Stand upright in a cool place

That might be good advice from a caring parent to a son or daughter setting out to make their own place in the wide world, or from a promoter to a burgeoning rock star, or from a life coach to a shy and geeky client.

It’s to be the title of the forthcoming album from re-formed 90s band Dodgy, which I learned listening to the radio, where I also learned that they had picked up the phrase from an earlier radio interview when a Druid was asked for a short quote or spiritual guidance. The druid got it from the small print on the side of a bottle of bleach.

No doubt the manufacturer of the bleach was thinking how best to store a potentially dangerous fluid, but after several iterations we get to a meaning which is altogether much more interesting and philosophical.

This is an example of how a message can be passed along through many steps, and also of how the original intent can mutate according to the receiver’s perspective. My title comes via a producer of household cleaners, a Druid, a contemporary band, a radio presenter, and more. While the phrase could stand alone without explanation, if each time it was presented it was fully qualified and explained the meaning would never be allowed to change and none of us would be able to take our own significance from the words.

When we publish content, whether it be by tweeting something totally spontaneous or re-tweeting something funny, sad or urgent, or by posting a message to our own Facebook wall or page, or to someone else’s, or by sharing a video on YouTube or Vimeo we should be aware that the reader will have his or her own slant. No matter how clear or obvious you think something is, someone else could see another side of what you’re trying to say.

The medium also has significance and becomes an important factor in the message. Marshall McLuhan was aware of this way back in 1964 when he said that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. Back then nobody had thought of ‘blogging’ or Twitter or Facebook, but they are perfect examples of McLuhan’s point.

• The 140 character limit for Twitter messages makes it suitable only for very short ‘sound bites’ or as a pointer to ‘proper’ content such as a blog article Facebook post or image.
• Facebook is much more verbose and richly presented, but still the content is viewed against and within lots of other Facebook related distractions.
  
• A blog can be focussed and presented with minimal distraction, but also can carry clear branding.

Our attitude to the message is greatly affected by the medium via which it arrives. If a friends tells us to “keep dry and away from children” we’d be thankful that they care about our physical and mental well-being. The same message printed on a book of matches says more about maintaining a useful product and guarding against accidental arson.