Archive for April 10th, 2010


Glencoe

on April 10, 2010 in Uncategorized 4 Comments »

Glencoe was great. Well, it was wet, but it was great too. All those hardy, windblown visitors – wow, I hope they were briefed on the weather.
Apart from shifting a shed-load of books, it was fascinating to see the dynamics of the project in play. Many people read and reread the sign, apparently having difficulty parsing what they were seeing and what made sense within the parameters of the world we’re used to.
Distribution at Glencoe
Before starting this, friends and family told me that hordes of people would scoop armfuls of books and run for it. That is not what happened. Once they ‘got it’ people were respectful, most taking one each or perhaps another for a friend. On occasion, a bus driver would take a few on behalf of his passengers. From my perspective, this is a greater risk because a book may be put into someone’s hands without them having first (and internally) agreed to the honesty condition. That said, it is a risk I am willing to take.
At one point, a young girl picked up a handful, brought them to the car and her mother took one and sent her back to replace the rest. On another occasion, a young adult took a book, reconsidered (perhaps it was not for him or his girlfriend had one in the car already) and he then took a long walk back to the pile to replace it. That is the sort of behaviour that dominated the two days I spent there. He could have taken it and dumped it in a bin later, but no. That is cool.
Thank you all and thank you to Scott and The National Trust For Scotland for tolerating my presence. The Glencoe video is to the left at dreamwords.com