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INTERVIEW WITH MOTHER ABIGAIL

PART #1

July 6, 2009

THE COMING WAVE

(An Interview With Mother Abigail)

I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
"Come in," she said, "I'll give you…”

Bob Dylan

2006

While researching the New Media, I became fascinated with the development of the “Flu Blog”. It seemed to represent – not only the direction – but the form and structure of the changing media in the Internet Age.

My original thesis was to write a series of articles detailing, as thoroughly as possible, the creation of the “Flu Blog” – from inception to mainstream assimilation.

However, as often happens in war and creativity, events overtook the plan.

My derailment occurred in the following manor:

By December of 2006 I had researched, compiled and databased every conceivable factoid relating to the early years of flu blogging. I felt ready to publish my first article and on the second day of 2007 I started writing and soliciting feedback on a website called CurrentEvents.

I was very pleased with the finished product believing that both technically and factually I had established the main point of my thesis – control of the media was being altered forever and that the evolution was being driven from the bottom up.

Here is that article:

--------------------------------------------

2007

EXPLORING THE NEW MEDIA'S EVOLUTIONARY PATH
-THE BIRTH OF THE FLU BLOG -

Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends some thing

(Paul Valery)

In February of 2003 newspapers, cable news and radio were the interface between the American public and breaking news. It had long been such.

No one set out to destroy the relevancy of these institutions.

Like so much change it just happened. Passion and thirst mixed with a witches blend of electronic gadgetry created a new paradigm.

A paradigm where power was snatched from the media elite and taken by the citizenry - and no one has ever looked back.

Until now.

MARCH 2003

The world was on the eve of war. Not the televised war of the First Gulf War, but the first internet war.

Many homes and offices were now wired to the net and the Internet was to become the CB of the 21st century. Far across the immense spectrum of the Internet - discussion nodes filled with speculation and rumor.

A very strange vibe was brewing.

A strange vibe indeed. This was March of 2003 - this was to be the time of change.

It began as little more than a few whispers among the cacophony of war talk. A post on the 13th here, a post on the 14th here.

The earliest and most followed post was placed on the 13th. Within three days, this thread had received a couple of hundred comments, as the severity of the situation became apparent.

It was now the Ides of March, and this story unfolds - for the transformation is about to begin.

In the strangest place.

THE OLD PARADIGM

As the concept of the "Discussion Forum" caught on across the growing Internet, a couple of standard formulas became the norm.

The first was a single poster copying and pasting a news article from the Main Stream Media and then adding comments. This early Blog form still exists today.

The second formula developed largely during the "Clinton Scandals".

Liberals and conservatives separated and started their own discussion forums where they would post an article from the Drudge Report or the New York Times and then proceed to beat it to death with comments.

There were a few science centered Blogs, but they also followed these same two formats. And they were out in the periphery - with few members and very few visitors.

No it was the mega sites where the action was - a huge group of diverse members, lots of visitor traffic and a stable infrastructure.

The elements were now all in place for the perfect storm.

THE TRANSFORMATION

This is the way the world ends Not with a bang, but a whimper

T. S. Eliot

It was the Ides of March, late in the night - on the hottest conservative forum on the Internet - that she appeared.

In an obscure section of that web site she posted a cryptically titled thread, made a comment about Ebola, a comment about God and then posted an advisory about a "worldwide health threat."

In a section that had seen only seven threads in the past seven days, she wove a strange, exotic and haunting thread for two days.

Then on the 17th of March she posted the first of 20 highly technical medical threads:

1. Precognition

2. Hong Kong Health Secretary calls for calm as SARS cases double, (83 up from 42 on Sunday)

3. LATEST SARS UPDATE - DETAILED MEDICAL INFORMATION

4. BREAKING BIG: POSSIBLE PATHOGEN DETECTED IN SARS CASE

5. Killer Virus (SARS) Identified

6. Seven victims of mystery pneumonia stayed on same floor of Hong Kong hotel

7. Guangdong doctor linked to SARS outbreak

8. President of the American Society of Microbiology on SARS - "Everything says it is airborne."

9. SARS REACHES HONG KONG SCHOOLS - 32 NEW CASES (IS THE BUG OUT OF THE BOX?)

10. CDC increases SARS cases to 22 in U.S.

11. CHINA CONFIRMS CASES AND DEATHS (SARS) - HONG KONG SITUATION DETERIORATING - 22 CASES IN US

12. Causative agent of SARS virus isolated from lung tissue - test is reliably identifying cases

13. SARS cases on the rise in Canada, may be spreading even further, 12 people showing symptoms

14. VIETNAM NEW SARS HOT ZONE, U.S. Warns Citizens in Vietnam To leave

15. SARS cases on the rise in Canada, may be spreading even further, 12 people showing symptoms

16. Singapore - 740 people quarantined, 14 new cases on Monday, Hospitals close, SARS spreads

17. 37 In United States May Have SARS

18. SARS epidemic spreads in Taiwan, three other CDC officials have become ill.

19. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF SARS? ONE VIRUS, TWO VIRUSES WORKING IN CONCERT, OR A DETERMINANT UNKNOWN

20. Killer-flu a 'white terror': Expert, "It is the worst medical disaster I have ever seen.

21. Preliminary Clinical Description of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

- and over the next eleven days guided both lay and professionals, transformed the web site, crushed the paradigm and changed the way we interface with breaking news forever.

Oh, and there is that strange aspect of her name.

Every literate person on the Web new and understood, not only what it meant, but the endless nuances that lay associated with that name, in this context.

