ATK: real-world AFK (away from keyboard)

AFK (away from keyboard) is “in-world” speak for the state of your SecondLife avatar when you’re not operating him/her.  I’ve also heard this state referred to as “asleep” or ”latent.” 

I sought out this terminology a week or so ago when I noticed the opposite phenomenon.  I was with a group of social media cronies  at a conference or happy hour or breakfast and realized that we were the opposite of AFK–ATK: attached to keyboard. 

There was a lull in conversation while we all hung our heads–like sleeping avatars–to tweet, text or type.  We had checked out of the real world and were only existing in the virtual/online world.  In this group, this ATK behavior was completely socially acceptable.  In the technology, social media and web communities, there is an unspoken understanding when you step out of the in-person conversation and go ATK.  It’s almost like we live in a hybrid online-offline world.

However, in the non-tech, regular offline world, going ATK is NOT acceptable.  To your family, colleagues and friends, you may appear as exciting and conversation an avatar that’s AFK.

One point for the newspapers…maybe

I just saw a TV commercial for The New York Times “Weekender” package: Friday, Saturday & Sunday delivery of the newspaper.  The commercial is full of young, hip, professional Gen Xers talking about The New York Times as “the best in journalism” and how excited they were to receive it in the morning.

What I found interesting was the theme and copy of the commercial: “join the conversation.” I found this almost ironic: newspapers are the opidome of the Broadcast Era and about as far from collaborative as I can imagine.  And yet, it made me stop and think. 

In the 20th century, newspapers started conversations: articles you read in the morning were what you talked about at the cocktail party that evening.  Newspapers, indeed, were the conversation catalysts and the organizers of what was “important.”

In the information overload world in which we currently exist, we’re all seeking tools that will help us sift through all of the information.  Many people have told me that they wish there was a service that would just sort through the mess and tell them what they need to know.  

On a side note, my friend Jeremy Brosowsky founded a subscription service called Brijit that did just this: humans read top publications (think The Economist) and created short summaries that subscribers could skim and get the important nuggets. 

Another irony: we want the freedom to identify that which WE deem important, not that which The Media deems important, and yet, we crave authoritative help in sorting through information. We read the articles recommended by those whom we follow on Twitter or that which is blogged about by our colleagues. We are organically identifying our own, personal “editors” of information.  Perhaps this is the difference: we want editorial authority over our list of editors.

So, are Digital Natives craving editors or is this just a vestige for those of us–Digital Immigrants–raised in the Broadcast era?  The answer to this is really the answer to the future of the newspaper industry.  Will the next generation seek information editors or will their user habits throw The New York Times into the recycling bin?