Music to My Eyes XVI
Promotional photographs of bands and musicians have long been a dark spot on the face of pop music. Outside of reproduction in alt.weeklies as part of the show listings, they're practically useless and more often than not make the bands and musicians look bad -- rather than good, as they're intended to do. Similar to the stilted mug shots of executives PR agents send business media, they're almost always sent straight to the recycling bin. So why even make them?
Because we can. The Anchormen had a lot of fun during our last promo photo shoot. We drank Yoohoo at tables near the Alewife T station. Played with Chinese children. Jumped around in a sculpture garden. And ran laps at Tufts University. We also had a lot of fun shooting a music video which didn't turn out so well because the, well, the lens was smudged. That still doesn't mean they're useful.
In the Portland Mercury, one of the scrappier alt.weeklies, Julianne Shepherd offers some tips and tricks to making a band promo photo. She also deconstructs some good and not-so-good examples, offering snarky comments and catty slams along with her advice.
Lesson.
Thanks to Blanketfort.
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
Blogging About Blogging LVI
The 2003 nominees for the Webby Awards were announced today. I was the chair for the panel of nominating judges in the community category, and I'm quite pleased with the five nominees we selected. Feel free to cast your vote in the People's Voice!
The 2003 nominees for the Webby Awards were announced today. I was the chair for the panel of nominating judges in the community category, and I'm quite pleased with the five nominees we selected. Feel free to cast your vote in the People's Voice!
Off-Site Insight III
It was almost exactly a year ago to the day that I last felt like I do today. Maybe this is an annual phase I should get used to. Maybe this ties into the Easter story of death and rebirth. Maybe I should've paid more attention to what I learned last year when I headed up to Maine for Easter weekend to get away from the city and my life here -- and deeper inside myself. Then, I really needed to get away. I was in fight or flight mode. This year, it's slightly different, but pretty much the same feeling. An existential explosion of sorts. And I think I understand it better this time.
The world is an uncertain, unstable place right now. We're at war. The economy's awful. There are a lot of pending changes at work. My personal life is less than satisfying. I haven't been making the wisest decisions in a lot of ways lately. I feel out of control, and I realized this morning that I've been waiting for something bad to happen to wake me up and pull me back from whatever brink I've been nearing. Why wait? If this malaise and occasionally self-destructive distraction is rooted in not feeling in control, I need to reclaim some of that control.
So what can I control? Let's start with the little things. This morning I threw out a pack of cigarettes and took out the trash. I've done that before and I may do it again, but there is absolutely no reason to smoke -- and so many reasons not to. I got into work a little late but in time to have lunch with my dear friend Hiroyasu Ichikawa, who's visiting Boston before heading home to Japan this weekend. The Fast Company office was one of his first stops when he moved here five years ago, and he wanted it to be one of the last before he headed back to work with the World Ship for Youth project. We shared time and table over soup and sandwiches at Mangia Mangia. That is something else I can control. I've gotten quite lazy with eating lately, often skipping breakfast and lunch for an extremely light dinner. And I think it's starting to take its toll. So, three square meals a day from here on out! Why is that so hard?
What else can I control? My stuff. I wax and wane feeling nested or claustrophobic on Church Corner in Cambridge, and I need to purge a little in the name of spring cleaning. Today I mailed five (5) mystery novels to my grandmother and about six (6) James Bond and Powerpuff Girls video tapes to my sister. I have a couple of DVD's I'm going to sell on Amazon or Ebay. And I need to get rid of some of the lifestyle ballast that's dragging me down.
There are other things I need to reign in a little on, but I think this is enough as I start this renewed self-improvement kick. I don't know if others feel like this, but these days are all about control. If you feel lost or out of control, focus on and control what you can. Claim the life that is yours.
It was almost exactly a year ago to the day that I last felt like I do today. Maybe this is an annual phase I should get used to. Maybe this ties into the Easter story of death and rebirth. Maybe I should've paid more attention to what I learned last year when I headed up to Maine for Easter weekend to get away from the city and my life here -- and deeper inside myself. Then, I really needed to get away. I was in fight or flight mode. This year, it's slightly different, but pretty much the same feeling. An existential explosion of sorts. And I think I understand it better this time.
The world is an uncertain, unstable place right now. We're at war. The economy's awful. There are a lot of pending changes at work. My personal life is less than satisfying. I haven't been making the wisest decisions in a lot of ways lately. I feel out of control, and I realized this morning that I've been waiting for something bad to happen to wake me up and pull me back from whatever brink I've been nearing. Why wait? If this malaise and occasionally self-destructive distraction is rooted in not feeling in control, I need to reclaim some of that control.
So what can I control? Let's start with the little things. This morning I threw out a pack of cigarettes and took out the trash. I've done that before and I may do it again, but there is absolutely no reason to smoke -- and so many reasons not to. I got into work a little late but in time to have lunch with my dear friend Hiroyasu Ichikawa, who's visiting Boston before heading home to Japan this weekend. The Fast Company office was one of his first stops when he moved here five years ago, and he wanted it to be one of the last before he headed back to work with the World Ship for Youth project. We shared time and table over soup and sandwiches at Mangia Mangia. That is something else I can control. I've gotten quite lazy with eating lately, often skipping breakfast and lunch for an extremely light dinner. And I think it's starting to take its toll. So, three square meals a day from here on out! Why is that so hard?
What else can I control? My stuff. I wax and wane feeling nested or claustrophobic on Church Corner in Cambridge, and I need to purge a little in the name of spring cleaning. Today I mailed five (5) mystery novels to my grandmother and about six (6) James Bond and Powerpuff Girls video tapes to my sister. I have a couple of DVD's I'm going to sell on Amazon or Ebay. And I need to get rid of some of the lifestyle ballast that's dragging me down.
There are other things I need to reign in a little on, but I think this is enough as I start this renewed self-improvement kick. I don't know if others feel like this, but these days are all about control. If you feel lost or out of control, focus on and control what you can. Claim the life that is yours.
Monday, April 07, 2003
Mention Me! XXXV
I think this is the nicest thing anyone's said about me in a long time. Warren Ellis wrote that I'm a "clever little bastard."
Adam Greenfield's First International Moblogging Conference is coming together nicely, and if I decide that I'd rather go to Tokyo for the gathering than spend time with my family in Wisconsin for my dad's birthday, I'll be in Japan sharing what I've learned about Mapblogging.
Yay. I'm a clever little bastard.
I think this is the nicest thing anyone's said about me in a long time. Warren Ellis wrote that I'm a "clever little bastard."
Adam Greenfield's First International Moblogging Conference is coming together nicely, and if I decide that I'd rather go to Tokyo for the gathering than spend time with my family in Wisconsin for my dad's birthday, I'll be in Japan sharing what I've learned about Mapblogging.
Yay. I'm a clever little bastard.
Comic Books and Commerce II
Dave Arnold of Mark's Rare Comics (That's kind of like a man named Lam running a store called Bob's!) in Saratoga, California, recently sent me a white paper entitled "10 Methodologies for Collecting Comic Books." You can email him for a copy of the PDF if you'd like to check it out.
Having just read the four-page primer for potential comic book collectors, I'm torn. On one hand, I think beginner's guides like this indicate a lot of what's wrong with the state of the comic book publishing and retailing industries. On the other hand, the authors step back from several of the more egregious collecting traps. Given my Free-Range Comic Book Project, you may already know where I stand on the topic of "collecting" comic books. If you don't, here's the short form: No bags, no boards, open boxes.
Comic books are meant to be read. And shared. Most of the methodologies featured in this white paper skew more toward the collecting and keeping side of the equation, and that bothers me. It doesn't matter whether an artist or writer is "highly collectible." Do you like their work? Do you need more, regardless of whether they are a "superstar"? Why care about issue numbers at all? If a first issue isn't worth reading, it's not worth getting or owning, and given Marvel's renumbering scheme over the course of the years, I think it's clear that lower numbers don't necessarily indicate better reads.
Budget-price? Now you're talking. Quarter and dollar bins are worth pawing through if you've got the time -- and if you don't mind getting your fingertips dusty. Already, the box of 200 back issues I bought for the Free-Range Comic Book Project has yielded some real finds. The Pander Bros. Akiko. That said, saying that the quarter bin is "a good place to start collecting if you don't know what to collect and want to actually 'read' your comic books" rubs me the wrong way. Is "read" in quotes for emphasis? Or for sarcasm? If you don't read, don't collect. It's as simple as that. Same goes for their comments on condition. They play up the possibility of reselling comics but do mention that if you collect for a sentimental reason -- which still isn't as good as, say, reading for enjoyment -- condition matters less. Regardless, I shudder when I think about condition grades, bags, boards, and boxes. "Slabbing the books in plastic" kills comics. My comics are reading copies, but that doesn't mean that they're all dinged up.
In the end, it's hard for me to be totally disappointed in this slim guidebook for new comics readers. The authors contend that speculation and investment is the "worst way to collect comic books," which earns them some credit. Remember the death of Superman. And they close the list with some thinking about fun. Right on, but the point isn't that fun is the "best way to collect comics." The point is that reading comics can be fun. That you should read comics you enjoy. And that you should, well, read comics instead of collecting them.
When will someone write a white paper titled "10 Methodologies for Reading Comic Books"?
Dave Arnold of Mark's Rare Comics (That's kind of like a man named Lam running a store called Bob's!) in Saratoga, California, recently sent me a white paper entitled "10 Methodologies for Collecting Comic Books." You can email him for a copy of the PDF if you'd like to check it out.
Having just read the four-page primer for potential comic book collectors, I'm torn. On one hand, I think beginner's guides like this indicate a lot of what's wrong with the state of the comic book publishing and retailing industries. On the other hand, the authors step back from several of the more egregious collecting traps. Given my Free-Range Comic Book Project, you may already know where I stand on the topic of "collecting" comic books. If you don't, here's the short form: No bags, no boards, open boxes.
Comic books are meant to be read. And shared. Most of the methodologies featured in this white paper skew more toward the collecting and keeping side of the equation, and that bothers me. It doesn't matter whether an artist or writer is "highly collectible." Do you like their work? Do you need more, regardless of whether they are a "superstar"? Why care about issue numbers at all? If a first issue isn't worth reading, it's not worth getting or owning, and given Marvel's renumbering scheme over the course of the years, I think it's clear that lower numbers don't necessarily indicate better reads.
Budget-price? Now you're talking. Quarter and dollar bins are worth pawing through if you've got the time -- and if you don't mind getting your fingertips dusty. Already, the box of 200 back issues I bought for the Free-Range Comic Book Project has yielded some real finds. The Pander Bros. Akiko. That said, saying that the quarter bin is "a good place to start collecting if you don't know what to collect and want to actually 'read' your comic books" rubs me the wrong way. Is "read" in quotes for emphasis? Or for sarcasm? If you don't read, don't collect. It's as simple as that. Same goes for their comments on condition. They play up the possibility of reselling comics but do mention that if you collect for a sentimental reason -- which still isn't as good as, say, reading for enjoyment -- condition matters less. Regardless, I shudder when I think about condition grades, bags, boards, and boxes. "Slabbing the books in plastic" kills comics. My comics are reading copies, but that doesn't mean that they're all dinged up.
In the end, it's hard for me to be totally disappointed in this slim guidebook for new comics readers. The authors contend that speculation and investment is the "worst way to collect comic books," which earns them some credit. Remember the death of Superman. And they close the list with some thinking about fun. Right on, but the point isn't that fun is the "best way to collect comics." The point is that reading comics can be fun. That you should read comics you enjoy. And that you should, well, read comics instead of collecting them.
When will someone write a white paper titled "10 Methodologies for Reading Comic Books"?
Happy Birthday to Media Dieticians XII
My sister turns 33 Wednesday, and I decided to get her a gift certificate at a local business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. I would've sent flowers, as spring is coming, but I think this is a more useful present. Kudos to the Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce for offering a member directory online. The directory made it quite easy to do business with the local company earlier today. It's nice to see such a small town -- Fort's got a population of about 10,000 -- using the Web to good effect.
My sister turns 33 Wednesday, and I decided to get her a gift certificate at a local business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. I would've sent flowers, as spring is coming, but I think this is a more useful present. Kudos to the Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce for offering a member directory online. The directory made it quite easy to do business with the local company earlier today. It's nice to see such a small town -- Fort's got a population of about 10,000 -- using the Web to good effect.
From the In Box: Among the Literati XXX
Some thoughts on your stories in Uber:
Story #1: I'm 52, and my partner is 48. We don't worry about rubber bands, but we do worry about small things. We try to assure they are hip small things.
Story #2: I've always thought that those inland gulls were fish deliverer trailer-truck stowaways. Tired of surf, maybe they are looking for turf (chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits). I know it’s a silly theory, but hey, I’m sure even John Nash had the occasional silly theory.
Story #3: Brilliant. -- J.D. Finch
Thanks for the kind words! People have responded to those rather immediate short, short stories relatively well, and I've already written several more. It's the first fiction I've written since 1994, and it feels pretty good.
Some thoughts on your stories in Uber:
Story #1: I'm 52, and my partner is 48. We don't worry about rubber bands, but we do worry about small things. We try to assure they are hip small things.
Story #2: I've always thought that those inland gulls were fish deliverer trailer-truck stowaways. Tired of surf, maybe they are looking for turf (chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits). I know it’s a silly theory, but hey, I’m sure even John Nash had the occasional silly theory.
Story #3: Brilliant. -- J.D. Finch
Thanks for the kind words! People have responded to those rather immediate short, short stories relatively well, and I've already written several more. It's the first fiction I've written since 1994, and it feels pretty good.
Blogging About Blogging LV
Media Dieticians Mr. and Mrs. Sizzle were featured in a New Haven Register article about area bloggers Sunday.
Thanks to Bradley's Almanac.
Media Dieticians Mr. and Mrs. Sizzle were featured in a New Haven Register article about area bloggers Sunday.
Thanks to Bradley's Almanac.
Among the Literati XXXI
Bob Hoover weighs in on the new McSweeney's-related cultural criticism journal, Believer. So doing, he manages to comment on the state of literary critique and culture writ large. While I've yet to see a copy of Believer, I'm quite excited about this new David Eggers-connected project. Has anyone read it yet? Comments?
Thanks to Moby Lives.
Bob Hoover weighs in on the new McSweeney's-related cultural criticism journal, Believer. So doing, he manages to comment on the state of literary critique and culture writ large. While I've yet to see a copy of Believer, I'm quite excited about this new David Eggers-connected project. Has anyone read it yet? Comments?
Thanks to Moby Lives.
Corollary: Business Media Reportage Goes Bust, Now Boom? VII
More on Fast Company's hire of John Byrne:
Fast Co. Spirits Away a Top BW Talent
Byrne's mandate: Make title a big-league player
Fast Company Names Byrne as Editor
Magazine to Leave Hub for N.Y.
(This Saturday Boston Globe article isn't freely accessible online.)
More on Fast Company's hire of John Byrne:
Fast Co. Spirits Away a Top BW Talent
Byrne's mandate: Make title a big-league player
Fast Company Names Byrne as Editor
Magazine to Leave Hub for N.Y.
(This Saturday Boston Globe article isn't freely accessible online.)
Corollary: Workaday World XXVI
The transcript of my Spirituality.com chat is now available. I haven't read all of it yet, but I seem to make some sense.
Television-Impaired XI
I watched the first episode of Twin Peaks again last night. Actually, it's the second episode, the first full episode of the first season following the pilot movie. Does that make sense? Anyway, Laura Palmer's Secret Diary exists as a blog interspersing entries from her day book and quotes from the series. The quotes indicate what episode they're taken from. A nice blog project blending fictional personal journaling and meta-media context.
Thanks to Evhead.
I watched the first episode of Twin Peaks again last night. Actually, it's the second episode, the first full episode of the first season following the pilot movie. Does that make sense? Anyway, Laura Palmer's Secret Diary exists as a blog interspersing entries from her day book and quotes from the series. The quotes indicate what episode they're taken from. A nice blog project blending fictional personal journaling and meta-media context.
Thanks to Evhead.
See You in the Funny Pages IX
Joey Manley, mastermind behind the growing online comics clearinghouse, Modern Tales, has launched a new comics service aimed at female readers and creators. Girlamatic features work by Andre Richard, Jason Thompson, Donna Barr, Kris Dresen, and others. A nice addition to MT and Serializer. It'll be interesting to see how much further Joey can take this market segmentation and fragmentation. The focus is nice, but now that I subscribe to three of his services, I'm wondering whether I'd rather just pay for one umbrella service.
Joey Manley, mastermind behind the growing online comics clearinghouse, Modern Tales, has launched a new comics service aimed at female readers and creators. Girlamatic features work by Andre Richard, Jason Thompson, Donna Barr, Kris Dresen, and others. A nice addition to MT and Serializer. It'll be interesting to see how much further Joey can take this market segmentation and fragmentation. The focus is nice, but now that I subscribe to three of his services, I'm wondering whether I'd rather just pay for one umbrella service.
