Steps forward. Steps back.

Nubs, collaborations and new Unpsychology projects

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash

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Nubs and new collaborations

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Introduction: Fresh pathways…

Photo by Happy Lee on Unsplash

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After the energy and collaborative generosity of many, many writers, artists and creatives of all kinds who contributed to the production of the last three issues of Unpsychology  Magazine (Warm Data, Imaginings 1 and 2, and Edges), we are stepping forward with a new project - or, to be more accurate, a number of small projects…

A set of collaborations that steps forward – and steps back…

Since Unpsychology started over ten years ago, the digital landscape has been transformed. Social media, community forums and publishing platforms have become more and more sophisticated – and focused on the generation of income and attention. Of course, we recognise that not everyone is trying to grab people’s attention or make money but the overall effect can seem like that. Individual creators can have very sincere aims and there is a lot of quality there too. However, it can feel it as a deluge: content constantly being replaced by more and more, and without a respite from stimulation. 

As our design editor, Lesley Maclean put it: “I feel frequently repelled. Yet I also feel a reluctance to step away from the deluge in case I offend someone by not commenting on their work, or miss out on a possibly inspiring thought.”

Long form podcasts and publications, together with the transformation of social media, make it more and more difficult to do something that is about real relationship and conversation. Some app developers talk about about virtual ‘town halls’ and ‘community spaces’, but the reality is that people can become quickly disillusioned and overwhelmed  by the myriad of offerings from those plying their wares in the digital marketplace.

In these uncertain times, of course, the online space is also increasingly fragmented and polarised. We (Unpsychology) are there because that’s where many people we work with hang out – and we have a global network of friends and collaborators because of this. The experience, however, of being on these platforms is becoming more and more unpleasant and untenable, as they are increasingly riven with unregulated and unchecked misinformation.

It can seem easier to communicate and disseminate instantly through social media  than sitting on a market stall trying to sell a few copies of a ‘zine, pamphlet or piece of artwork. But something has got lost in the fire, and we are also increasingly seeing the worst consequences of the digital economy, as it impinges more and more on our community and political life. 

We are not naive about the future, nor are we Luddites, but Unpsychology - the idea - started on a sunny Sunday morning in a clearing in a wood, with 50 or so people talking together about different ways of thinking about culture and mind. Likewise, Unpsychology - the magazine - was sold on tables in markets and conference spaces as a small counterpoint to cultural and psychological orthodoxies, with the seeds of something akin to what Denis Postle described, in our first issue, as the Psy-Commons. Each magazine sold on those tables was the subject of a conversation – and was the seed of another one in the making.

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Relating is at the heart of the matter

In short, we three editors - Steve, Julia and Lesley - have, in different ways, become individually overwhelmed by the demands, pressures and impersonality of digital life. All three of us have had difficult life challenges to face up to in recent months. Fortunately, all of us have our own relational support that nurture and sustain us, but when we meet over thousands of miles (ironically on the digital platform, Zoom), we talk about what life and culture and creativity might be like if it were more relational – more face-to-face and conversational. 

Nora Bateson’s Warm Data community is one place where there has been some success in exploring such connections in both real world and online spaces – and all three of us have been positively touched by the practices and connections that have emerged in the face-to-face Warm Data Labs and online People Need People sessions. However, Unpsychology is a different thing from Warm Data, though there is much in common and a lot of overlap between the two.

Diversity of perspective is a key frame for this and provides the necessary insights for practice. The ‘personality’ of Unpsychology (and its editors and contributors) is unique. It sits in a small – possibly important, maybe essential – niche in the wider information ecology. In its space in this ecology it (we) plays out in practical ways that sometimes are utterly unique.

The character, therefore, of Unpsychology might be that of a child who is rebellious, but quiet; creative, collaborative, but utterly individual; uncertain but assertive; introverted but deeply relational; contemporarily aware, yet embedded firmly in our day-to-day, ordinary lives and the face-to-face conversations and collaborations that take place there. 

Over time, the magazine has crept out into the world and come into clearer view for a growing group of people. However, it has never been our objective to increase our visibility or to become ‘influential’.

 On the contrary, our aim has always been to share perspectives and sustain curiosity about the weird and wonderful phenomenology and diversity of the human and other-than-human mind. 

To this end, therefore, we’ve come to understand that the digital realm is not essential to us. It’s useful and convenient, of course, as it is for many, but it can also be toxic, distracting and destructive, as we are experiencing in our global culture right now.

For these reasons and others, we’re not aiming for 2025 edition of the magazine. There will still be weekly (or so) posts here on Unpsychology Substack - and on Medium  – and we always welcome submissions ideas for these online publications.

So, the next stage of the Unpsychology project (we won’t even call it a magazine issue at this stage) is to take a step back and to invite some of you – if you would like – to work and communicate with us individually as editors. 

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Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

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Here’s how it might work…

Rather than curating and editing a magazine - as we have for the past 10 years – this year we've decided to explore some fresh paths which relate to the themes, processes and concerns that Unpsychology taps into that will help us nurture ourselves, each other and the community that has grown around the magazine.

Each editor (Julia, Lesley and Steve) will be curating a different project, or creative 'nub'. This might be a face-to-face or an online ‘activity’ or ‘collaboration. We’ll be presenting these over the next few weeks, and each will carry an invitation for you to respond to. Where these will go, we do not know, but we’re excited to be stepping into this new phase of the Unpsychology project that has been rolling since 2014…

Over the next few weeks, each of us will post a ‘letter’ or invitation to our Substack readers and Unpsychology contributors. It will be something that each of us is working with or is curious about.. The invitation will contain an outline of the nub - or mini-project - and guidance on how you might get involved. The invitations may be open to all or more curated, and each will reflect the current interests and inquiries that each individual editor is following.

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What will emerge? 

To be honest, we are not sure at the moment. 

• Maybe some conversations and relationships to nurture those of us who take part.

• Maybe some creations to be kept somewhere in our own personal archives. 

• Maybe some new ideas and shared stories that can then appear in other spaces. 

• Maybe some mutual, systemic learning. 

• Maybe some shared understanding and love. 

• Maybe some solidarity. 

There may also be a decision, at some stage, to curate some or all of these conversations into a publication, though we’re not committing to this right now. This could become ‘issue 11’ of the magazine in due course - or something else entirely. As editors, we are aware that it can be good to produce something beautiful and insightful and so, at that stage in the future, if we go into ‘publication mode’, we would apply our editorial, design and curation experience to your stories and exchanges with the love and care that we always try to do with our annual issues of Unpsychology Magazine. 

We realise that this might be considered an unusual experiment – a strange step for a publication that has developed some momentum in the digital spaces we are so wary of. In truth, we are very proud of what we’ve achieved with the last few magazines – both digital and print editions – but we now want to bring the relational reality of how we have worked and collaborated to the fore. If this is what these mini-projects and nubs grow into we will be happy with that. And, if we have some deep and fulfilling exchanges and conversations with people who feel they belong in our small niche of the ecosystem, then that will be sufficient. 

Watch this space for a description of our first mini-project nub from Julia Macintosh… 

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