate and disseminate New Age information in a variety of formats and at local, state, or city levels. Typical networking publications in magazine and/or tabloid newspaper format include Common Ground (San Francisco), PhenomeNews (Detroit), Whole Life (New York), and Whole Life Times (Los Angeles). Such publications tend to have a relatively short life, though these mentioned have lasted for more than a decade.

The Whole Life World Fair Expo, organized annually by the Whole Life Times, publishes a catalog that includes networking information on related events, individuals, and publications. The comparable British annual Festival for Mind-Body-Spirit has a special networking feature, inviting the public to "play the Networking Game," i.e., join a network to exchange information with other people, to keep track of meetings and contacts, and to benefit from the use of computers for exchange of information.

The Networking Game charges a small fee and provides guidance notes, a personal networking diary, a networking badge, personal address labels, and information on contacts in one's local area, as well as information on such facilities as Net Workshops, Playshops, a Networking Market for goods and services, and a computer conferencing network for "screen-to-screen" meetings. The Networking Game may be contacted c/o Sabine Kurjo, 21A Goldhurst Terrace, London, NW6 3HD, England.