The Movie I Watched Last Night LXIII
MASH
Hooray for Robert Altman. Practically everything he touches, including this 1970 movie prevursor to the TV show by the same name, is golden. As a movie, this film is amazing. The idea alone -- following the foibles and follies of a medical unit three miles from the frontlines of the Korean War -- is interesting. But what Altman and the cast do with the concept, balancing seriousness and high silliness, is even more important. This movie shows people at their best and worst during wartime, showing that people can care for the wounded even if they don't always care for each other... or themselves. A couple of scenes stick out, but I was most affected by the last supper-like so long to the best-equipped dentist in the army, who wanted to commit suicide (the inspiration for the movie and TV show's theme song). Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould stand out as Hawkeye and Trapper John, but Tom Skerritt's Duke character is almost a throwaway. David Arkin's PA announcer riffs are hesitant and occasionally hilarious, especially the movie screening announcement at the end, an announcement for the film that just ended. A nice Altman meta moment. The movie is also interesting for its spillover effect. MASH the movie inspired MASH the TV show, one of the longest-running series on the air. I ran eight years longer than the Korean War itself. And MASH the TV show spun off Trapper John, M.D.. (We'll neglect another spin-off, AfterMASH.) Good to finally see where some of television's finest history started. And good to know that the original source is solid, silly, and serious, all at the same time.
MASH
Hooray for Robert Altman. Practically everything he touches, including this 1970 movie prevursor to the TV show by the same name, is golden. As a movie, this film is amazing. The idea alone -- following the foibles and follies of a medical unit three miles from the frontlines of the Korean War -- is interesting. But what Altman and the cast do with the concept, balancing seriousness and high silliness, is even more important. This movie shows people at their best and worst during wartime, showing that people can care for the wounded even if they don't always care for each other... or themselves. A couple of scenes stick out, but I was most affected by the last supper-like so long to the best-equipped dentist in the army, who wanted to commit suicide (the inspiration for the movie and TV show's theme song). Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould stand out as Hawkeye and Trapper John, but Tom Skerritt's Duke character is almost a throwaway. David Arkin's PA announcer riffs are hesitant and occasionally hilarious, especially the movie screening announcement at the end, an announcement for the film that just ended. A nice Altman meta moment. The movie is also interesting for its spillover effect. MASH the movie inspired MASH the TV show, one of the longest-running series on the air. I ran eight years longer than the Korean War itself. And MASH the TV show spun off Trapper John, M.D.. (We'll neglect another spin-off, AfterMASH.) Good to finally see where some of television's finest history started. And good to know that the original source is solid, silly, and serious, all at the same time.
Event-O-Dex XLIX
April 9: Clare Burson CD release show at Club Passim in Cambridge. Door opens at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 8. LJ Booth opens.
April 10: Scrapple plays a Mister Records showcase at the Choppin' Block in Boston.
April 9: Clare Burson CD release show at Club Passim in Cambridge. Door opens at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 8. LJ Booth opens.
April 10: Scrapple plays a Mister Records showcase at the Choppin' Block in Boston.
The Free-Range Comic Book Project XII
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Sunday: Batman: Gotham Adventures #26 (DC, July 2000). Writer: Scott Peterson. Artist: Tim Levins. Location: On the Red Line between Central and Harvard squares.
Notable quote: "You all know who I am. You know what I can do. But I'm holding a small child here. And if you make me do anything that could possibly endanger this baby... You will be very, very sorry. Forever."
Monday: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #95 (DC, June 1997). Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Artist: Anthony Williams. Location: On the Green Line between Park Street and Haymarket.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Friday, April 04, 2003
The Free-Range Comic Book Project XI
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
The Batman Chronicles #21 (DC, Summer 2000). Writers: The Pander Bros., Brian Michael Bendis, and Jordan B. Gorfinkel. Artists: The Pander Bros., Michael Gaydos, and Dick Giordano. Location: On the Green Line between Haymarket and Park Street.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Business Media Reportage Goes Bust, Now Boom? VI
Fast Company announced the hire of its new editor in chief today. John Byrne is a great choice! His work on "Superman: Man of Steel" was absolutely beautiful, even if his "Next Men" series was a little lackluster. Wait. You mean that there's another John Byrne?
Fast Company announced the hire of its new editor in chief today. John Byrne is a great choice! His work on "Superman: Man of Steel" was absolutely beautiful, even if his "Next Men" series was a little lackluster. Wait. You mean that there's another John Byrne?
Pieces, Particles XIV
The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks.
30 Reasons AOL Time Warner Lost Almost $100 Billion in a Year, GQ, April 2003
The Art of War by John Colapinto, Rolling Stone, April 17, 2003
There may not be any great protest songs on the radio, but these five young political cartoonists are bringing the noise of dissent to America
Basement Jacks by Don Tapscott, Enroute, March 2003
These days, anyone with a song in their head can produce a slick-sounding CD in the comfort of their own home -- even if they can't play a single note.
Blender's 10 Commandments for Saving the Record Industry!, by Joe Fleischer, Blender, April 2003 (?)
CGE Reading Program Bridges the Gap, Wizard #140
Consumers in the Mist by Alison Wellner, Inc., April 2003
For real insights into your clients, hire an anthropologist
Et Tu, Punk by Robin Vaughan, The Boston Phoenix, March 21, 2003
The Explosion, Clint Conley, and Hilken Mancini find their own way
An Eye for the Ladies by Lisa Eisner and Roman Alonso, The New York Times Magazine, March 30, 2003
Those who call him a misogynist don't know R. Crumb.
Exposing a Phony Photo, National Geographic, April 2003
NGS website tells all
Front Page News by Paisley Strellis, YM, April 2003
In the town of Itasca, TX, it's up to the high school students to get the paper out.
Get Your Browser On! by Stephen Burt, The New York Times, March 30, 2003
The independent voice of online comics
He Takes a Village by John Anderman, The Boston Globe, March 29, 2003
Fort Apache's Gary Smith looks to create a music hub in Vermont
Homes for the Homeless -- Books by David Desjardins, The Boston Globe, March 30, 2003
A woman recycles unwanted volumes
How to Draw on a Wall by Christine Temin, The Boston Globe, March 23, 2003
It's art that gets erased. Making it is more complicated than you'd think.
A Movement Yes, but No Counterculture by John Leland, The New York Times, March 23, 2003
On the Road and On-Line by Stacy Kunstel, Yankee, April 2003
MIT's hotel in the heart of Cambridge marries high tech with high design.
Politics in Play by Elizabeth Jozwiak, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Spring 2003
Socialism, free speech, and social centers in Milwaukee
Popaganda by Michael Barson, Entertainment Weekly, April 4, 2003
Radio Network Bonds Farmworker Community by Dave Wagner, The Boston Globe, March 23, 2003
Union founder's dream is realized
Railroad Buffs Are Working to Bring Back a Legend by Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, March 30, 2003
Real World Robots by Brad Stone, Newsweek, March 24, 2003
They're finally among us. They may not look like the Jetsons' Rosie, but they are actually doing real jobs alongside humans -- in homes, hospitals and on the battlefield.
Reel Solitude by Louise Kennedy, The Boston Globe Magazine, March 23, 2003
Alone at the movies, you're accountable to no one's tastes or experiences but your own. And that's liberating.
Selling the War on TV by Susan Douglas, The Nation, March 31, 2003
The Sound of Things to Come by Marshall Sella, The New York Times Magazine, March 23, 2003
Woody Norris has reinvented acoustics. Big news for the world of music. Bigger news for advertising and crime-fighting and combat.
Stage Craft by Mike Milliard, The Boston Phoenix, March 28, 2003
In search of "The Lost Theatres of Somerville"
"Townie" by Anne McPheeters, Maine Boats & Harbors, April/May 2003
What you are is what you are, and recognizing that is central to growing up.
"We're Glorified Schleppers." by Susannah Meadows, Newsweek, March 24, 2003
Behind every gorgeous superstar is another kind of celebrity: the stylist
When a Brand Becomes a Stand-In for a Nation by Rob Walker, The New York Times, March 30, 2003
Why Radio Sucks by Jenny Eliscu, Rolling Stone, April 3, 2003
Five ways that giant corporations are running the airwaves
If you work for a magazine and would like to sign me up for a complimentary subscription, please feel free to do so. My address is in the grey bar over on the left.
The following media-related stories recently spotted in print publications might be worth a look. Heads and decks, only. Heads and decks.
30 Reasons AOL Time Warner Lost Almost $100 Billion in a Year, GQ, April 2003
The Art of War by John Colapinto, Rolling Stone, April 17, 2003
There may not be any great protest songs on the radio, but these five young political cartoonists are bringing the noise of dissent to America
Basement Jacks by Don Tapscott, Enroute, March 2003
These days, anyone with a song in their head can produce a slick-sounding CD in the comfort of their own home -- even if they can't play a single note.
Blender's 10 Commandments for Saving the Record Industry!, by Joe Fleischer, Blender, April 2003 (?)
CGE Reading Program Bridges the Gap, Wizard #140
Consumers in the Mist by Alison Wellner, Inc., April 2003
For real insights into your clients, hire an anthropologist
Et Tu, Punk by Robin Vaughan, The Boston Phoenix, March 21, 2003
The Explosion, Clint Conley, and Hilken Mancini find their own way
An Eye for the Ladies by Lisa Eisner and Roman Alonso, The New York Times Magazine, March 30, 2003
Those who call him a misogynist don't know R. Crumb.
Exposing a Phony Photo, National Geographic, April 2003
NGS website tells all
Front Page News by Paisley Strellis, YM, April 2003
In the town of Itasca, TX, it's up to the high school students to get the paper out.
Get Your Browser On! by Stephen Burt, The New York Times, March 30, 2003
The independent voice of online comics
He Takes a Village by John Anderman, The Boston Globe, March 29, 2003
Fort Apache's Gary Smith looks to create a music hub in Vermont
Homes for the Homeless -- Books by David Desjardins, The Boston Globe, March 30, 2003
A woman recycles unwanted volumes
How to Draw on a Wall by Christine Temin, The Boston Globe, March 23, 2003
It's art that gets erased. Making it is more complicated than you'd think.
A Movement Yes, but No Counterculture by John Leland, The New York Times, March 23, 2003
On the Road and On-Line by Stacy Kunstel, Yankee, April 2003
MIT's hotel in the heart of Cambridge marries high tech with high design.
Politics in Play by Elizabeth Jozwiak, Wisconsin Magazine of History, Spring 2003
Socialism, free speech, and social centers in Milwaukee
Popaganda by Michael Barson, Entertainment Weekly, April 4, 2003
Radio Network Bonds Farmworker Community by Dave Wagner, The Boston Globe, March 23, 2003
Union founder's dream is realized
Railroad Buffs Are Working to Bring Back a Legend by Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, March 30, 2003
Real World Robots by Brad Stone, Newsweek, March 24, 2003
They're finally among us. They may not look like the Jetsons' Rosie, but they are actually doing real jobs alongside humans -- in homes, hospitals and on the battlefield.
Reel Solitude by Louise Kennedy, The Boston Globe Magazine, March 23, 2003
Alone at the movies, you're accountable to no one's tastes or experiences but your own. And that's liberating.
Selling the War on TV by Susan Douglas, The Nation, March 31, 2003
The Sound of Things to Come by Marshall Sella, The New York Times Magazine, March 23, 2003
Woody Norris has reinvented acoustics. Big news for the world of music. Bigger news for advertising and crime-fighting and combat.
Stage Craft by Mike Milliard, The Boston Phoenix, March 28, 2003
In search of "The Lost Theatres of Somerville"
"Townie" by Anne McPheeters, Maine Boats & Harbors, April/May 2003
What you are is what you are, and recognizing that is central to growing up.
"We're Glorified Schleppers." by Susannah Meadows, Newsweek, March 24, 2003
Behind every gorgeous superstar is another kind of celebrity: the stylist
When a Brand Becomes a Stand-In for a Nation by Rob Walker, The New York Times, March 30, 2003
Why Radio Sucks by Jenny Eliscu, Rolling Stone, April 3, 2003
Five ways that giant corporations are running the airwaves
If you work for a magazine and would like to sign me up for a complimentary subscription, please feel free to do so. My address is in the grey bar over on the left.
Got "Our" War On II
Michael Kelley, editor-at-large for the Atlantic Monthly was killed in Iraq. The first American journalist casualty in the war, Kelley died in a Humvee accident while traveling with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
Michael Kelley, editor-at-large for the Atlantic Monthly was killed in Iraq. The first American journalist casualty in the war, Kelley died in a Humvee accident while traveling with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
Event-O-Dex XLVIII
April 6: Sara Cooper, Naughty Shirley, and So&So support the arts at the Washington Street Art Center in Somerville. 7:30 p.m.
April 6: Sara Cooper, Naughty Shirley, and So&So support the arts at the Washington Street Art Center in Somerville. 7:30 p.m.
Shay's Whine Bar
In the 30 years I've been alive, I've not once been asked to leave a bar or restaurant because of any misbehavior. Until last night. Band practice for the Anchormen was canceled because Chris had to work late and Tom had an Asian Babe Alert show at the Sky Bar. I debated going to the Pornbelt show at the Choppin Block -- or to the ABA show -- but it was raining mildly, and I wanted to stick closer to home and the T.
After hanging out at the Different Drummer with some colleagues after work, a couple of us headed to Shay's Wine Bar on Harvard Square to meet up with some other friends, including one who'd been recently laid off and one who might have a hernia (he's going to the doctor soon). We were hanging out, talking, and I stepped outside to get some fresh air because the place was getting a little smoky. I came back in, made my way back to my friends, and picked up my Bass.
A man came up to me, said, "I'm not comfortable serving you," took the pint out of my hand, and set it back on the counter where I'd set it down just moments ago before stepping outside. "You're not comfortable serving me?" "No," he said. "Can I at least hang out?" "No. You have to go."
I was stunned. "I have to go?" "Yes," he said starting to move to help me leave the bar. I bent down to pick up my bag. "That's not your bag," he said. "Actually, it is my bag." He made me show the bag to my friends and asked if it was my bag. They confirmed that it was, and I left.
I was stunned. What had just happened? What had I done to warrant that? I hadn't bumped into anyone. I hadn't been rude to anyone. I hadn't been loud. I wasn't intoxicated. I was the exact opposite of the kind of person a bartender would feel uncomfortable with or threatened by. I almost turned back to ask him some more questions, but I thought better of it. I hopped on the T and headed home.
The wheels kept spinning. I should've asked him why he was uncomfortable. I should've asked for a refund on the beer I had just bought. If they were comfortable enough to serve me a minute ago, what made them uncomfortable a minute later? Maybe he thought I was a drunk stumbling into the bar because I did kind of trip on my shoelace as I was coming back in. Maybe he thought I was a drunk just stumbling in who made a bee line to the back of the bar, picked up someone else's beer, and tried to take someone else's bag. What had just happened?
As I was walking to the T, I emailed Jenn to say that I owed them money. I should've at least tried to settle my part of the tab before leaving. Still, I was stunned. She emailed me this this morning:
Phew! When I got home and when I got up this morning, my mind was still reeling. What had I done? I had done nothing. I've not experienced such a weird mix of self-righteous defensiveness and concern before. I was ready to write a letter of complaint to ask for a $4 refund. I was ready to boycott the joint. Funny that the guy who'd asked me to leave came after me to invite me back -- I'd just headed straight to the T. Jenn says that Dana, the cute bartender there who plays drums in the Signal, was angry at the bouncer. And Dave says that I should go back tonight and ask if I can finish my beer.
I guess it all worked out for the best. I was stunned, but it was the guy's mistake. Had I had more presence of mind to talk to him about it, I probably could've set him straight. Weird.
In the 30 years I've been alive, I've not once been asked to leave a bar or restaurant because of any misbehavior. Until last night. Band practice for the Anchormen was canceled because Chris had to work late and Tom had an Asian Babe Alert show at the Sky Bar. I debated going to the Pornbelt show at the Choppin Block -- or to the ABA show -- but it was raining mildly, and I wanted to stick closer to home and the T.
After hanging out at the Different Drummer with some colleagues after work, a couple of us headed to Shay's Wine Bar on Harvard Square to meet up with some other friends, including one who'd been recently laid off and one who might have a hernia (he's going to the doctor soon). We were hanging out, talking, and I stepped outside to get some fresh air because the place was getting a little smoky. I came back in, made my way back to my friends, and picked up my Bass.
A man came up to me, said, "I'm not comfortable serving you," took the pint out of my hand, and set it back on the counter where I'd set it down just moments ago before stepping outside. "You're not comfortable serving me?" "No," he said. "Can I at least hang out?" "No. You have to go."
I was stunned. "I have to go?" "Yes," he said starting to move to help me leave the bar. I bent down to pick up my bag. "That's not your bag," he said. "Actually, it is my bag." He made me show the bag to my friends and asked if it was my bag. They confirmed that it was, and I left.
