by Sarah Kear Peel
A tummeler is an old Yiddish word that refers to a paid "noisemaker" at a party. Nowadays, it's all about people who engage in conversation on the web..
I like to talk to people face to face. When I lead a workshop, I like participants to learn from each other in their bare human form – unassisted by technology, that is. It’s not that I’m anti-technology, it’s that I’m pro-conversation. This puts me in a bit of a bind in terms of moving my practice forward. Social media is not only here to stay, but it is fundamentally changing the way the world engages in conversation.
As someone who communicates for a living – either through teaching or text – I find myself in the middle of two worlds. On the one hand there is the world of the presenter who talks at people. There is a great deal of quality control, but not much conversation. On the other hand, there is the world of the Internet and the chaos of everyone having a say. There is infinite inclusion, but not a lot of quality control. Is there a way to bring these worlds together?
So when I got an invitation from OCAD for a workshop on “How to Tummel Lecture and UnPresent” given by Heather Gold, I was intrigued. A bit of googling brought me to tummelvision.tv which defined tumelling as “the art and science of engagement in a networked age”, and then to a search for Heather Gold, who further enlightened me. Tummelling, she says in her Youtube video, is actually an old Yiddish word meaning noisemaker. These were people who were hired to come to a party or wedding to stir things up so that everyone had fun. Part entertainer, part facilitator.
Sounds interesting! I will report back after I find out more at this week’s workshop.
Next up in Engagement 2.0: What does wikipedia.org, threadless.com, and carrotmob.org all have in common? Crowdsourcing. Stay tuned!
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