James Governor's Monkchips

Ambient Intimacy: From picking fleas to eating peas

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Leisa came up with the term ambient intimacy for how we use social software in social networking. Its a snowball rolling downhill. A book deal and a blog renaming are surely a matter of time. She apparently rocked the house at Reboot. As apes we groomed each other – it made us closer. The mundane is powerful, the quotidian defines us. Do I care that you ate peas for dinner? Not really. But if you share a quick recipe I might appreciate it. Does anyone really want to live in a world where all we talk about is work? Where the only language we speak is that of the MBA? Me – I prefer a little monkey business, because play drives productivity. That’s ambient intimacy.

Earlier this week I went for lunch and networking time with Adrian Trenholm, Andy Piper, Andrew Reynolds and Mark Lloyd. I have a major todo item outstanding, which is to find some new office space. I decided to go for lunch and pool anyway. Within minutes of arriving Mark said I understand you’re looking for office space (I had said so on Twitter I think), and offered me a desk at his place in London Bridge. Outstanding! That’s ambient intimacy. Its not different from getting things done. Its part of getting things done. So here is a picture of me finding a new office, courtesy of roo.

pool

5 comments

  1. I remind the esteemed gentleman of the concept of via: …

    🙂

    Hope the new office works out for you.

  2. I love your stuff, man, but I especially like this. I had to look up quotidian, but got the benefit of learning paroxysms too 🙂

    Really liked: “Does anyone really want to live in a world where all we talk about is work?” Couldn’t agree more. I like LOTS of monkey business. Why do you think companies have pool, ping pong, etc.? We have it at Sun and it does stimulate in many ways, though I confess it has been a while since I took advantage.

    I’d go as far as to say ambient intimacy is a critical part of getting things done. Show me someone who has no ambient intimacy and I’ll show you someone who only thinks they’re getting things done or is getting things done, but it doesn’t matter 😉

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