{"id":359,"date":"2009-08-02T17:53:46","date_gmt":"2009-08-02T17:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp\/2009\/08\/good_intentions\/"},"modified":"2009-08-02T17:53:46","modified_gmt":"2009-08-02T17:53:46","slug":"good_intentions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/08\/good_intentions-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Great Expectations (Except When They're Not)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"telephone.jpg\"<\/span>Ken Brecher tells this story about Alexander Graham Bell. The inventor of the telephone apparently spent the last part of his life railing against the way people were using his invention. When greeting someone on the phone, he insisted, the proper protocol was to exclaim “ahoy!” Saying “hello” was a misuse of his work.<\/p>\n

You can’t predict how people will use things, and you can’t force people to use them in the ways in which you’ve conceived of them, even if you’re the inventor. <\/p>\n

Actually, you can force them. But you forfeit the potential that what you made could be something bigger or more interesting.  Bigger and more interesting is when you release software in the wild (open source) and thousands of developers think of things to do with it that the original author never dreamed of. More interesting is when you give up some control of what you made and let others make things around it. TV ended up being something entirely different than what its inventors initially thought it would be because it was a tool others could be creative with, not an end product with one defined way of using it. <\/p>\n

The corollary is trying to impose expectations on things that weren’t intended to address those expectations. After a flurry of media attention, Twitter has recently come under attack for things it doesn’t do and never pretended to. Jon Friedman in MarketWatch<\/a>: “I object to Twitter’s idiosyncratic cap of 140 characters for writing
\nmessages and the inherent inability of its users to go into any real
\ndepth about any subject.”<\/p>\n

Depth is hardly the point. At its best, Twitter can be an incredibly efficient way to monitor a topic or see what stories are flashing into the public consciousness. Much better than blogs. As a news device, Twitter can function as a stream of link blogs that points followers to things they’re interested in. It’s like having a personal web of friends who work on your behalf in real time. No more waiting on traditional publishing schedules. As I wrote in a recent post <\/a>after Twitter starred in coverage of the Iran election aftermath, short texts proved remarkably effective at organizing multimedia coverage. <\/p>\n

So expectations can get in the way of your own potential, either to create something or to use it effectively. Sociologist Barry Shwartz says that with greater expectation can come less happiness, and that we’re happier when expectations are exceeded. The telephone was an amazing thing that revolutionized communication. Imagine thinking it a failure because expectations for its etiquette were disappointed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ken Brecher tells this story about Alexander Graham Bell. The inventor of the telephone apparently spent the last part of his life railing against the way people were using his invention. When greeting someone on the phone, he insisted, the proper protocol was to exclaim “ahoy!” Saying “hello” was a misuse of his work. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-5N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/a_culture_of_failure.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":0},"title":"A Culture of Failure","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing you hear about the current economic mess is that some banks and companies are \"too big to fail.\" This is the idea that if a mega-corporation like AIG goes down, the repercussions are so enormous that other companies will fall in its wake and the whole financial system\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 12 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 12 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/a_culture_of_failure.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"losers.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/losers.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1135,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/so-what-exactly-is-a-quantitative-measure-of-the-arts.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":1},"title":"So What Exactly Is A “Quantitative” Measure Of The Arts?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Arts Council England says it will use a standardized assessment system called Quality Metrics\u00a0in evaluating the arts it it considers funding. The system has been developed over several years and is an attempt to create a matrix by which arts experiences can be measured and evaluated. Here are the criteria:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cultural issues"","block_context":{"text":"cultural issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/cultural-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1115,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/the-new-york-philharmonics-new-hall-is-an-opportunity-to-rethink-the-orchestra-experience-and-amplify-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":2},"title":"The New York Philharmonic’s New Hall Is An Opportunity To Rethink The Orchestra Experience (And Amplify It)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Michael Cooper made a plea\u00a0in the NYT to the New York Philharmonic for some upgrades to the concert amenity experience when the orchestra overhauls Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher) in 2019. His list of excellent suggestions includes comfier seats (why should movie theatres be more comfortable?) more legroom,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "audience experience"","block_context":{"text":"audience experience","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/audience-experience"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Avery-Fisher.jpg?fit=1000%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Avery-Fisher.jpg?fit=1000%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Avery-Fisher.jpg?fit=1000%2C403&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Avery-Fisher.jpg?fit=1000%2C403&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":665,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/01\/top-stories-this-week-from-artsjournal.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":3},"title":"Last Week’s Top Stories on ArtsJournal","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We're aggregating upwards of 150 stories a week on ArtsJournal these days. Despite the decimation of the daily newspaper arts journalism profession, there are more good stories about the arts now than there have ever been. But that also means it's more difficult to sort through. We look through more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kutimangoes_wide-03ccff7c074c92d2fa4667bf529dbe01ec4b294d-s1600-c85.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kutimangoes_wide-03ccff7c074c92d2fa4667bf529dbe01ec4b294d-s1600-c85.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kutimangoes_wide-03ccff7c074c92d2fa4667bf529dbe01ec4b294d-s1600-c85.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kutimangoes_wide-03ccff7c074c92d2fa4667bf529dbe01ec4b294d-s1600-c85.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/kutimangoes_wide-03ccff7c074c92d2fa4667bf529dbe01ec4b294d-s1600-c85.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1196,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/art-is-good-not-much-of-an-argument-for-art-is-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":4},"title":"“Art Is Good?” Not Much Of An Argument For Art Is It?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I suggested in\u00a0a post this week\u00a0that, based on the lack of any arts business before the 114th US Congress, that it appears that lobbying for the arts seems to be failing. Yes, the NEA\/NEH budgets have stayed more or less stable for the past few years, but the almost complete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "arts and politics"","block_context":{"text":"arts and politics","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":541,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2014\/01\/british-orchestras-bigger-audiences-for-less-money.html","url_meta":{"origin":359,"position":5},"title":"British Orchestras – Bigger Audiences For Less Money","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"January 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"British orchestras report an increase in attendees - a 16 percent increase no less - over an earlier three-year period: A survey by the Association of British Orchestras (ABO) has found attendances at concerts and performances between 2012 and 2013 were up 16 per cent on those\u00a0 three years earlier.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "culture business models"","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p17orchestraEPA.jpg?fit=620%2C465&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p17orchestraEPA.jpg?fit=620%2C465&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/p17orchestraEPA.jpg?fit=620%2C465&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}