I was stunned. What had just happened? What had I done to warrant that? I hadn't bumped into anyone. I hadn't been rude to anyone. I hadn't been loud. I wasn't intoxicated. I was the exact opposite of the kind of person a bartender would feel uncomfortable with or threatened by. I almost turned back to ask him some more questions, but I thought better of it. I hopped on the T and headed home.
The wheels kept spinning. I should've asked him why he was uncomfortable. I should've asked for a refund on the beer I had just bought. If they were comfortable enough to serve me a minute ago, what made them uncomfortable a minute later? Maybe he thought I was a drunk stumbling into the bar because I did kind of trip on my shoelace as I was coming back in. Maybe he thought I was a drunk just stumbling in who made a bee line to the back of the bar, picked up someone else's beer, and tried to take someone else's bag. What had just happened?
As I was walking to the T, I emailed Jenn to say that I owed them money. I should've at least tried to settle my part of the tab before leaving. Still, I was stunned. She emailed me this this morning:
After you left, Nick and that bouncer went looking for you but couldn't find you. Then Nick wanted to call you but didn't have your cell phone number. See, that guy thought that you had just walked in and started drinking a random beer. Apparently, they get that all the time at Shay's. That's why he asked you to leave. So imagine how much of an asshole he felt like when we were like, he was with us. Why'd he have to leave? This guy at the bar told him to go lie down and that clearly he was too tired, kicking out legitimate customers and all. Then he and Nick ran out to go look for you, but I guess you were well on your way.
Phew! When I got home and when I got up this morning, my mind was still reeling. What had I done? I had done nothing. I've not experienced such a weird mix of self-righteous defensiveness and concern before. I was ready to write a letter of complaint to ask for a $4 refund. I was ready to boycott the joint. Funny that the guy who'd asked me to leave came after me to invite me back -- I'd just headed straight to the T. Jenn says that Dana, the cute bartender there who plays drums in the Signal, was angry at the bouncer. And Dave says that I should go back tonight and ask if I can finish my beer.
I guess it all worked out for the best. I was stunned, but it was the guy's mistake. Had I had more presence of mind to talk to him about it, I probably could've set him straight. Weird.
Thursday, April 03, 2003
Books Worth a Look XIII
These are the books I read in March 2003.
The Big Dig at Night by Dan McNichol and Stephen SetteDucati (Silver Lining, 2001)
The important things here are SetteDucati's photographs of the Big Dig, one of the world's largest public works projects, which were taken in Boston since 1996. This book, one of several about the project published after there was a critical mass of visual documentation -- and at the peak of Boston citizens' interest in the project -- focuses on night photography. The images are beautiful. Cranes, girders, overpasses, tunnels, bridges, earth movers, and structural supports are all captured while the city sleeps. It'll be interesting to see how this volume compares to similar texts, but one thing is clear here. SetteDucati did all the work. McNichol's scant captions, while occasionally informative and insightful, should not have earned him top billing and authorial credit.
Pages: 127. Days to read: 5. Rating: Good.
Chariots of the Gods? by Erich Von Daniken (Berkley, 1980)
This book, which must have been no little influence on writers such as David Hatcher Childress and Graham Hancock, contends that the Earth was in part populated by aliens or alien parents from planets such as Venus. Blending history, archeology, sociology, anthropology, and New Age speculation, Von Daniken analyzes whether God was an astronaut. While the book is overly aggressive in its smug onslaught of unanswered questions and conspiracies, it's a good book in terms of making connections between archeology and astronomy -- and offering some ideas about why those connections exist.
Pages: 157. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdon by Cory Doctorow (Tor, 2003)
Cory's first published novel is set in a post-scarcity society in which there's no death, hunger, or poverty. There are, however, ad hocs, democratic, self-organizing groups living in and running Disney World. There's also an esteem-driven economy in which your reputation is measured in a currency called Whuffies. Everybody has persistent Internet access, and people can back up and restore their memories, even in new cloned bodies. The plot is largely a mystery centering on the politics surrounding the ongoing reconstruction of the Haunted Mansion. While I didn't totally dig Cory's Disney fetish, the novel is chock full of Cory's day-to-day fascinations. The heat death of the universe, Faraday cages, traffic flow analysis, and how people carry things -- intriguing ideas all wrapped up in a quickly untangling tale.
Pages: 208. Days to read: 4. Rating: Good.
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, 2002)
If Ben Marcus had written the screenplay for the Pianist, this novel may have been the result. Furthering three interlocking narratives, the story details a young writer's journeys to the Ukraine to track down a woman who saved his grandfather's life during World War II. Foer's storytelling structure -- the personal narrative of the author's young Ukrainian guide, a speculative history of the author's Ukrainian family, and letters from the guide to the author -- works quite well, and with the fictional author being a less than totally present character, it's unclear what the true story being written is. Is it the Ukrainian guide's? The speculative history? A well done meta-novel that plays with the form deftly.
Pages: 276. Days to Read: 2. Rating: Excellent.
The Family of Man ed. by Edward Steichen (Museum of Modern Art, 1955)
This photography exhibit -- promoted as the greatest of all time -- comprised 503 pictures from 68 countries. This book, an after-the-fact catalog published by the Maco Magazine Corp., collects most, if not all of those images. Published in black and white, this well-read library reject once housed in the Hillside School Library of Berkeley, California, was acquired on the passive recommendation of Mikela and Philip Tarlow at SXSW. True to their "Digital Aboriginal" ideal, the book is a world-ranging visual documentation of love, marriage, birth, parenthood, childhood, anger, struggle, family, work, food, craft, art, dance, play, education, civil society, poverty, religion, war, law, old age, and death -- the whole range of the human experience. The photos are slightly dated at this point, but it's a worthwhile chronicle -- and an exhibit that should be revisited for 2005.
Pages: 192. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs by Brendan Mullen with Don Bolles and Adam Parfrey (Feral House, 2002)
Digging a little deeper than Exene Cervenka's Forming, this roughly 110-source oral history of Paul Beahm AKA Bobby Pyn AKA Darby Crash, the singer, front man, and erstwhile savior of the seminal Los Angeles punk band the Germs is an insightful and informative biography of the American Sid Vicious, a punk-rock martyr who is largely overlooked because he committed suicide on the same day John Lennon died. The most interesting aspect of Beahm's punk iconoclasm is his grasp of evangelism, self-help obsession, and fascism. His "circles" were est- and Scientology-inspired codepency-driven support groups, and he brought an accidental, partly formed focus to his musical performance and lifestyle. Or maybe he was a drugged-out alcoholic. Like Black Randy says near the end of the book, he should've had the balls to stick it out.
Pages: 294. Days to read: 3. Rating: Good.
Lucky Wander Boy by D.B. Weiss (Plume, 2003)
One of the jacket blurbs says Weiss does for video games what Michael Chabon did for comics, but because I've yet to read Chabon's book -- or David Mamet's "Wilson," for that mater -- I cannot say. What I can say is that Lucky Wander Boy is a wonderful look at the video game industry and the repercussions of pop culture obsessions. After returning from working in Poland, the novel's hero takes a job writing marketing copy for a video game developer. On the side, he's writing a comprehensive encyclopedia of classic video games that blends post-modern cultural critique with actual history. The novel details the hero's quest for information about a little-known game and ends in a very game-like manner. Innovative and funny.
Pages: 273. Days to Read: 8. Rating: Excellent.
Memoir of the Hawk by James Tate (Ecco, 2001)
Tate's prose poems, fictional vignettes that are laid out and scan like poetry remind me of a marriage between Dan Buck's short, short stories and Jack Handey's "Deep Thoughts." While some of the pieces are relatively absurd and impressionistic, many hit quite hard emotionally. And it is the more realistic and narrative pieces that I enjoy most. Despite the excellent writing, the book is a little overwhelming. Tate's stories read best one at a time, or in small handfuls. To read them all in short order -- even in several sittings spanning half a month, as I did -- is an invitation to be deluged and perhaps drowned in Tate's world.
Pages: 175. Days to read: 13. Rating: Good.
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (Perennial, 1972)
I had no idea. All I knew about this book was the image of glassy-eyes suburban women from the movie a la Children of the Corn and the possible political commentary on suburban stultification. No, this is science fiction! And feminist social commentary! It's a quick read, one of the most economic novels I've ever read, and Peter Straub's introduction well explains how the novel can be misread. The book proceeds step by step until Joanna's revelatory research in the basement of the library. There, she puts together all of the pieces -- the jobs of the men in Stepford whose wives have changed, and the insidious scientific innovations that contributed to those changes. It's a subtly surprising acceleration to the novel's open-ended conclusion. How long will the cycle continue? I've got to rent the movie.
Pages: 123. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.
Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison (Counterpoint, 2001)
I need to borrow more books from Andrea. Any author that thanks Roger Angell and Rick Moody in the acknowledgments has a good chance of being good. A teacher at the University of Southern Mississippi, Robison has written for the New Yorker -- as well as for Hollywood. So it's no surprise that the man character, Money, is a script doctor. The highly fragmented novel -- almost a collection of short, short stories -- tracks her manic work writing and unwriting a screenplay about Bigfoot. Through a series of more than 500 musings, insights, representations of what appear to be multiple personalities, and slices of life shedding light on the main character's family, friends, and colleagues, it becomes clear that the novel is really about the sexual abuse of Money's son and the impact it has on her family. I need to read more of Robison's work.
Pages: 200. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.
These are the books I read in March 2003.
The Big Dig at Night by Dan McNichol and Stephen SetteDucati (Silver Lining, 2001)
The important things here are SetteDucati's photographs of the Big Dig, one of the world's largest public works projects, which were taken in Boston since 1996. This book, one of several about the project published after there was a critical mass of visual documentation -- and at the peak of Boston citizens' interest in the project -- focuses on night photography. The images are beautiful. Cranes, girders, overpasses, tunnels, bridges, earth movers, and structural supports are all captured while the city sleeps. It'll be interesting to see how this volume compares to similar texts, but one thing is clear here. SetteDucati did all the work. McNichol's scant captions, while occasionally informative and insightful, should not have earned him top billing and authorial credit.
Pages: 127. Days to read: 5. Rating: Good.
Chariots of the Gods? by Erich Von Daniken (Berkley, 1980)
This book, which must have been no little influence on writers such as David Hatcher Childress and Graham Hancock, contends that the Earth was in part populated by aliens or alien parents from planets such as Venus. Blending history, archeology, sociology, anthropology, and New Age speculation, Von Daniken analyzes whether God was an astronaut. While the book is overly aggressive in its smug onslaught of unanswered questions and conspiracies, it's a good book in terms of making connections between archeology and astronomy -- and offering some ideas about why those connections exist.
Pages: 157. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdon by Cory Doctorow (Tor, 2003)
Cory's first published novel is set in a post-scarcity society in which there's no death, hunger, or poverty. There are, however, ad hocs, democratic, self-organizing groups living in and running Disney World. There's also an esteem-driven economy in which your reputation is measured in a currency called Whuffies. Everybody has persistent Internet access, and people can back up and restore their memories, even in new cloned bodies. The plot is largely a mystery centering on the politics surrounding the ongoing reconstruction of the Haunted Mansion. While I didn't totally dig Cory's Disney fetish, the novel is chock full of Cory's day-to-day fascinations. The heat death of the universe, Faraday cages, traffic flow analysis, and how people carry things -- intriguing ideas all wrapped up in a quickly untangling tale.
Pages: 208. Days to read: 4. Rating: Good.
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, 2002)
If Ben Marcus had written the screenplay for the Pianist, this novel may have been the result. Furthering three interlocking narratives, the story details a young writer's journeys to the Ukraine to track down a woman who saved his grandfather's life during World War II. Foer's storytelling structure -- the personal narrative of the author's young Ukrainian guide, a speculative history of the author's Ukrainian family, and letters from the guide to the author -- works quite well, and with the fictional author being a less than totally present character, it's unclear what the true story being written is. Is it the Ukrainian guide's? The speculative history? A well done meta-novel that plays with the form deftly.
Pages: 276. Days to Read: 2. Rating: Excellent.
The Family of Man ed. by Edward Steichen (Museum of Modern Art, 1955)
This photography exhibit -- promoted as the greatest of all time -- comprised 503 pictures from 68 countries. This book, an after-the-fact catalog published by the Maco Magazine Corp., collects most, if not all of those images. Published in black and white, this well-read library reject once housed in the Hillside School Library of Berkeley, California, was acquired on the passive recommendation of Mikela and Philip Tarlow at SXSW. True to their "Digital Aboriginal" ideal, the book is a world-ranging visual documentation of love, marriage, birth, parenthood, childhood, anger, struggle, family, work, food, craft, art, dance, play, education, civil society, poverty, religion, war, law, old age, and death -- the whole range of the human experience. The photos are slightly dated at this point, but it's a worthwhile chronicle -- and an exhibit that should be revisited for 2005.
Pages: 192. Days to read: 1. Rating: Good.
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs by Brendan Mullen with Don Bolles and Adam Parfrey (Feral House, 2002)
Digging a little deeper than Exene Cervenka's Forming, this roughly 110-source oral history of Paul Beahm AKA Bobby Pyn AKA Darby Crash, the singer, front man, and erstwhile savior of the seminal Los Angeles punk band the Germs is an insightful and informative biography of the American Sid Vicious, a punk-rock martyr who is largely overlooked because he committed suicide on the same day John Lennon died. The most interesting aspect of Beahm's punk iconoclasm is his grasp of evangelism, self-help obsession, and fascism. His "circles" were est- and Scientology-inspired codepency-driven support groups, and he brought an accidental, partly formed focus to his musical performance and lifestyle. Or maybe he was a drugged-out alcoholic. Like Black Randy says near the end of the book, he should've had the balls to stick it out.
Pages: 294. Days to read: 3. Rating: Good.
Lucky Wander Boy by D.B. Weiss (Plume, 2003)
One of the jacket blurbs says Weiss does for video games what Michael Chabon did for comics, but because I've yet to read Chabon's book -- or David Mamet's "Wilson," for that mater -- I cannot say. What I can say is that Lucky Wander Boy is a wonderful look at the video game industry and the repercussions of pop culture obsessions. After returning from working in Poland, the novel's hero takes a job writing marketing copy for a video game developer. On the side, he's writing a comprehensive encyclopedia of classic video games that blends post-modern cultural critique with actual history. The novel details the hero's quest for information about a little-known game and ends in a very game-like manner. Innovative and funny.
Pages: 273. Days to Read: 8. Rating: Excellent.
Memoir of the Hawk by James Tate (Ecco, 2001)
Tate's prose poems, fictional vignettes that are laid out and scan like poetry remind me of a marriage between Dan Buck's short, short stories and Jack Handey's "Deep Thoughts." While some of the pieces are relatively absurd and impressionistic, many hit quite hard emotionally. And it is the more realistic and narrative pieces that I enjoy most. Despite the excellent writing, the book is a little overwhelming. Tate's stories read best one at a time, or in small handfuls. To read them all in short order -- even in several sittings spanning half a month, as I did -- is an invitation to be deluged and perhaps drowned in Tate's world.
Pages: 175. Days to read: 13. Rating: Good.
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (Perennial, 1972)
I had no idea. All I knew about this book was the image of glassy-eyes suburban women from the movie a la Children of the Corn and the possible political commentary on suburban stultification. No, this is science fiction! And feminist social commentary! It's a quick read, one of the most economic novels I've ever read, and Peter Straub's introduction well explains how the novel can be misread. The book proceeds step by step until Joanna's revelatory research in the basement of the library. There, she puts together all of the pieces -- the jobs of the men in Stepford whose wives have changed, and the insidious scientific innovations that contributed to those changes. It's a subtly surprising acceleration to the novel's open-ended conclusion. How long will the cycle continue? I've got to rent the movie.
Pages: 123. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.
Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison (Counterpoint, 2001)
I need to borrow more books from Andrea. Any author that thanks Roger Angell and Rick Moody in the acknowledgments has a good chance of being good. A teacher at the University of Southern Mississippi, Robison has written for the New Yorker -- as well as for Hollywood. So it's no surprise that the man character, Money, is a script doctor. The highly fragmented novel -- almost a collection of short, short stories -- tracks her manic work writing and unwriting a screenplay about Bigfoot. Through a series of more than 500 musings, insights, representations of what appear to be multiple personalities, and slices of life shedding light on the main character's family, friends, and colleagues, it becomes clear that the novel is really about the sexual abuse of Money's son and the impact it has on her family. I need to read more of Robison's work.
Pages: 200. Days to read: 1. Rating: Excellent.
Games People Play IX
At the end of January, one of my co-workers at Fast Company, Joel Janney, released a board game he and his wife produced themselves. Lights… Camera… Action! is a high-energy movie trivia game focusing on what Janney calls "movie moments." Media Diet talked to Janney about what people remember about movies, the role movie moments play in popular culture, and what he learned while making a board game independently. Here is an edited transcript of our conversation:
Media Diet: Tell me a little bit about the concept behind Lights... Camera... Action!
