I was originally drawn to the Web back in 1996 because the internet offered me a seemingly straightforward portal to a new world. Rather than search through books in a library or buy them in a store, I could simply enter a word on a computer screen and find information. Rather than write letters, I enjoyed sending emails and rather than print out reams of paper, I could store my words on a computer drive.   

Most importantly, in the late 1990s, I started to see the creative potential for the web for communications and media. So when I started working at an advertising agency in 1998, I believed that the Web had the potential to be the most important communications medium, over print, TV or radio.  In contrast, most people and clients at this time could care less about the Web because TV commercials were driving media and money.

During my first year working as an agency art buyer, I would go online to various websites to research and gather stock photos and portfolio works. It may seem crazy that this was a novel approach then, but the reality was that most people were still perusing magazines and using messengers to manually deliver art portfolios with video tapes and printed photos.

The shepherding of creative albums and trafficking of actual materials back and forth within and to/from agencies seemed like a massive time and cost drain. 

The digital channel provided me with a greater sense of efficiency, immediacy organization and control. I could directly research and email a compilation of digital photos and talent for an entire ad campaign without leaving my seat. Rather than waiting for a talent or sales representative to send me portfolios, I had fast and easy access to a growing and vast repository of content on the Web.

Fast forward 20 years, and the Internet has grown exponentially in size and usage. In fact, it’s not even just the Internet anymore, but digital is becoming the ‘Metaverse’ - an evolving digital and physical world that you can access via computer screens as well as through headsets and phones.

As an evangelist for emerging creative technologies, I have spent the last five years focused on virtual and augmented reality experiences. It’s been an incredible journey participating in the design and development of entirely new experiences, products, services, and forms of communications. I am particularly energized by the transformative and magical worlds we can build in extended realities (VR,AR)

Yet, with the rise of the Metaverse and the sudden explosion of NFT content, I have started to feel a bit squeamish about the current state of digital. I have been struggling with claustrophobia from what I can best describe as the ‘materialization of digital’ - whereby digital assets are created in surplus to be collected and monetized.

Specifically, I am challenged by the idea of the collector economy - whereby people acquire and sell virtual real estate, digital merchandise, content, and accessories to express their values and worth. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate some of the unique products, or forms of art and media that are being created for this new cyber world. As an artist, I am particularly drawn to the evolution of digital art in the cyber world. Yet, I do find it ironic that as we seek to use new technologies to reduce environmental impact, much of the foundation for NFT minting and selling is based upon extremely high energy usage.

My more overarching concern however is the trend towards ‘collector economy’. I don’t want to collect more stuff; I want to declutter both my physical world and digital world. I don’t want or need a digital replication of my physical wardrobe or another piece of property to own that I must manage and maintain virtually.

I anticipate over time the Metaverse mania will calm dawn and ideally then I hope we can refocus on purpose and values. Owning anything whether its physical or digital is claiming a form of provenance and power over some perceived object. I do understand the appeal of collecting for many others, and I know that this is an especially burgeoning area with the younger generation. Yet, I would rather focus on the new worlds of interaction and experience being enabled in the Metaverse than on collecting more objects or digital assets.

As a digital strategist and marketer of profession, I believe there is tremendous potential for brands and companies to create meaningful and valuable experiences in the Metaverse that go beyond owning virtual goods.