She signed on as Mother Abigail.

THE NEW PARADIGM

Among the hundreds of posters and thousands of viewers on the Mother Abigail threads were; Doctors, Lawyers, Nurses, Pharmacists, Veterinarians and Health Care workers of every stripe.

It became apparent quite early that this was not to be the normal flu talk. This is an early post:

"Doug had an interesting observation in picking a Morbillivirus as a likely agent. Hendra and Nipah are both zoonotic and it might well be a mutant of the Paramyxoviridae family.

Symptoms are right.

"Just because I have had tooooo much coffee, I will mention that both Hendra and Nipah have been given their own genus (Henipavirus).

Henipavirus becomes the fourth genus within the Paramyxovirinae subfamily of the Paramyxoviridae family. The other genera within the subfamily are Rubulavirus, Morbillivirus and Respirovirus."

52 posted on 03/17/2003 10:49:23 PM PST by Mother Abigail"

And so it began.

Why was this different? Because local MD's discovered ProMed, because an army of netizens began searching every corner of our world for information, because citizens of other countries began translating information that would normally be missed - because the whole was larger than the sum of the parts.

One poster who tried to write about Mother Abigail soon after the incident, and was quickly banned, called it SARS Central.

Sounds right to me.

She hijacked a web site, created a forum for the "in depth" discussion of Virology, Taxonomy and Microbiology. But interactive.

And it is that interactivity that opened the flood gates. Now it was possible to monitor breaking news in a far off land, have experts opine on that news, react to their opinions and post information of your own.

NBC Nightly News was never going to be the same.

The "Flu Blog" was born.

DENOUEMENT

Eleven days. From March the 15th to March the 26 she posted, wrote and guided. Then with the same grace and dignity that marked every word she ever wrote - she said goodby.

"It appears I have worked myself out of a job.

Many of you are now posting threads on SARS, and the information seems to be flowing in an accurate and timely manner.

So I will take this opportunity to thank all the posters for their hard work and diligence.

NOTE: I have tried to answer all the e-mails, except of course, the many that asked for personal information. Hope I was of some help

Stay Strong, Come and see me and - bring all your nice friends.......

20 posted on 03/26/2003 8:12:57 PM PST by Mother Abigail"

Some help indeed....

Mother Abigail had become, in the wink of an eye, the focal point for much praise and some derision. Then she was gone.

A year or so later she began posting, from time to time, on various web sites - always modest - never speaking of those days again.

She continues to this day.

INTERVIEW WITH MOTHER ABIGAIL

PART #1 (CONTINUED)

MORE....

I anticipated a flood of emails either disputing my research or my thesis. Ever confident in my work I eagerly prepared for the debate. For the next few months my yahoo mailbox was smoking – but the questions were not what I had envisioned. In fact, I could not have been more wrong.

The e-mails all asked the same questions and they were all about Mother Abigail. Did I know her? Who did she work for? Had I met her? Basically the same e-mail over and over again.

This pretty much let all the wind out of my sails for quite a while. Because the truth is that I knew nothing of her – had exchange a couple of brief “web-based” e-mails and although I had read every word she had ever written on the subject, my knowledge of the person was ZIP.

The only consistent trait of my personality, as several of my ex-wives will tell you, is that I have no great fidelity to any concept. So I fell back and reviewed my goals.

After a season of Tanqueray and tonic I decided to change my focus.

2008

Via e-mail I asked MA if she would be willing to allow me to interview her and write an article about her. My operating paradigm at that time was that this lady was a seminal pioneer of the New Media and a scientist of serious reputation.

How naïve I was.

In the late summer of 2008 I was invited to visit her at her home on Lake Tahoe. It was a visit that would change my life.

DISCLAIMER

The following is a summary of conversations that occurred from August 2008 until June of 2009. All the words are mine and mine alone. When I asked MA if she would like to edit my work or review it for errors – she declined. Prior to the final draft I asked MA for a quote and she declined but requested that I include her favorite poem which I did.

This first part of the interview is hundreds of posts long and is one of the most detailed scientific discussion of influenza (and a lot of other stuff) that you will ever see.

That being said, I believe it to a very interesting read and a rare insight into an exceptionally unique and gifted person.

Here is the direct URL: (You will need to be registered because this discussion was not on the public forum – but in the scientific discussion area).

Enjoy

Mother Abigail Interview Part #1

November 24th, 2010
Reno Nevada
J A Nugget
Orozko Lounge

The shrimp cocktail, the venison and two Absolute Martinis (one olive) have put me right into the zone.

Carrie (my very favorite waitress) has turned me on to a late afternoon buffet here tomorrow. It is perfect for me on a very busy day.

Kate and I will be serving free meals to all who come tomorrow at the Carson Nugget. They have been doing this for decades and they are kind enough to allow other to help serve. It is a blessing on every level.

There is a solo artist performing tonight with guitar and violin. There is only myself and another couple for an audience but his music is remarkable none the less.

I feel peaceful and in harmony tonight. Tomorrow afternoon I will spend Thanksgiving with Mother Abigail and I will ask the hard questions that have been ignored for the last few years.

But it is OK. When the last post of this series is posted, I will remain - and my life (which has forever been altered by this project) will be rich and delightful.

What a strange impact MA has had on my life. How empty and shallow my future lay prior to that trip to Lake Tahoe.

One more Bally’s coffe and I will go upstairs and hit the hot tub, work on my crossword and prepare for tomorrow.

Why I feel like an athlete prior to a big game - I do not know, but I do love the rush.

James