Joel Janney: This all started with what kinds of games I like to play -- and the fact that I love movies. Computer games are usually solo activities or may involve one other person. Board games are highly social -- and this game in particular is very interactive. It is more fun with more people, and it requires a lot of eye contact and immediate feedback. Laughing with a group is a lot more fun than laughing by yourself.
That's why going to the movies is such a great experience. It's a bonding thing, a communal sharing activity. Watching movies at the theater is a communal activity that is really important to most people. Parts of the movie industry freaked out about VCR's and big TV's because they thought people would stop going to the movies. They don't get it. People go because they would rather watch the movie in the company of a few friends and 200-plus strangers then watch it at home. It's a bonding experience.
Lights… Camera… Action! could easily be made into a computer game, but that's not what I got into this for. I got into it because I think an awful lot of people would have a great deal of fun playing the game with other people. If it's successful, I'll feel great because we make money while putting a smile on a lot of people's faces. That would make me happy. It also stirs interest in movies as people hear quotes from movies they haven't seen. I love the movies.
MD: You've said that a couple of times now. Why do you love the movies so much?
JJ: I love the movies because I love life, and the movies are about life. The thoughts and feelings and emotions one has when watching a movie are easy to share with others who have seen the same movie. People can talk about things going on in a movie, whereas they would feel uncomfortable talking about those same things going on in their own life. Movies are stimulating and engaging.
MD: How did you come up with the idea for the game?
JJ: I originally created a rough version of this game with a friend several years ago. The look and feel was completely different, and the game had different rules, but the "movie moment" concept was the same. One game company wanted to see the prototype, but they shot it down. They liked it, but they eventually decided that although they liked the game, it would take them into a different market (the mass market rather than the specialized market they were used to). They didn't want to be competing against the big players there.
MD: How did the idea develop from talk to action? What made you take the step to actually make the game yourself?
JJ: It's always nagged at me that I never gave it a full shot. My wife and I talked about it and finally decided to go for it. She wasn't working, which made it difficult money-wise but allowed her to devote each day to the many issues that had to be dealt with. We were both bored and looking for something exciting and stimulating to work on -- and here was something I believe in strongly and feel passionate about. It just got to the point where I had to give it a try.
MD: Are there other movie-related games available? What kind of market research did you do to identify competitors and so on?
JJ: Yes. We looked all over to see what was out there. Why still make the game when there are other movie games out there? Three answers: One, this game is different because it's all about "movie moments" -- it's not about memorizing facts or trivia. Movie moments have a strong emotional element. When you remember them you re-experience the emotions you associated with that scene. That's not the same as remembering who won Best Actor in 1969.
It's also different because of the three levels -- you get three chances to name the movie. The great majority of players answers most of the movie moments after all three clues -- good players get more of them off the quote, of course. So there's a reward for being better at it, but it's not so hard that players, particularly when working in teams, get stumped frequently (It's not a lot of fun to play a game where you don't know any of the answers).
Also, the marketing and promotion is different. I believe that movie games have not taken advantage of their marketing opportunities Besides, the fact that there are successful movie games out there does not preclude our ability to be successful with a different game.
But the short answer is that what makes this game different is the much higher level of emotional involvement you get from playing this one. There tends to be a lot of laughter, and it's loud and raunchy in a way that trivia games are not. Simply put, it's more fun.
MD: It might be good to expand a little on the concept of movie moments. What makes a good movie moment? Why do they resonate so strongly with people?
JJ: A good movie moment usually comes from a movie that has staying power within popular culture. The moment is a memorable one within the film -- almost always because it's representative of what the film was about or representative of one of the characters. It's a parking lot moment. If you hear people talking about a movie they've just seen, their discussion is usually limited to half a dozen or so of these moments from a movie.
MD: The game includes 800 questions. Are they from 800 movies? How many movies did you and your wife watch to develop the questions? And fess up: Did you refer to any movie quotation books or other resources?
JJ: They're from about 350 movies. We rented DVD's and watched the movies, for three reasons. Quote resources that are out there are often inaccurate, and it was very important to me that we get the quotes right. Secondly, part of what makes a movie moment is what is happening on the screen -- "Get off the babysitter," doesn't sound like much of a quote if you haven't seen Risky Business, for example. We also needed to see the scene in order to write the scene descriptions. Some of these movie moments were created by me and a friend several years ago in the original version of the game. We rented the movies for those also.
It didn't take long, because we thought we were going to have the game out before Thanksgiving. We crammed it in. On a normal day, my wife Laura would watch three movies and write down many quotes for each and the times on the DVD clock. I would come home from work and pick the ones I liked and rewatch to check for accuracy -- and so I could write the scene description. It was utterly exhausting and went on for about 10 weeks I think. We got a lot more done on the weekends.
MD: If your wife would watch three movies on a weekday, how many did you two hit on a weekend?
JJ: We only have one DVD player, so not many more than that. The player was basically playing a great majority of the time. Our life was watching movies for awhile there.
MD: As you developed the list of questions, did you try to keep a diverse mix of genres and eras?
JJ: The 350 movies range from Citizen Kane to Spider-Man. The game is definitely weighted more to the last 10 years, and those are weighted more to the last five. Still, tons of movies are pre-1990. We have lots of classics. For the most part, we focused on popular movies and popular actors -- movies people would know.
Some movies may have been popular at the time but have no staying power. Few people ever rent them, they don't show up on cable, and no one watches them anymore. They're forgettable. Those movies didn't make it. We also paid a lot of attention to not necessarily using the obvious quotes, but trying to find quotes that played off one of the themes of the movie or a main character.
MD: Did you and your wife learn anything about the kinds of movies you like and dislike?
We'd never seen Citizen Kane before and loved it. I thought it was revered for it's technical innovations, but the story and acting were also great -- in addition to the directing. There were plenty of other movies that were surprises. Two that stand out for me were Breakfast at Tiffany's (which I'd never seen because I thought it was going to be a repetitive light romantic comedy, and they're everywhere) and Saturday Night Fever (which stunned me because I thought it was just a dance/party movie, and I loved it).
MD: What do you think the best quote in the game is? Surely you have a favorite.
JJ: "That's part of your problem, you know, you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."
MD: Um, what movie is that from?
JJ: It's from Grand Canyon, spoken by Steve Martin, who is playing a movie producer. I think it's an underrated movie and a good rental. It's a bit of an obscure quote but I love it.
MD: When you reached the point of actually designing and producing the game, how did you learn how to do it? Are there companies that will produce a game for you?
JJ: We learned on the fly. We advertised for a graphic designer and picked from over 200 applicants. We worked with her closely on picking design. And we had all kinds of problems I don't even want to go into. Laura had to individually lay out 800 cards in Quark. We called all over for printers and game board and box makers. We talked to a lot of people. In the end, we used a broker for the printing and another company to make the box and board. We didn't get terms or credit from either. Companies that would do it for us weren't economical and required much more units printed.
MD: In the design and production process, what aspects of game making surprised you?
JJ: Just about everything, not knowing anything previously. Formats of files, the fact that colors on screen vary dramatically from printed colors, the many things that can -- and often did -- go wrong when something is going to press, the expense involved at all levels. It was a nightmare. And now we have to collate the cards by hand ourselves because the collating machine would have added too much cost. There are 400,000 cards. I definitely had not thought about that.
MD: What were some of the decisions you had to make? What were some details you decided not to include that would have been nice?
JJ: Originally, we only wanted to print 50-100 copies and not offset print them. Instead we were going to use a substandard printing method that wouldn't look that great just to see if people who bought the game were really into it. We spent a lot of time looking at options before wising up and going with offset color. It would have been nice to finish the box to protect it better. And it would have been nice to have thicker cards.
Most important, though, I thought the game needed to stand out. People need to notice it, and that means it can't look like anything else. It looks like a movie game, and if you see it from a distance you'll either recognize it if you've seen it before or be intrigued enough to check it out. But these are all purchasing decisions. Once a certain number of games get out there, all that really matters is word of mouth -- does it create a buzz, do people talk it up to their friends so that their friends want to buy it?
MD: With what the game cost to make per unit, how did you determine what the retail price would be?
JJ: Trivial Pursuit is $35. Most games are $25-$35, and quite a lot of those are $30-$35. That's where we got our price point, not our cost per unit. We're getting pretty low margins right now because of the limited print run.
MD: You could have easily self-produced a game with less-expensive and -impressive design and production values. Why not make the game more of a DIY cottage industry? Do you plan to market the game widely? How does one get distribution for a self-produced game?
JJ: We wanted a product we could be proud of. We didn't want to have to apologize to people and say, "Hey, we'll make it nicer if this takes off." Because then, if it didn't work out, I would just wonder if we should have gone all out. I wanted to take a full swing at this, not bunt. Yes, we want to market widely eventually. How does one get distribution? The hard way, a little bit at a time. And I wanted this to be a board game -- not just cards in a box, not on the computer -- because I believe in the communal sharing thing, people laughing in groups together. That could still happen with cards, but the board makes it more substantial and more likely to attract a group to sit around and dedicate time to play it. I also think the board version is more fun if you invest about two minutes to learn the rules (They're pretty basic.), and the board version allows people who aren't that good at it to have as much fun as the experts. That is very important.
MD: You must now know more about the game industry than you thought you ever would. What are some of the more interesting things you've learned about making and selling games?
JJ: A lot of games come out every year. A lot. And many of them invest more money than we have to get started. There are some good Web sites I referred to, but I largely didn't listen to them -- though I still recommend reading all about it before diving in. Most of the Web sites focus on standard methods of distribution (meaning stores), not Internet sales.
MD: So what resources would you recommend people check out? What was most useful for you?
JJ: What's been most useful to us has been finding the right people to work with. That may sound like I'm evading the question, but it's really important. Here's an informative Web site.
MD: What advice would you give people who might be interested in making their own game?
JJ: Be sure that you really want to do it.
MD: Why do you say that? Were there any moments when you doubted whether you wanted to do it?
JJ: No, but it was a lot harder and a lot more work than I thought it would be. There were also a lot of scary moments where problems came up and we were not sure how we would fix them, or if we could. If you're only into it 80%, you're going to find it very easy to give up when the inevitable roadblocks appear.
MD: You named the company Georgie Games after your dog. What does Georgie think of the game?
JJ: He definitely isn't happy. He doesn't like all the boxes and cards in the house and doesn't like change of any kind. He can tell we're stressed, and he'd rather we had nothing to do but sleep with him all day.
One thing George has really liked about the game, though, has been the frequent trips to the video store, where the staff recognizes him and always gives him a treat. Another is that my wife is home all day with him instead of at a job.
MD: What's his favorite movie?
JJ: He does a good job of keeping his emotions to himself when watching a film.
At the end of January, one of my co-workers at Fast Company, Joel Janney, released a board game he and his wife produced themselves. Lights… Camera… Action! is a high-energy movie trivia game focusing on what Janney calls "movie moments." Media Diet talked to Janney about what people remember about movies, the role movie moments play in popular culture, and what he learned while making a board game independently. Here is an edited transcript of our conversation:
Media Diet: Tell me a little bit about the concept behind Lights... Camera... Action!
Joel Janney: This all started with what kinds of games I like to play -- and the fact that I love movies. Computer games are usually solo activities or may involve one other person. Board games are highly social -- and this game in particular is very interactive. It is more fun with more people, and it requires a lot of eye contact and immediate feedback. Laughing with a group is a lot more fun than laughing by yourself.
That's why going to the movies is such a great experience. It's a bonding thing, a communal sharing activity. Watching movies at the theater is a communal activity that is really important to most people. Parts of the movie industry freaked out about VCR's and big TV's because they thought people would stop going to the movies. They don't get it. People go because they would rather watch the movie in the company of a few friends and 200-plus strangers then watch it at home. It's a bonding experience.
Lights… Camera… Action! could easily be made into a computer game, but that's not what I got into this for. I got into it because I think an awful lot of people would have a great deal of fun playing the game with other people. If it's successful, I'll feel great because we make money while putting a smile on a lot of people's faces. That would make me happy. It also stirs interest in movies as people hear quotes from movies they haven't seen. I love the movies.
MD: You've said that a couple of times now. Why do you love the movies so much?
JJ: I love the movies because I love life, and the movies are about life. The thoughts and feelings and emotions one has when watching a movie are easy to share with others who have seen the same movie. People can talk about things going on in a movie, whereas they would feel uncomfortable talking about those same things going on in their own life. Movies are stimulating and engaging.
MD: How did you come up with the idea for the game?
JJ: I originally created a rough version of this game with a friend several years ago. The look and feel was completely different, and the game had different rules, but the "movie moment" concept was the same. One game company wanted to see the prototype, but they shot it down. They liked it, but they eventually decided that although they liked the game, it would take them into a different market (the mass market rather than the specialized market they were used to). They didn't want to be competing against the big players there.
MD: How did the idea develop from talk to action? What made you take the step to actually make the game yourself?
JJ: It's always nagged at me that I never gave it a full shot. My wife and I talked about it and finally decided to go for it. She wasn't working, which made it difficult money-wise but allowed her to devote each day to the many issues that had to be dealt with. We were both bored and looking for something exciting and stimulating to work on -- and here was something I believe in strongly and feel passionate about. It just got to the point where I had to give it a try.
MD: Are there other movie-related games available? What kind of market research did you do to identify competitors and so on?
JJ: Yes. We looked all over to see what was out there. Why still make the game when there are other movie games out there? Three answers: One, this game is different because it's all about "movie moments" -- it's not about memorizing facts or trivia. Movie moments have a strong emotional element. When you remember them you re-experience the emotions you associated with that scene. That's not the same as remembering who won Best Actor in 1969.
It's also different because of the three levels -- you get three chances to name the movie. The great majority of players answers most of the movie moments after all three clues -- good players get more of them off the quote, of course. So there's a reward for being better at it, but it's not so hard that players, particularly when working in teams, get stumped frequently (It's not a lot of fun to play a game where you don't know any of the answers).
Also, the marketing and promotion is different. I believe that movie games have not taken advantage of their marketing opportunities Besides, the fact that there are successful movie games out there does not preclude our ability to be successful with a different game.
But the short answer is that what makes this game different is the much higher level of emotional involvement you get from playing this one. There tends to be a lot of laughter, and it's loud and raunchy in a way that trivia games are not. Simply put, it's more fun.
MD: It might be good to expand a little on the concept of movie moments. What makes a good movie moment? Why do they resonate so strongly with people?
JJ: A good movie moment usually comes from a movie that has staying power within popular culture. The moment is a memorable one within the film -- almost always because it's representative of what the film was about or representative of one of the characters. It's a parking lot moment. If you hear people talking about a movie they've just seen, their discussion is usually limited to half a dozen or so of these moments from a movie.
MD: The game includes 800 questions. Are they from 800 movies? How many movies did you and your wife watch to develop the questions? And fess up: Did you refer to any movie quotation books or other resources?
JJ: They're from about 350 movies. We rented DVD's and watched the movies, for three reasons. Quote resources that are out there are often inaccurate, and it was very important to me that we get the quotes right. Secondly, part of what makes a movie moment is what is happening on the screen -- "Get off the babysitter," doesn't sound like much of a quote if you haven't seen Risky Business, for example. We also needed to see the scene in order to write the scene descriptions. Some of these movie moments were created by me and a friend several years ago in the original version of the game. We rented the movies for those also.
It didn't take long, because we thought we were going to have the game out before Thanksgiving. We crammed it in. On a normal day, my wife Laura would watch three movies and write down many quotes for each and the times on the DVD clock. I would come home from work and pick the ones I liked and rewatch to check for accuracy -- and so I could write the scene description. It was utterly exhausting and went on for about 10 weeks I think. We got a lot more done on the weekends.
MD: If your wife would watch three movies on a weekday, how many did you two hit on a weekend?
JJ: We only have one DVD player, so not many more than that. The player was basically playing a great majority of the time. Our life was watching movies for awhile there.
MD: As you developed the list of questions, did you try to keep a diverse mix of genres and eras?
JJ: The 350 movies range from Citizen Kane to Spider-Man. The game is definitely weighted more to the last 10 years, and those are weighted more to the last five. Still, tons of movies are pre-1990. We have lots of classics. For the most part, we focused on popular movies and popular actors -- movies people would know.
Some movies may have been popular at the time but have no staying power. Few people ever rent them, they don't show up on cable, and no one watches them anymore. They're forgettable. Those movies didn't make it. We also paid a lot of attention to not necessarily using the obvious quotes, but trying to find quotes that played off one of the themes of the movie or a main character.
MD: Did you and your wife learn anything about the kinds of movies you like and dislike?
We'd never seen Citizen Kane before and loved it. I thought it was revered for it's technical innovations, but the story and acting were also great -- in addition to the directing. There were plenty of other movies that were surprises. Two that stand out for me were Breakfast at Tiffany's (which I'd never seen because I thought it was going to be a repetitive light romantic comedy, and they're everywhere) and Saturday Night Fever (which stunned me because I thought it was just a dance/party movie, and I loved it).
MD: What do you think the best quote in the game is? Surely you have a favorite.
JJ: "That's part of your problem, you know, you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."
MD: Um, what movie is that from?
