As a development communication graduate, I tend to analyze some things in the context of communication. I view things as messages from senders who send them to receivers, who in turn sometimes gives feedback, through one or more channels.
For the communication people there who read this, I know, I know. The communication model I used in here is probably the simplest one. I like the simple ones. Simple solutions are the best solutions, they say. And as a traceur, I say that they are probably the most efficient ones. :)
So, parkour in the context of communication. It is not the intention of this post to conduct a communication research on parkour. I would like to focus only on one element of the model: the channel, where "parkour" as a label and social construct is created for most people. This channel is the Internet.
A large number of people got their definition and understanding of what parkour is from the Internet. Of course many traceurs and other people too, got their understanding of parkour through their own experience, other people and other channels. I'm focusing on the Internet since this is where I first encountered parkour.
The crux of the Internet is that even though everyone can access it, not everyone has the skills nor the patience to sift through the myriad information to find the right and proper information about Parkour. I believe that this lack of initiative of the individual to search for the right information and right direction, resorting to look for shortcuts in doing parkour contributed to what Chris "Blane" Rowat's famous article, Dilution tells us.
So what does that concern me, you might ask. Everything is interconnected. The impact of misinformation to non-practitioners and incorrect training of traceurs can be felt by the parkour community in some way or another. In my previous post, I talked about parkour bans. The authorities who banned parkour activities could simply have been misinformed about what parkour is, right? It's a good thing that injuries in Parkour are not prevalent. If someday parkour is famous for injuries its practitioners get, that would be a really bad effing time to be a traceur. Maybe parkour would be banned in countries, like weed is. The practitioners have a responsibility to be the good emissaries of parkour. Therefore we need to be properly equipped with the right information and right training methods. Youtube videos are not enough to know and learn about parkour. If there is an established parkour group in your area, try to contact them.
Listed below are some of the links I believe are very useful in learning what parkour is, as well as on proper training:
for background of parkour, I chose Dan Edwardes' : http://www.parkourgenerations.com/articles.php
training: http://www.parkourgenerations.com/articles.php?id_cat=1&idart=48
http://www.majesticforce.com/
if you know more links, please post them here, so I can add it up. =D