JJ: It's from Grand Canyon, spoken by Steve Martin, who is playing a movie producer. I think it's an underrated movie and a good rental. It's a bit of an obscure quote but I love it.
MD: When you reached the point of actually designing and producing the game, how did you learn how to do it? Are there companies that will produce a game for you?
JJ: We learned on the fly. We advertised for a graphic designer and picked from over 200 applicants. We worked with her closely on picking design. And we had all kinds of problems I don't even want to go into. Laura had to individually lay out 800 cards in Quark. We called all over for printers and game board and box makers. We talked to a lot of people. In the end, we used a broker for the printing and another company to make the box and board. We didn't get terms or credit from either. Companies that would do it for us weren't economical and required much more units printed.
MD: In the design and production process, what aspects of game making surprised you?
JJ: Just about everything, not knowing anything previously. Formats of files, the fact that colors on screen vary dramatically from printed colors, the many things that can -- and often did -- go wrong when something is going to press, the expense involved at all levels. It was a nightmare. And now we have to collate the cards by hand ourselves because the collating machine would have added too much cost. There are 400,000 cards. I definitely had not thought about that.
MD: What were some of the decisions you had to make? What were some details you decided not to include that would have been nice?
JJ: Originally, we only wanted to print 50-100 copies and not offset print them. Instead we were going to use a substandard printing method that wouldn't look that great just to see if people who bought the game were really into it. We spent a lot of time looking at options before wising up and going with offset color. It would have been nice to finish the box to protect it better. And it would have been nice to have thicker cards.
Most important, though, I thought the game needed to stand out. People need to notice it, and that means it can't look like anything else. It looks like a movie game, and if you see it from a distance you'll either recognize it if you've seen it before or be intrigued enough to check it out. But these are all purchasing decisions. Once a certain number of games get out there, all that really matters is word of mouth -- does it create a buzz, do people talk it up to their friends so that their friends want to buy it?
MD: With what the game cost to make per unit, how did you determine what the retail price would be?
JJ: Trivial Pursuit is $35. Most games are $25-$35, and quite a lot of those are $30-$35. That's where we got our price point, not our cost per unit. We're getting pretty low margins right now because of the limited print run.
MD: You could have easily self-produced a game with less-expensive and -impressive design and production values. Why not make the game more of a DIY cottage industry? Do you plan to market the game widely? How does one get distribution for a self-produced game?
JJ: We wanted a product we could be proud of. We didn't want to have to apologize to people and say, "Hey, we'll make it nicer if this takes off." Because then, if it didn't work out, I would just wonder if we should have gone all out. I wanted to take a full swing at this, not bunt. Yes, we want to market widely eventually. How does one get distribution? The hard way, a little bit at a time. And I wanted this to be a board game -- not just cards in a box, not on the computer -- because I believe in the communal sharing thing, people laughing in groups together. That could still happen with cards, but the board makes it more substantial and more likely to attract a group to sit around and dedicate time to play it. I also think the board version is more fun if you invest about two minutes to learn the rules (They're pretty basic.), and the board version allows people who aren't that good at it to have as much fun as the experts. That is very important.
MD: You must now know more about the game industry than you thought you ever would. What are some of the more interesting things you've learned about making and selling games?
JJ: A lot of games come out every year. A lot. And many of them invest more money than we have to get started. There are some good Web sites I referred to, but I largely didn't listen to them -- though I still recommend reading all about it before diving in. Most of the Web sites focus on standard methods of distribution (meaning stores), not Internet sales.
MD: So what resources would you recommend people check out? What was most useful for you?
JJ: What's been most useful to us has been finding the right people to work with. That may sound like I'm evading the question, but it's really important. Here's an informative Web site.
MD: What advice would you give people who might be interested in making their own game?
JJ: Be sure that you really want to do it.
MD: Why do you say that? Were there any moments when you doubted whether you wanted to do it?
JJ: No, but it was a lot harder and a lot more work than I thought it would be. There were also a lot of scary moments where problems came up and we were not sure how we would fix them, or if we could. If you're only into it 80%, you're going to find it very easy to give up when the inevitable roadblocks appear.
MD: You named the company Georgie Games after your dog. What does Georgie think of the game?
JJ: He definitely isn't happy. He doesn't like all the boxes and cards in the house and doesn't like change of any kind. He can tell we're stressed, and he'd rather we had nothing to do but sleep with him all day.
One thing George has really liked about the game, though, has been the frequent trips to the video store, where the staff recognizes him and always gives him a treat. Another is that my wife is home all day with him instead of at a job.
MD: What's his favorite movie?
JJ: He does a good job of keeping his emotions to himself when watching a film.
Music to My Ears XXXII
It has been brought to my attention that musicians such as Paul Melancon and Adam McIntyre occasionally call friends and fans to perform new songs life or to leave musical messages on answering machines and voicemail.
Now, I've called myself before to record nascent Anchormen songs on voicemail as a songwriting and memory aid -- and I've written songs based on old outgoing answering machine ditties -- but I don't think the Anks have ever played live for someone over the phone. It's an interesting idea -- like They Might Be Giants' Dial A Song, only using that push technology from days of yore.
Do any Media Dieticians know about other musicians or bands that perform phone shows? There might be something here.
It has been brought to my attention that musicians such as Paul Melancon and Adam McIntyre occasionally call friends and fans to perform new songs life or to leave musical messages on answering machines and voicemail.
Now, I've called myself before to record nascent Anchormen songs on voicemail as a songwriting and memory aid -- and I've written songs based on old outgoing answering machine ditties -- but I don't think the Anks have ever played live for someone over the phone. It's an interesting idea -- like They Might Be Giants' Dial A Song, only using that push technology from days of yore.
Do any Media Dieticians know about other musicians or bands that perform phone shows? There might be something here.
Music to My Eyes XV
From Spin the Bottle:
Thanks to Emily!
From Spin the Bottle:
Dear Singer/Songwriter/Comedian,
I'm the talent coordinator for a TV pilot for VH1 called "NewsJam" (from the creator of "Pop-Up Video") which will feature singer-songwriters delivering amusing songs about the big news topics of the week. Think "Schoolhouse Rock" meets Tom Lehrer's "That Was The Week That Was" or a musical version of Comedy Central's "Daily Show."
The assignment is to write and record (low-tech home recording is fine) a 2-3 minute song on one of the two following topics:
1. Awards Shows
2. J.Lo & Ben
If your song is chosen for the demo/pilot, you'll get $1500...but more importantly, you'll get entered into the stable of "musical correspondents" who will contribute on the actual weekly show (if it's picked up). For now, we're not planning on showing artists' faces...(but that may change)...rather, we're turning their songs into cartoons, bouncing ball montages, or other yet-to-be-invented visual offerings. The deadline is April 16th on a CD if you're interested (with lyrics e-mailed to me).
Please feel free to call me with any questions and if you know of any other singer/songwriters who might be right for this project, please let me know.
Thanks,
David Turley
Spin The Bottle, Inc.
9 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
Thanks to Emily!
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Corollary: Among the Literati XXX
My three short, short stories in Uber have been archived.
My three short, short stories in Uber have been archived.
Ravaging Radio VII
Quoth Stephen Provizer:
Having toured the old Radio Free Allston studio when I ran the Mass. Media mailing list -- and having played an A-B Free Radio benefit with the Anchormen -- I know what a force for free speech and free media Stephen is. I'm sure that the A-B Free Radio team will miss Stephen's involvement, but I'm also sure that he will find new progressive media projects just as productive and positive.
Best wishes, Stephen!
Quoth Stephen Provizer:
I just wanted to let you know that, due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is financial, April, 2003 marks the end of my official involvement with Allston-Brighton Free Radio.
Time goes by. It's been seven years since I organized Radio Free Allston and three years since I started Allston-Brighton Free Radio and I know that a change is due. I think that this change will be beneficial to both me and the station.
In difficult times such as these, it becomes even more important for all of us to know we can express our point of view and to take steps to do so. I hope that in the months ahead, you will continue to support community and alternative media efforts like A-B Free Radio.
For my part, I will be out there looking for gainful employment, hopefully in the field of education, media or community organizing.
It has been a tremendous priviledge to be able to communicate with you on some of the most vital issues of our imperiled civic culture. Thank you so much for the support you've shown my efforts.
Having toured the old Radio Free Allston studio when I ran the Mass. Media mailing list -- and having played an A-B Free Radio benefit with the Anchormen -- I know what a force for free speech and free media Stephen is. I'm sure that the A-B Free Radio team will miss Stephen's involvement, but I'm also sure that he will find new progressive media projects just as productive and positive.
Best wishes, Stephen!
Corollary: Technofetishism XXVI
Eudora 5.1's profanity filter informs me that the phrase "sick and tired" may cause offense. Oh, so?
Eudora 5.1's profanity filter informs me that the phrase "sick and tired" may cause offense. Oh, so?
The Movie I Watched Last Night LXII
Sunday:
Dr. Strangelove (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
This 1964 film directed by Stanley Kubrick is amazing and well worth watching somewhat frequently. Its dystopian take on the military-industrial complex is particularly effective in times of war. Peter Sellers' multiple roles all work well, especially his portrayal of Dr. Strangelove, and George C. Scott's Gen. "Buck" Turgidson is by no means turgid or tepid. But what strikes me most strongly is that Kubrick aptly balances light-hearted humor while addressing one of the more frightening possibilities of the Cold War. The movie is neither fatalistic nor overtly dismissive, and the blend of comedy and commentary is still relevant today. File this beside Johnny Got His Gun. Wonderful.
Sunday:
Dr. Strangelove (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
This 1964 film directed by Stanley Kubrick is amazing and well worth watching somewhat frequently. Its dystopian take on the military-industrial complex is particularly effective in times of war. Peter Sellers' multiple roles all work well, especially his portrayal of Dr. Strangelove, and George C. Scott's Gen. "Buck" Turgidson is by no means turgid or tepid. But what strikes me most strongly is that Kubrick aptly balances light-hearted humor while addressing one of the more frightening possibilities of the Cold War. The movie is neither fatalistic nor overtly dismissive, and the blend of comedy and commentary is still relevant today. File this beside Johnny Got His Gun. Wonderful.
Anchormen, Aweigh! XVIII
Last night, on my way home on the T, I was recognized as a member of the Anchormen for the first time in public. A young man got on the train and moved down the aisle. As the train started to pull out of the station, he made his way back to me.
"Aren't you in the Anchormen?" he asked me. Taken aback, I replied, "Yes. I am." He'd seen us play at the Upstairs Lounge with Hip Tanaka and said that we'd really impressed him. "Straight-ahead punk, but with different song topics," he said. He asked when we were playing out again, and I told him about our May 16 CD release party and Handstand Command third anniversary celebration. (Details forthcoming.)
When the T reached Central Square, we got off the train together. Then we bumped into each other again at the co-op. It felt kind of nice to be recognized in public, and he had a really cool stocking cap on. I, microstar! If you ever see me out and about, don't be shy to say hi!
Soundtrack: Lila Downs, "Tree of Life"
Last night, on my way home on the T, I was recognized as a member of the Anchormen for the first time in public. A young man got on the train and moved down the aisle. As the train started to pull out of the station, he made his way back to me.
"Aren't you in the Anchormen?" he asked me. Taken aback, I replied, "Yes. I am." He'd seen us play at the Upstairs Lounge with Hip Tanaka and said that we'd really impressed him. "Straight-ahead punk, but with different song topics," he said. He asked when we were playing out again, and I told him about our May 16 CD release party and Handstand Command third anniversary celebration. (Details forthcoming.)
When the T reached Central Square, we got off the train together. Then we bumped into each other again at the co-op. It felt kind of nice to be recognized in public, and he had a really cool stocking cap on. I, microstar! If you ever see me out and about, don't be shy to say hi!
Soundtrack: Lila Downs, "Tree of Life"
Corollary: Blogging About Blogging LIV
Just got word from Jupiter Media and Clickz: I've got media credentials for the June Weblog Business Strategies conference in Boston. It'll be an awesome event to confblog.
Just got word from Jupiter Media and Clickz: I've got media credentials for the June Weblog Business Strategies conference in Boston. It'll be an awesome event to confblog.
Among the Literati XXX
Three short, short stories I wrote have been published in Uber today.
Three short, short stories I wrote have been published in Uber today.
Corollary: Among the Literati XXIX
My silly little humor piece in Zulkey has been archived.
My silly little humor piece in Zulkey has been archived.
The Free-Range Comic Book Project XI
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Batman Beyond #4 (DC, February 2000). Writer: Hilary Bader. Artist: Craig Rousseau. Location: On a bench in the park at the corner of Prospect Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
From the In Box: Workaday World XXV
Here's what Matt had to say:
He's going to poke around a little to see what he can learn, but he's got a good point. Sheesh. Fingers crossed that they don't move disclaimers like this to the top of our emails. Ha!
Here's what Matt had to say:
I'm honestly not sure about the enforceability of these sorts of disclaimers, and searches of Lexis and Westlaw didn't turn up anything useful. I expect that they're generally seen as enforceable to a certain extent, however from my first-year law student point of view I'd say that they're probably not the cure-all companies think they are. After all, by the time you get to the disclaimer, you've already read (and possibly copied/forwarded/etc) the email.
He's going to poke around a little to see what he can learn, but he's got a good point. Sheesh. Fingers crossed that they don't move disclaimers like this to the top of our emails. Ha!
Heavy Petting II
I met Jerry Kaiser in 2001 in Boulder Creek, California, during the third CoF Roadshow. I also met his cat Mack. Mack died recently, and Jerry emailed me to see if I still had the pictures I'd taken of him with Mack.
I do.
Here's looking at you, Mack. Rest in peace.
I met Jerry Kaiser in 2001 in Boulder Creek, California, during the third CoF Roadshow. I also met his cat Mack. Mack died recently, and Jerry emailed me to see if I still had the pictures I'd taken of him with Mack.
I do.
Here's looking at you, Mack. Rest in peace.
Blogging About Blogging LIV
I wonder if Clickz will give me a media pass to blog their Weblog Business Strategies conference in June. I'd love to take another stab at immediate journalism and confblogging. My SXSW Interactive transcripts got great response.
Thanks to Marm0t.
I wonder if Clickz will give me a media pass to blog their Weblog Business Strategies conference in June. I'd love to take another stab at immediate journalism and confblogging. My SXSW Interactive transcripts got great response.
Thanks to Marm0t.
Weather Report X
The clouds and cool of this morning turned to sun -- and now again to blustery snow. The world outside my window is a snow globe, flakes of fluffy white blowing horizontally, dancing in sudden fits of twisting wind, and almost hanging still in middair. I wish spring would come back!
The clouds and cool of this morning turned to sun -- and now again to blustery snow. The world outside my window is a snow globe, flakes of fluffy white blowing horizontally, dancing in sudden fits of twisting wind, and almost hanging still in middair. I wish spring would come back!
From the In Box: Workaday World XXV
Via IM:
See? It is silly.
Via IM:
It's supposed to provide some protection, confidentiality-wise. You couldn't really go after someone for using the information contained. It's kind of a fake out.
My boss says that some lawyers came up with it to pretend like they could go after you if you used the info, but they probably couldn't, because the rules of evidence would make it tough to prove they had used it without authorization.
See? It is silly.
Workaday World XXVI
I just finished doing an hour-long online event on the Spirit of Work on the Web as part of Spirituality.com's Spirituality@Work conference. Spirituality.com is a Web site inspired by the writings of Mary Baker Eddy -- and aids people as they consider their individual spirituality. The conference, which runs three weeks, focuses on balance and purpose, the workplace, unemployment, and ethics. It was an interesting experience.
As the first online event I've participated in as a speaker, I joined a conference call with the conference organizer -- a member of the Company of Friends who credits his job at Spirituality.com to my work at Fast Company -- and a typist. I talked. She typed. That was rather strange, as I'm used to doing my own typing, and I don't really feel like I found a comfortable pace or rhythm for her to keep up with me. Still, she did a fine job.
We'll see how the transcript turns out -- I'm not sure I had anything important or new to say -- but the experience was an oddly disembodied engagement with the online community. I hope I gave people some good ideas, shared some useful resources, and didn't waste anyone's time. The organizer said about 70 people participated in the chat, with about 35 being the maximum participation at any one time. It felt strange dictating to the typist, but I guess that's how large-scale chats are done. Huh.
I just finished doing an hour-long online event on the Spirit of Work on the Web as part of Spirituality.com's Spirituality@Work conference. Spirituality.com is a Web site inspired by the writings of Mary Baker Eddy -- and aids people as they consider their individual spirituality. The conference, which runs three weeks, focuses on balance and purpose, the workplace, unemployment, and ethics. It was an interesting experience.
As the first online event I've participated in as a speaker, I joined a conference call with the conference organizer -- a member of the Company of Friends who credits his job at Spirituality.com to my work at Fast Company -- and a typist. I talked. She typed. That was rather strange, as I'm used to doing my own typing, and I don't really feel like I found a comfortable pace or rhythm for her to keep up with me. Still, she did a fine job.
We'll see how the transcript turns out -- I'm not sure I had anything important or new to say -- but the experience was an oddly disembodied engagement with the online community. I hope I gave people some good ideas, shared some useful resources, and didn't waste anyone's time. The organizer said about 70 people participated in the chat, with about 35 being the maximum participation at any one time. It felt strange dictating to the typist, but I guess that's how large-scale chats are done. Huh.
Workaday World XXV
I just got the following email:
I am going against policy by posting this, even, and it kind of irks me that this is now appended to every email I send at work. It makes the messages longer, and part of the beauty of the Net is that things can be forwarded and shared.
Besides, do such appendages really do anything? I don't see how they would have an impact on people who I might accidentally email -- how else would they get a message not intended for them? Or is it more about us having grounds for legal action after the fact if someone forwards an email I wrote them?
Seems silly to me. My friend Matt is going to law school. I'll ask him.
I just got the following email:
Company policy dictates that the following verbiage be added to all outbound mail. Therefore, it will be automatically appended to all messages you send out to the Internet:
This electronic transmission contains confidential information intended only for the person(s) named. Any use, distribution, copying, or disclosure by any other person is strictly prohibited. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete all copies of this message.
If you have any questions and/or concerns, please contact the Legal Department.
I am going against policy by posting this, even, and it kind of irks me that this is now appended to every email I send at work. It makes the messages longer, and part of the beauty of the Net is that things can be forwarded and shared.
Besides, do such appendages really do anything? I don't see how they would have an impact on people who I might accidentally email -- how else would they get a message not intended for them? Or is it more about us having grounds for legal action after the fact if someone forwards an email I wrote them?
Seems silly to me. My friend Matt is going to law school. I'll ask him.
Event-O-Dex XLVII
April 3: Scott Allie, writer for "Devil's Footprints" and "Star Wars: Empire", as well as editor for "The Art of Hellboy," signing at the Million Year Picnic at 5 p.m.
April 3: Asian Babe Alert, Ellison (from Providence), and Tizzy (from Northampton) play at the Sky Bar in Somerville.
April 10: Scrapple is part of a Mister Records showcase at the Choppin' Block in Boston.
April 3: Scott Allie, writer for "Devil's Footprints" and "Star Wars: Empire", as well as editor for "The Art of Hellboy," signing at the Million Year Picnic at 5 p.m.
April 3: Asian Babe Alert, Ellison (from Providence), and Tizzy (from Northampton) play at the Sky Bar in Somerville.
April 10: Scrapple is part of a Mister Records showcase at the Choppin' Block in Boston.
Among the Literati XXIX
I have a silly little humor piece in Zulkey today. I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it.
I have a silly little humor piece in Zulkey today. I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it.
Monday, March 31, 2003
The Free-Range Comic Book Project X
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Batman #441 (DC, 1989). Writer: Marv Wolfman. Artist: Jim Aparo. Location: On the Red Line between Park Street and Central Square.
Notable quote: "Blow up the Twin Towers? Possible, but what do I get out of it besides Batman's death? I do so like killing two birds with one stone. Should I do it? (Flips coin.) Scratch the tower."
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Technofetishism XXXII
I just installed Jaguar, and while I couldn't use the AIM client previously because of how our firewall is configured, I can use iChat quite easily. Hurrah. Nice to have IM at work again -- not just on my Sidekick. My AIM username is to the left, if you'd like to IM me ever.
I just installed Jaguar, and while I couldn't use the AIM client previously because of how our firewall is configured, I can use iChat quite easily. Hurrah. Nice to have IM at work again -- not just on my Sidekick. My AIM username is to the left, if you'd like to IM me ever.
Corollary: Uncommon Cents II
Someone's already bought shares in Media Diet! This blog is currently valued at $939.01, and outgoing links are valued at $1039.01. I don't know what that means, really, but at least the numbers are big.
Someone's already bought shares in Media Diet! This blog is currently valued at $939.01, and outgoing links are valued at $1039.01. I don't know what that means, really, but at least the numbers are big.
Business Media Reportage Goes Bust, Now Boom? V
Worth magazine is cutting its staff in half and changing its publication frequency from 10 issues a year to eight. But the the magazine doesn't yet plan to shut up shop.
Thanks to I Want Media.
Worth magazine is cutting its staff in half and changing its publication frequency from 10 issues a year to eight. But the the magazine doesn't yet plan to shut up shop.
Thanks to I Want Media.
Uncommon Cents II
Hot on the heels of my post about Celebdaq and related projects, I learn about Blogshares, a fantasy stock market for blogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links. To date, Blogshares comprises more than 20,000 blogs, almost 80,000 links, and about 1,300 active users. I don't have time to play around with this today, but it might be worth checking out.
Hot on the heels of my post about Celebdaq and related projects, I learn about Blogshares, a fantasy stock market for blogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links. To date, Blogshares comprises more than 20,000 blogs, almost 80,000 links, and about 1,300 active users. I don't have time to play around with this today, but it might be worth checking out.
Corollary: Comics and Community IX
One of the more useful items I acquired at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival is a coaster made by Philadelphia-based "bartoonist" Jeff Kilpatrick.
My Lunch Is Fun coffee cup now rests gently upon it. Mmm, coffee!
One of the more useful items I acquired at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival is a coaster made by Philadelphia-based "bartoonist" Jeff Kilpatrick.
My Lunch Is Fun coffee cup now rests gently upon it. Mmm, coffee!
Comics and Community IX
This weekend, I flew to Toronto for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I arrived around 7:15 Friday night and caught a cab to Jim Munroe's house off Spadina. The cab cost $44 Canadian, and I was a little sheepish spending that much money because my return subway and bus fare Sunday cost all of $2.25. Regardless, I wanted to get there in time for Matthew Blackett's book launch party at El Mocambo, and I didn't want to risk holding up my hosts. After hanging out with Jim and Susan -- and a quick dinner of veggie dogs and kettle chips -- we made our way to the club.
Matt -- or M@B, as he's known in town -- did an excellent reading of his strip, which just started running in Eye, a local alt.weekly. Projecting transparencies of his strip on the wall, he didn't so much read the comics as he did tell the stories and experiences from his life that influenced the comic. He also shared an outline of his creative process, which was interesting to see. The bands didn't really interest or impress me, so I spent much of the evening hanging out with and talking to folks from the Highwater Books gang.
Greg Cook arrived before everyone else, with his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder in a clear plastic sack. When I stepped outside to call Jef back -- he'd called from Boston to see if I wanted to go to a show -- most everyone else showed up: Megan, Ron, Brian, Tom, and Jason Little. They'd all driven up from New York City, where they'd been delayed by some drunken yahoos who'd gotten the bright idea to climb on the Williamsburg Bridge. I also ran into Paul and Scott, who were there to represent Cyberosia Publishing. Tons of friends from New England!
I shared the room at Jim's house with Montreal-based cartoonist Joe Ollman and his girlfriend, and we got up relatively early in the morning, Joe to seek breakfast, and I to head over to Trinity St. Paul's Centre for the show, which opened at 10. The church is just a block away from Jim's house, and I arrived just as the Highwater crew was unloading the van. With more than 50 exhibitors, mostly American and Toronto-area creators, the festival filled three rooms. I was surprised how predominant folks from the United States were, and it would've been nice if more Quebecois comics folks turned out. Regardless, it was a good day. I grabbed breakfast with Tom and Jason Lutes at the Future Bakery & Cafe, sat in on a couple of panel discussions -- one on the history of the comics scene in Toronto and another on self-publishing -- and walked the floor several times to gather up minis, comics, and zines to review for Media Diet.
By the end of the day, I was pretty tired, and I hadn't even been working the table all day like Greg, Ron, Megan, Brian -- and Gabrielle Bell, whose new book, When I'm Old, just came out -- did. Folks were making dinner plans with Seth and Chester Brown, but I didn't really feel like hanging out with a crowd, so I headed back across the street to read, chat with Jim, and watch some fun digital videos. Eventually, we headed out for dinner at Seoul Restaurant, a wonderfully minimalistic Korean Restaurant. After a healthy bowl of bi bim bap -- for $5 Canadian! -- I walked back with the crew to the Tranzac, where the panel discussions earlier in the day had been held.
Saturday night's program involved a panel discussion about autobiographical comics featuring Seth, Chester, Phoebe Gloeckner, and M@B, as well as several art demonstrations and readings. Jason Little did a wonderful slide presentation of a portion of Shutterbug Follies, with a well-edited soundtrack featuring Pram and other bands. Jason Lutes and Phoebe Gloeckner also did presentations. The day had been long, and I didn't really feel like hanging out sitting in a darkened theater, so I spent much of my time in the bar, hanging out with the Highwater kids and several new friends.
Another late night, I got home after everyone else had crashed for the evening. Waking a little late Sunday, Jim and I grabbed a pleasant brunch at the Green Room. Then it was the subway to Kipling, the Airport Rocket bus to Pearson, through customs, and on the plane home. Greg and I were on the same flight back to Boston, so we hung out together in the gate area -- and waited for a ride from Carrie once we'd landed at Logan. I was cold and wanting to get home, so I left Greg for a cab.
And you know what? The new Liberty Tunnel is open!
This weekend, I flew to Toronto for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I arrived around 7:15 Friday night and caught a cab to Jim Munroe's house off Spadina. The cab cost $44 Canadian, and I was a little sheepish spending that much money because my return subway and bus fare Sunday cost all of $2.25. Regardless, I wanted to get there in time for Matthew Blackett's book launch party at El Mocambo, and I didn't want to risk holding up my hosts. After hanging out with Jim and Susan -- and a quick dinner of veggie dogs and kettle chips -- we made our way to the club.
Matt -- or M@B, as he's known in town -- did an excellent reading of his strip, which just started running in Eye, a local alt.weekly. Projecting transparencies of his strip on the wall, he didn't so much read the comics as he did tell the stories and experiences from his life that influenced the comic. He also shared an outline of his creative process, which was interesting to see. The bands didn't really interest or impress me, so I spent much of the evening hanging out with and talking to folks from the Highwater Books gang.
Greg Cook arrived before everyone else, with his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder in a clear plastic sack. When I stepped outside to call Jef back -- he'd called from Boston to see if I wanted to go to a show -- most everyone else showed up: Megan, Ron, Brian, Tom, and Jason Little. They'd all driven up from New York City, where they'd been delayed by some drunken yahoos who'd gotten the bright idea to climb on the Williamsburg Bridge. I also ran into Paul and Scott, who were there to represent Cyberosia Publishing. Tons of friends from New England!
I shared the room at Jim's house with Montreal-based cartoonist Joe Ollman and his girlfriend, and we got up relatively early in the morning, Joe to seek breakfast, and I to head over to Trinity St. Paul's Centre for the show, which opened at 10. The church is just a block away from Jim's house, and I arrived just as the Highwater crew was unloading the van. With more than 50 exhibitors, mostly American and Toronto-area creators, the festival filled three rooms. I was surprised how predominant folks from the United States were, and it would've been nice if more Quebecois comics folks turned out. Regardless, it was a good day. I grabbed breakfast with Tom and Jason Lutes at the Future Bakery & Cafe, sat in on a couple of panel discussions -- one on the history of the comics scene in Toronto and another on self-publishing -- and walked the floor several times to gather up minis, comics, and zines to review for Media Diet.
By the end of the day, I was pretty tired, and I hadn't even been working the table all day like Greg, Ron, Megan, Brian -- and Gabrielle Bell, whose new book, When I'm Old, just came out -- did. Folks were making dinner plans with Seth and Chester Brown, but I didn't really feel like hanging out with a crowd, so I headed back across the street to read, chat with Jim, and watch some fun digital videos. Eventually, we headed out for dinner at Seoul Restaurant, a wonderfully minimalistic Korean Restaurant. After a healthy bowl of bi bim bap -- for $5 Canadian! -- I walked back with the crew to the Tranzac, where the panel discussions earlier in the day had been held.
Saturday night's program involved a panel discussion about autobiographical comics featuring Seth, Chester, Phoebe Gloeckner, and M@B, as well as several art demonstrations and readings. Jason Little did a wonderful slide presentation of a portion of Shutterbug Follies, with a well-edited soundtrack featuring Pram and other bands. Jason Lutes and Phoebe Gloeckner also did presentations. The day had been long, and I didn't really feel like hanging out sitting in a darkened theater, so I spent much of my time in the bar, hanging out with the Highwater kids and several new friends.
Another late night, I got home after everyone else had crashed for the evening. Waking a little late Sunday, Jim and I grabbed a pleasant brunch at the Green Room. Then it was the subway to Kipling, the Airport Rocket bus to Pearson, through customs, and on the plane home. Greg and I were on the same flight back to Boston, so we hung out together in the gate area -- and waited for a ride from Carrie once we'd landed at Logan. I was cold and wanting to get home, so I left Greg for a cab.
And you know what? The new Liberty Tunnel is open!
The Free-Range Comic Book Project IX
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Friday: Backlash #16 (Wildstorm/Image, January 1996). Writers: Sean Ruffner and Brett Booth. Artist: Mel Rubi. Location: Logan International Airport, Terminal E, Gate 8.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Friday, March 28, 2003
Workaday World XXIV
Today is Hiromi's last day officially working at Fast Company with me on the Company of Friends. One of the things she's going to do after FC is work part time at a Ben & Jerry's. So I thought it'd be appropriate to have a little ice cream sandwich party to send her off in style -- and to help her ease into her new job.
It certainly wasn't easy to find ice cream sandwiches in bulk in the North End. I walked all over Hanover, Parmenter, and Salem streets, hitting maybe five or six shops before coming across a place that sold ice cream in the quantity I wanted. The good news is that a Buck-A-Book is moving into where the CVS used to be. The bad news is that the guy at the shop that had the ice cream wouldn't give me a deal.
These were the most expensive ice cream sandwiches ever. At $1 a piece, 23 ice cream sandwiches ran me $23. Had I thought to go to a grocery store closer to home last night, I could've spent a lot less. A lot less. Still, Hiromi's been a treat to work with, spring has sprung in Boss Town, and I love ice cream sandwiches. Besides, the Discordian in me was quite pleased by the 23.
To Hiromi!
Today is Hiromi's last day officially working at Fast Company with me on the Company of Friends. One of the things she's going to do after FC is work part time at a Ben & Jerry's. So I thought it'd be appropriate to have a little ice cream sandwich party to send her off in style -- and to help her ease into her new job.
It certainly wasn't easy to find ice cream sandwiches in bulk in the North End. I walked all over Hanover, Parmenter, and Salem streets, hitting maybe five or six shops before coming across a place that sold ice cream in the quantity I wanted. The good news is that a Buck-A-Book is moving into where the CVS used to be. The bad news is that the guy at the shop that had the ice cream wouldn't give me a deal.
These were the most expensive ice cream sandwiches ever. At $1 a piece, 23 ice cream sandwiches ran me $23. Had I thought to go to a grocery store closer to home last night, I could've spent a lot less. A lot less. Still, Hiromi's been a treat to work with, spring has sprung in Boss Town, and I love ice cream sandwiches. Besides, the Discordian in me was quite pleased by the 23.
To Hiromi!
Online at the Trident II
According to Wired News, Tech Superpowers Inc. has continued its WiFi walk down Newbury Street over the last year. Three-fourths of Newbury Street is now online with WiFi. It's free, there's no sign in, and all you have to do is put up with a pop-up ad every three or four hours.
Thanks to Go Away.
Soundtrack: Caetano Veloso, "Omaggio a Federico e Giulietta"
According to Wired News, Tech Superpowers Inc. has continued its WiFi walk down Newbury Street over the last year. Three-fourths of Newbury Street is now online with WiFi. It's free, there's no sign in, and all you have to do is put up with a pop-up ad every three or four hours.
Thanks to Go Away.
Soundtrack: Caetano Veloso, "Omaggio a Federico e Giulietta"
Uncommon Cents
Media Life is bullish on the new BBC spoof series Celebdaq, which trades shares in celebrities in a Nasdaq-like marketplace. Similar to the US-based Hollywood Stock Exchange, Celebdaq reminds me of the Celebrity Dead Pool and parallel projects, in which people bet on when celebrities will die. Chicago artist Ben MacNeill has sold shares of his artwork as part of a printmaking project. And musicians such as James Brown and David Bowie have also sold bonds as shares of their future royalties. How far off is something like Celebdaq or the Hollywood Stock Exchange? Apply Cory's concept of whuffie and the old-school egoboo of fandom, along with near-realtime cultural currency trackers such as Blogdex and Daypop, and we're almost there.
Media Life is bullish on the new BBC spoof series Celebdaq, which trades shares in celebrities in a Nasdaq-like marketplace. Similar to the US-based Hollywood Stock Exchange, Celebdaq reminds me of the Celebrity Dead Pool and parallel projects, in which people bet on when celebrities will die. Chicago artist Ben MacNeill has sold shares of his artwork as part of a printmaking project. And musicians such as James Brown and David Bowie have also sold bonds as shares of their future royalties. How far off is something like Celebdaq or the Hollywood Stock Exchange? Apply Cory's concept of whuffie and the old-school egoboo of fandom, along with near-realtime cultural currency trackers such as Blogdex and Daypop, and we're almost there.
Blogging About Blogging LIII
Jon Udell contributed a useful article about project blogs to Infoworld. One of the most immediately productive ways to incorporate blogs into a corporate setting, project blogs can serve as realtime records of activity and progress, as well as internal and external project promotion mechanisms. Udell touches on the shortcomings of chronological organization and holds up categorization and RSS feeds -- which I still don't offer (sign up for the mailing list!) -- as good workarounds. He also offers some tips on what to post, how to post it, and other aspects of project blogging. A solid piece, and a great way to get started!
Jon Udell contributed a useful article about project blogs to Infoworld. One of the most immediately productive ways to incorporate blogs into a corporate setting, project blogs can serve as realtime records of activity and progress, as well as internal and external project promotion mechanisms. Udell touches on the shortcomings of chronological organization and holds up categorization and RSS feeds -- which I still don't offer (sign up for the mailing list!) -- as good workarounds. He also offers some tips on what to post, how to post it, and other aspects of project blogging. A solid piece, and a great way to get started!
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Music to My Eyes XIV
Gig Posters is an online archive of promotional posters, handbills, and fliers from around the world. Awesome, ephemeral street media that's rarely archived. Organized by designer and searchable by performer, the collection is not searchable by location. I'd love to see what they have from Boston and Cambridge. Folks can even sign up and submit their own fliers. What a neat project!
Thanks to Metafilter.
Gig Posters is an online archive of promotional posters, handbills, and fliers from around the world. Awesome, ephemeral street media that's rarely archived. Organized by designer and searchable by performer, the collection is not searchable by location. I'd love to see what they have from Boston and Cambridge. Folks can even sign up and submit their own fliers. What a neat project!
Thanks to Metafilter.
Music to My Ears XXXI
This is awesome. A song about blogging that name drops Ben and Mena Trott.
Thanks to Boing Boing.
This is awesome. A song about blogging that name drops Ben and Mena Trott.
Thanks to Boing Boing.
Event-O-Dex XLVI
Tomorrow evening, I fly to Toronto for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I'll be hanging out with Jim Munroe and the Highwater Books gang.
Friday night, before the festival kicks off proper, Matthew Blackett is throwing a book-release party to celebrate his new book, Wide Collar Crimes. The event is at El Mocambo and will feature musical guests Gentleman Reg and Rais The Fawn. It'll be a nice welcome to Toronto!
Tomorrow evening, I fly to Toronto for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I'll be hanging out with Jim Munroe and the Highwater Books gang.
Friday night, before the festival kicks off proper, Matthew Blackett is throwing a book-release party to celebrate his new book, Wide Collar Crimes. The event is at El Mocambo and will feature musical guests Gentleman Reg and Rais The Fawn. It'll be a nice welcome to Toronto!
The Free-Range Comic Book Project VIII
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Azrael: Angel of the Bat #63 (DC, April 2000). Writer: Dennis O'Neil. Artist: Roger Robinson. Location: On the Green Line between Park Street and Haymarket.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Corollary: Rock Shows of Note LIX
Christine has posted a more in-depth report on the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash.
Christine has posted a more in-depth report on the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash.
Rock Shows of Note LIX
I'm getting into work late today because of staying out late last night -- and this odd lack of motivation I'm experiencing with the onset of spring. Last night was the evening of the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash. Seven Boston-area bloggers gathered at the Cambridgeport Saloon to hang out, swap URL's, and talk about the war. In attendance were:
Charles Dodgson
Christine Geiger
Rick Heller
Michael Laing
Shannon Okey
Heath Row
Brad Searles
Conversation -- at least the circles I found myself in -- largely centered on the war. Rick's been writing a lot about the war and the current state of politics lately, but he says that he doesn't consider himself a warblogger. Brad commented that he was having trouble writing about the mundane pleasantries of life -- such as going snow shoeing -- because they seem so small when compared to everything else that's going on in the world. I said that I've consciously not been writing about the war. Plenty of other people are, the risk of being overwhelmed with war-related news commentary looms large, and, really, what do I have to say? Besides, this fits into my thinking that if something is already all over Blogdex or Popdex, I probably don't need to seed the meme. Do the new.
The Cambridgeport Saloon, as always, was my kind of place. A gaggle of cute girls showed up just as the Blog Bash was breaking up, and I lingered longer to play video games. Unfortunately, the Saloon has ditched Radikal Bikers for Viper Phase 1, a vertical shooter set in outer space. It's a fun play, and I'll probably go back to play it again, but I was really looking forward to playing Radikal Bikers again.
Around 10, I decided it was too early to head home, so I headed instead to the Lizard Lounge for the Scrapple show. It was raining, so the walk from Harvard Square to the Lizard was kind of a hassle, and I arrived a little wilted. Part of the Scara's Night Out series, the show ran hot and cold with me. The "comedic emcee," Sinus Brady, was quite awful and irritating, and the band that played before Scrapple seemed pretty full of themselves. Lots of drama, and not too interesting. But Scrapple was quite nice. They played most of my favorite songs, and Dave even donned the rat mask. It was also nice to hear the theme song to the Art Beat Sideshow again.
OK, to work!
I'm getting into work late today because of staying out late last night -- and this odd lack of motivation I'm experiencing with the onset of spring. Last night was the evening of the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash. Seven Boston-area bloggers gathered at the Cambridgeport Saloon to hang out, swap URL's, and talk about the war. In attendance were:
Conversation -- at least the circles I found myself in -- largely centered on the war. Rick's been writing a lot about the war and the current state of politics lately, but he says that he doesn't consider himself a warblogger. Brad commented that he was having trouble writing about the mundane pleasantries of life -- such as going snow shoeing -- because they seem so small when compared to everything else that's going on in the world. I said that I've consciously not been writing about the war. Plenty of other people are, the risk of being overwhelmed with war-related news commentary looms large, and, really, what do I have to say? Besides, this fits into my thinking that if something is already all over Blogdex or Popdex, I probably don't need to seed the meme. Do the new.
The Cambridgeport Saloon, as always, was my kind of place. A gaggle of cute girls showed up just as the Blog Bash was breaking up, and I lingered longer to play video games. Unfortunately, the Saloon has ditched Radikal Bikers for Viper Phase 1, a vertical shooter set in outer space. It's a fun play, and I'll probably go back to play it again, but I was really looking forward to playing Radikal Bikers again.
Around 10, I decided it was too early to head home, so I headed instead to the Lizard Lounge for the Scrapple show. It was raining, so the walk from Harvard Square to the Lizard was kind of a hassle, and I arrived a little wilted. Part of the Scara's Night Out series, the show ran hot and cold with me. The "comedic emcee," Sinus Brady, was quite awful and irritating, and the band that played before Scrapple seemed pretty full of themselves. Lots of drama, and not too interesting. But Scrapple was quite nice. They played most of my favorite songs, and Dave even donned the rat mask. It was also nice to hear the theme song to the Art Beat Sideshow again.
OK, to work!
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
The Free-Range Comic Book Project VII
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Askani'Son #4 (Marvel, May 1996). Writer: Scott Lobdell. Artist: Gene Ha. Location: On the Red Line between Park Street and Central Square.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Event-O-Dex XLV
Don't forget tonight's No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash at 8 at the Cambridgeport Saloon. I'll be there right on time, and if you don't know what I look like, I recently shaved my head, wear small glasses, and will be wearing a blue T-shirt with "shirt" printed on it. Looking forward to seeing you!
Don't forget tonight's No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash at 8 at the Cambridgeport Saloon. I'll be there right on time, and if you don't know what I look like, I recently shaved my head, wear small glasses, and will be wearing a blue T-shirt with "shirt" printed on it. Looking forward to seeing you!
Pulling the Plug XI
Two concerning instances of music-related closing or threatened closing. Word is that Deb Klein's wonderful independent record store in Jamaica Plain, Hi-Fi Records is going to close. Her landlord practically doubled her rent, and CD's just aren't selling that well these days. Our guess is that the landlord wants to get a dentist's office or similar renter in that space. It's far enough off the main drag not to be ideal retail space, and it's sad, sad to think of the store not being there. Where else would I have gone when I tripped and gashed my hands? Where else can you go see a band play live on a weekend afternoon? Hi-Fi will be much missed. I'm hopeful that Deb organizes a marathon series of live shows as a last hurrah. I know I didn't shop there enough.
Also, Congress is considering two pieces of legislation that could spell the end of live music. According to the Drug Policy Action Center, the RAVE Act (H.R. 718) and the CLEAN-UP Act (H.R. 834) would make it a federal crime to promote live dance, music, and entertainment events at which drugs may be sold or used -- regardless of whether the organizer is aware or involved -- and make it easier for the feds punish property owners for drug offenses that their customers commit -- again regardless of whether the owner takes steps to control such crime.
This is bad, bad news. Basically, anyone owning property on which or organizing an event at which, someone sells or uses drugs -- again, regardless of their involvement -- will become liable for that activity if this legislation goes through. That could spell the end of live music, because no matter how alert and aware organizers or owners might be, someone could always do something stupid on their own accord. This legislation takes drug control out of the hands of law enforcement and the government and put it in the hands of citizens. Seems like a losing proposition to me, and an egregious irresponsibility.
Take a second and send a letter to your local representative expressing concern. DPAC makes it easy. Also, if you're in the Boston area, take some time this weekend and go to Hi-Fi. Their local section is always well stocked, the staff is amazing, and they could use our support in these late days. RIP, Hi-Fi. Sad to see you go.
Two concerning instances of music-related closing or threatened closing. Word is that Deb Klein's wonderful independent record store in Jamaica Plain, Hi-Fi Records is going to close. Her landlord practically doubled her rent, and CD's just aren't selling that well these days. Our guess is that the landlord wants to get a dentist's office or similar renter in that space. It's far enough off the main drag not to be ideal retail space, and it's sad, sad to think of the store not being there. Where else would I have gone when I tripped and gashed my hands? Where else can you go see a band play live on a weekend afternoon? Hi-Fi will be much missed. I'm hopeful that Deb organizes a marathon series of live shows as a last hurrah. I know I didn't shop there enough.
Also, Congress is considering two pieces of legislation that could spell the end of live music. According to the Drug Policy Action Center, the RAVE Act (H.R. 718) and the CLEAN-UP Act (H.R. 834) would make it a federal crime to promote live dance, music, and entertainment events at which drugs may be sold or used -- regardless of whether the organizer is aware or involved -- and make it easier for the feds punish property owners for drug offenses that their customers commit -- again regardless of whether the owner takes steps to control such crime.
This is bad, bad news. Basically, anyone owning property on which or organizing an event at which, someone sells or uses drugs -- again, regardless of their involvement -- will become liable for that activity if this legislation goes through. That could spell the end of live music, because no matter how alert and aware organizers or owners might be, someone could always do something stupid on their own accord. This legislation takes drug control out of the hands of law enforcement and the government and put it in the hands of citizens. Seems like a losing proposition to me, and an egregious irresponsibility.
Take a second and send a letter to your local representative expressing concern. DPAC makes it easy. Also, if you're in the Boston area, take some time this weekend and go to Hi-Fi. Their local section is always well stocked, the staff is amazing, and they could use our support in these late days. RIP, Hi-Fi. Sad to see you go.
Rock Shows of Note LVIII
After meeting a friend for dinner at the Good Life -- which, I was disappointed to learn, has gotten rid of its former entree menu to fall back on burgers and pizza -- for dinner, I headed over to TT the Bear's for a wonderful indie-rock show. Before I report on the show, let me share some of the history I've learned about TT's. The next time you go, make sure you read the enlarged newspaper clippings hanging on the wall in the pool room.
Originally located on Pearl Street, TT the Bear's opened in May 1973 as a full-service restaurant. It was known for its vegetarian-friendly menu, handicapped-accessible restrooms, and bear decorations. There were bear posters on the wall, bear figurines on display, and a big stuffed bear sitting in a corner stool at the bar. All of this is now gone, although last night, the door woman used a teddy bear rubber stamp to mark hands. TT's then moved, perhaps in the early '80s, to its current location. I'm not sure when they closed the kitchen and stopped being a restaurant, but Chris and I were figuring out where the different seating areas might have been. The kitchen space is still there, even if it's not in operation.
The first band up was Teradactyl, an ethereal pop band from Honolulu. A three piece, the band consists of a lanky guy playing guitar, an absolutely beautiful slim woman playing the keyboards and singing, and a slightly larger man playing guitar and working a box to provide bleeps and beats. The guitars were by turns twee and punctuation oriented and almost psyche washy. I appreciated the skinny guitarist more of the two, as his melodic lines were well performed and he occasionally broke into jagged bursts of guitar chunk. The other guitarist focused more on a dreamy, washy, effects-laden sound, which isn't really my bag. And the singer? Her vocals were extremely clean and controlled, and her voice is much bigger than what you'd expect from her frame. Quite a surprise. The songs with more dancy beats were quite fun, and the last song with ukelele, washy synths, and a breathier singing style -- the almost Poi Dog Pondering-like "Sleepy Eyes" -- was extremely nice. But overall, Teradactyl was a little too restrained for my tastes. I'm listening to their "Prepare for Lift-Off" CD now, and it's slightly better suited for listening than watching. Still, fun.
Next up, the Operators, who have several songs newer that they've only played one or two times. One is an awesome Stereolab-inspired number, with Jen singing in a higher, falsetto-like voice. Quite a departure from their usual sound, and quite impressive. I learned that the song "The Old Man Doesn't Like It" is based on Thor Heyerdahl's book Kontiki -- not the restaurant out by Alewife! -- and that the lyrics are almost entirely plagiarized from the text. Even the line "1, 2, 3 ... 39, 40, 41" is lifted straight from the page, ellipses and everything. The show was also marked by a nice moment in which Paul jumped up and down like a spaz, flopping his hair all around. A solid set.
Second Story Man hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and plays a more straight-forward, tuneful mode of indie-rock than the Operators do, and their set made it quite clear why Emily likes them so. The bands are closely related soundwise. While their songs have slightly more concrete structures, I didn't find them as engaging. That said, I found the four piece engaging enough to pick up their homemade CD, "Compilation Songs for the Road," clad in a handmade, sewn cloth sleeve adorned with an embroidered ribbon closure. Worth getting just as an item. (In fact, the Teradactyl CD is also a nice item, with the CD tucked into a screenprinted paper sack.)
Last up, Seana Carmody. I've seen her play live several times already, and this set was much like the others I've taken in. One difference is that she played with a three piece this go. The band included her boyfriend, who debuted as a lapsed drummer at her Dec. 19 show. He's much better and more confident than he seemed at that show, and the band played many songs I recognized, even though I haven't seriously listened to her work enough yet to be able to sing along, name songs, etc.
A fun night, with lots of friends in attendance. One friend even locked herself out of her apartment, so she crashed at my place. I don't think I've ever hosted a friend before because they got locked out.
After meeting a friend for dinner at the Good Life -- which, I was disappointed to learn, has gotten rid of its former entree menu to fall back on burgers and pizza -- for dinner, I headed over to TT the Bear's for a wonderful indie-rock show. Before I report on the show, let me share some of the history I've learned about TT's. The next time you go, make sure you read the enlarged newspaper clippings hanging on the wall in the pool room.
Originally located on Pearl Street, TT the Bear's opened in May 1973 as a full-service restaurant. It was known for its vegetarian-friendly menu, handicapped-accessible restrooms, and bear decorations. There were bear posters on the wall, bear figurines on display, and a big stuffed bear sitting in a corner stool at the bar. All of this is now gone, although last night, the door woman used a teddy bear rubber stamp to mark hands. TT's then moved, perhaps in the early '80s, to its current location. I'm not sure when they closed the kitchen and stopped being a restaurant, but Chris and I were figuring out where the different seating areas might have been. The kitchen space is still there, even if it's not in operation.
The first band up was Teradactyl, an ethereal pop band from Honolulu. A three piece, the band consists of a lanky guy playing guitar, an absolutely beautiful slim woman playing the keyboards and singing, and a slightly larger man playing guitar and working a box to provide bleeps and beats. The guitars were by turns twee and punctuation oriented and almost psyche washy. I appreciated the skinny guitarist more of the two, as his melodic lines were well performed and he occasionally broke into jagged bursts of guitar chunk. The other guitarist focused more on a dreamy, washy, effects-laden sound, which isn't really my bag. And the singer? Her vocals were extremely clean and controlled, and her voice is much bigger than what you'd expect from her frame. Quite a surprise. The songs with more dancy beats were quite fun, and the last song with ukelele, washy synths, and a breathier singing style -- the almost Poi Dog Pondering-like "Sleepy Eyes" -- was extremely nice. But overall, Teradactyl was a little too restrained for my tastes. I'm listening to their "Prepare for Lift-Off" CD now, and it's slightly better suited for listening than watching. Still, fun.
Next up, the Operators, who have several songs newer that they've only played one or two times. One is an awesome Stereolab-inspired number, with Jen singing in a higher, falsetto-like voice. Quite a departure from their usual sound, and quite impressive. I learned that the song "The Old Man Doesn't Like It" is based on Thor Heyerdahl's book Kontiki -- not the restaurant out by Alewife! -- and that the lyrics are almost entirely plagiarized from the text. Even the line "1, 2, 3 ... 39, 40, 41" is lifted straight from the page, ellipses and everything. The show was also marked by a nice moment in which Paul jumped up and down like a spaz, flopping his hair all around. A solid set.
Second Story Man hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and plays a more straight-forward, tuneful mode of indie-rock than the Operators do, and their set made it quite clear why Emily likes them so. The bands are closely related soundwise. While their songs have slightly more concrete structures, I didn't find them as engaging. That said, I found the four piece engaging enough to pick up their homemade CD, "Compilation Songs for the Road," clad in a handmade, sewn cloth sleeve adorned with an embroidered ribbon closure. Worth getting just as an item. (In fact, the Teradactyl CD is also a nice item, with the CD tucked into a screenprinted paper sack.)
Last up, Seana Carmody. I've seen her play live several times already, and this set was much like the others I've taken in. One difference is that she played with a three piece this go. The band included her boyfriend, who debuted as a lapsed drummer at her Dec. 19 show. He's much better and more confident than he seemed at that show, and the band played many songs I recognized, even though I haven't seriously listened to her work enough yet to be able to sing along, name songs, etc.
A fun night, with lots of friends in attendance. One friend even locked herself out of her apartment, so she crashed at my place. I don't think I've ever hosted a friend before because they got locked out.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The Free-Range Comic Book Project VI
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Soundtrack: Milky Wimpshake, "Lovers Not Fighters"
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Ascension #10 (Image/Top Cow, November 1998). Writer: David Finch. Artists: Brian Ching and David Finch. Location: On the Green Line between Haymarket and Park Street.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Soundtrack: Milky Wimpshake, "Lovers Not Fighters"
Newsletters of Note VII
Fine, it's not really a newsletter. But, like the Leadership Directories Guides, if I had a million dollars, this is the kind of stuff I'd squander my new-found wealth on. The 2003 Entertainment, Media and Advertising Market Research Handbook from Richard K. Miller & Associates Inc. is a 550-page guide to the entertainment, media, and advertising market, looking at time spent using media, the Net's impact on other activities, media conglomerates and consolidation, the top 25 entertainment and media corporations, television programming, satellite radio, music retailing, teenage markets, and other aspects of the industry. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. At $375, it's outside of my impulse purchase range, but if any Media Dieticians want to step up as a patron, I promise you I'll use this only for good. Some day. Some day.
Soundtrack: Greyboy, "The Greyboy Essentials"
Fine, it's not really a newsletter. But, like the Leadership Directories Guides, if I had a million dollars, this is the kind of stuff I'd squander my new-found wealth on. The 2003 Entertainment, Media and Advertising Market Research Handbook from Richard K. Miller & Associates Inc. is a 550-page guide to the entertainment, media, and advertising market, looking at time spent using media, the Net's impact on other activities, media conglomerates and consolidation, the top 25 entertainment and media corporations, television programming, satellite radio, music retailing, teenage markets, and other aspects of the industry. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. At $375, it's outside of my impulse purchase range, but if any Media Dieticians want to step up as a patron, I promise you I'll use this only for good. Some day. Some day.
Soundtrack: Greyboy, "The Greyboy Essentials"
Corollary: Academy Awards Fight Song
The Boston Globe's editorial page editor and some schlub of a Harvard Law School student take shots at Michael Moore's Oscars overture in today's paper. The Globe, oh, so tactfully points out that Moore is overweight, and the student claims that Moore is out of step with America and Hollywood, as if Hollywood is in step with America. Better to all march in step, I suppose, and quiet still voices lest others take offense.
The Boston Globe's editorial page editor and some schlub of a Harvard Law School student take shots at Michael Moore's Oscars overture in today's paper. The Globe, oh, so tactfully points out that Moore is overweight, and the student claims that Moore is out of step with America and Hollywood, as if Hollywood is in step with America. Better to all march in step, I suppose, and quiet still voices lest others take offense.
Games People Play VIII
Robert Bourque, co-inventor of the Zoltan: the Astrological Wizard coin-op fortune-telling machine, died Saturday. You can learn more about the Zoltan machine in Yesterdayland and Vintage Coin Operated Fortune Tellers, Arcade Games, Digger/Cranes, Gun Games and other Penny Arcade games, pre-1977. Bourque's Zoltan game was the inspiration for the Zoltar fortune-telling machine that played a role in the movie Big.
Robert Bourque, co-inventor of the Zoltan: the Astrological Wizard coin-op fortune-telling machine, died Saturday. You can learn more about the Zoltan machine in Yesterdayland and Vintage Coin Operated Fortune Tellers, Arcade Games, Digger/Cranes, Gun Games and other Penny Arcade games, pre-1977. Bourque's Zoltan game was the inspiration for the Zoltar fortune-telling machine that played a role in the movie Big.
From the In Box: Academy Awards Fight Song
My memory weeps in fits and starts, and Media Dieticians are there to aid me. I couldn't remember who performed the song from Frida during the Oscars, and I get this in my in box:
It was truly a wonderful performance. Check them out if you haven't listened to them yet!
My memory weeps in fits and starts, and Media Dieticians are there to aid me. I couldn't remember who performed the song from Frida during the Oscars, and I get this in my in box:
Caetano Veloso (Brazilian) and Lila Downs (Mexican), performing "Burn It Blue" from Frida.
I appreciated Gael Garcia Bernal's introduction of that performance, also, for it's well-stated peace advocacy. -- Joe Germuska
It was truly a wonderful performance. Check them out if you haven't listened to them yet!
Academy Awards Fight Song
Sorry for the day's delay, but yesterday got a little busy. Sunday night, I went to the Brattle Theatre with Chris, Scott, and Simone to watch the 75th Academy Awards. They have a big-screen showing of the awards ceremony open to theater members and special guests, including a paid reception before the screening, a silent auction, and other festivities. It was a fun time. I was coattailing because Emily was in Philadelphia with the Operators, and I probably wouldn't have watched the Oscars or gone to an Oscars party, but this was a lot of fun.
Most of the people dressed up for the event, some in tuxedos and evening dresses, even. We were definitely the most under-dressed. But we fit right in on the balcony, where a smaller crowd gathered -- most of the people stayed down on the main floor. My group of friends is prone to heckle and comment on almost anything we go to, and I was a little nervous about how our heckling would be received, but the women in the row ahead of us and the people one row behind seemed to appreciate it, grinning and looking over their shoulders, and occasionally jumping right in with us.
One woman shouted, "Did you just smoke a bowl?" when Matthew McConaughey took the stage, which led us to wonder whether she had just smoked a bowl. Maybe she confused him with Woody Harrelson, but McConaughey was decidedly not bleary eyed. However, the most interesting crowd interaction came during the multiple anti-war commentaries -- and subtle recognition of the conflicts overseas. When Michael Moore was booed at the ceremony for his anti-Bush tirade (which I thought was relatively well stated), the audience in Cambridge cheered.
Many other actors and directors commented on the war, so I'm not quite sure why Moore was made the scapegoat at the ceremony. He was the only nominee-cum-winner who showed solidarity with the other nominees by bringing them up on stage, and it seems odd that writers such as David Hardy are now contending that Moore shouldn't have even won the award.
In any event, the other anti-war statements were rather lackluster. Adrien Brody gave one of the most personal and sensible speeches. That balanced with such inanities as Nicole Kidman's commentary that, "there is a lot of problems in the world and since 9/11 there's been a lot of pain, in terms of families losing people, and now with the war, families losing people." My friend Tony leaned back from the row ahead of us and said, "There weren't any problems before 9/11?"
Other highlights? Peter O'Toole is a grand old man. It was awesome to see Pedro Almodovar win for best original screenplay. I was glad that the Pianist edged Chicago out of a couple of key categories. And one of the musical performances, featuring a Mexican singer, was really awesome. I'm guessing that it was a piece from Frida, but I'm embarrassed that I don't remember who the performers were.
Hooray for Hollywood. Maybe next year I'll make a better effort to see more of the nominated films.
Sorry for the day's delay, but yesterday got a little busy. Sunday night, I went to the Brattle Theatre with Chris, Scott, and Simone to watch the 75th Academy Awards. They have a big-screen showing of the awards ceremony open to theater members and special guests, including a paid reception before the screening, a silent auction, and other festivities. It was a fun time. I was coattailing because Emily was in Philadelphia with the Operators, and I probably wouldn't have watched the Oscars or gone to an Oscars party, but this was a lot of fun.
Most of the people dressed up for the event, some in tuxedos and evening dresses, even. We were definitely the most under-dressed. But we fit right in on the balcony, where a smaller crowd gathered -- most of the people stayed down on the main floor. My group of friends is prone to heckle and comment on almost anything we go to, and I was a little nervous about how our heckling would be received, but the women in the row ahead of us and the people one row behind seemed to appreciate it, grinning and looking over their shoulders, and occasionally jumping right in with us.
One woman shouted, "Did you just smoke a bowl?" when Matthew McConaughey took the stage, which led us to wonder whether she had just smoked a bowl. Maybe she confused him with Woody Harrelson, but McConaughey was decidedly not bleary eyed. However, the most interesting crowd interaction came during the multiple anti-war commentaries -- and subtle recognition of the conflicts overseas. When Michael Moore was booed at the ceremony for his anti-Bush tirade (which I thought was relatively well stated), the audience in Cambridge cheered.
Many other actors and directors commented on the war, so I'm not quite sure why Moore was made the scapegoat at the ceremony. He was the only nominee-cum-winner who showed solidarity with the other nominees by bringing them up on stage, and it seems odd that writers such as David Hardy are now contending that Moore shouldn't have even won the award.
In any event, the other anti-war statements were rather lackluster. Adrien Brody gave one of the most personal and sensible speeches. That balanced with such inanities as Nicole Kidman's commentary that, "there is a lot of problems in the world and since 9/11 there's been a lot of pain, in terms of families losing people, and now with the war, families losing people." My friend Tony leaned back from the row ahead of us and said, "There weren't any problems before 9/11?"
Other highlights? Peter O'Toole is a grand old man. It was awesome to see Pedro Almodovar win for best original screenplay. I was glad that the Pianist edged Chicago out of a couple of key categories. And one of the musical performances, featuring a Mexican singer, was really awesome. I'm guessing that it was a piece from Frida, but I'm embarrassed that I don't remember who the performers were.
Hooray for Hollywood. Maybe next year I'll make a better effort to see more of the nominated films.
Monday, March 24, 2003
Event-O-Dex XLIV
Lots of midweek mischief to participate in:
Tuesday, March 25: The Operators, Seana Carmody, Second Story Man, and Teradactyl get bullish at TT the Bear's in Cambridge.
Wednesday, March 26: No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash at the Cambridgeport Saloon in Cambridge, 8 p.m. Afterwards, I'll be heading over to the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge to see Scrapple, Valerie Forgione, Joe Mazza, and Mi3.
Lots of midweek mischief to participate in:
Tuesday, March 25: The Operators, Seana Carmody, Second Story Man, and Teradactyl get bullish at TT the Bear's in Cambridge.
Wednesday, March 26: No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash at the Cambridgeport Saloon in Cambridge, 8 p.m. Afterwards, I'll be heading over to the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge to see Scrapple, Valerie Forgione, Joe Mazza, and Mi3.
Television-Impaired X
Reuters reports that ReplayTV maker SonicBlue is filing for bankruptcy. How's Tivo doing?
Thanks to Interesting People.
Reuters reports that ReplayTV maker SonicBlue is filing for bankruptcy. How's Tivo doing?
Thanks to Interesting People.
The Free-Range Comic Book Project V
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Saturday: Akiko #39 (Sirius, May 2000). Writer and artist: Mark Crilley. Location: On a bench inside the Zeitgeist Gallery.
Sunday: Amanda and Gunn #2 (Image, June 1997). Writer and artist: Jimmie Robinson. Location: On the floor outside the Million Year Picnic.
Monday: The Amazing Spider-Man #389 (Marvel, May 1994). Writer: J.M. DeMatteis. Artist: Mark Bagley. Location: On the Green Line between Park Street and Haymarket.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Rock Shows of Note LVII
Building on his short set during a recent Punk Rock Aerobics show at TT the Bear's, Thereminist Jon Bernhardt of Pee Wee Fist and the Lothars has built out an entire show of indie-rock, punk, and new-wave covers. He took the stage at ZuZu's, tucked in between the Middle East, Friday night with an all-star cast of collaborators.
Here's who took the stage with Jon: Chris Connely of Mission of Burma and Consonant; Winston Braman of Fuzzy, Consonant, and the Count-Me-Outs; Hilken Mancini of Fuzzy, the Count-Me-Outs, and Punk Rock Aerobics; Jef Czekaj of the Anchormen, the Tardy, and Plunge into Death; and Paul Coleman of Sinkcharmer and the Operators.
It was an awesome show. Good Cuban pressed sandwich on the menu, ample beer, good friends in abundance, and a wonderful staff, including TD working the door. Oh, the music? I don't always dig the Theremin, but I quite enjoyed it in these small-band settings. Even though Jon used the Theremin to highlight most of the vocal and melodic parts of the songs, including the jokey "I Wanna Be Sedated," which he debuted at TT's, the other performers added a lot to the proceedings. A lot.
Connely continues to impress me. Not only is he an amazing player with an amazing history, but since the return of Mission of Burma and the emergence of Consonant, he's been immensely game to play around with other, younger, local musicians. He's becoming quite the grand old man of Boston rock, and he's not even that old. Right on, Mr. Connely.
Building on his short set during a recent Punk Rock Aerobics show at TT the Bear's, Thereminist Jon Bernhardt of Pee Wee Fist and the Lothars has built out an entire show of indie-rock, punk, and new-wave covers. He took the stage at ZuZu's, tucked in between the Middle East, Friday night with an all-star cast of collaborators.
Here's who took the stage with Jon: Chris Connely of Mission of Burma and Consonant; Winston Braman of Fuzzy, Consonant, and the Count-Me-Outs; Hilken Mancini of Fuzzy, the Count-Me-Outs, and Punk Rock Aerobics; Jef Czekaj of the Anchormen, the Tardy, and Plunge into Death; and Paul Coleman of Sinkcharmer and the Operators.
It was an awesome show. Good Cuban pressed sandwich on the menu, ample beer, good friends in abundance, and a wonderful staff, including TD working the door. Oh, the music? I don't always dig the Theremin, but I quite enjoyed it in these small-band settings. Even though Jon used the Theremin to highlight most of the vocal and melodic parts of the songs, including the jokey "I Wanna Be Sedated," which he debuted at TT's, the other performers added a lot to the proceedings. A lot.
Connely continues to impress me. Not only is he an amazing player with an amazing history, but since the return of Mission of Burma and the emergence of Consonant, he's been immensely game to play around with other, younger, local musicians. He's becoming quite the grand old man of Boston rock, and he's not even that old. Right on, Mr. Connely.
The Movie I Watched Last Night LXI
Monkeybone
Since I've gotten cable, I've tried not to just fall into the Big Blue Couch at Church Corner and zone out with whatever movie was currently airing, but this happened Saturday afternoon while I was kind of, but not really waiting for a friend to call. Monkeybone is an embarrassment. Equal parts Beetlejuice and Roger Rabbit, it could have used the help of Tim Burton. Lacking that, it's a relatively shallow story about a man sent Downtown while in a coma. Downtown is a Beetlejuice-like world featuring awkwardly designed fantasy characters -- and the animated Monkeybone, the comic strip creation of our comatose cartoonist hero. After snagging an Exit pass from the devilish Whoopi Goldberg, the cartoon Monkeybone escapes in the hero's stead, embodying Brendan Fraser's comatose body and wreaking havoc in the real world. Fraser's character later escapes, embodying the form of an organ donor, played by the rubbery Chris Kattan. Eventually, Fraser overcomes, and everyone lives happily ever after. This movie is slightly intriguing on several levels. One, the star power deployed is confusing: Goldberg, Bridget Fonda, Rose McGowan as the feline and fine anthropomorphic Kitty, John Turturro as the voice of Monkeybone, and Dave Foley. I'd always pictured this as a Chris Kattan vehicle, but his role is relatively limited. Two, there are several cameos that surprised me. Stephen King shows up in the prison holding Fraser's character after he was caught by Goldberg's Death. He exchanges a funny bit with Edgar Allen Poe. And Austin's own Harry Knowles pops up briefly. The character designs could have been much better, but to be honest, Monkeybone's cartoony possession of Fraser's body has its moments, although the Joker-like Smile-X scheme could have been better handled. A time waster if you need one.
Moulin Rouge!
The couch surfing continued because this came on right after Monkeybone, and I'd just caught the end of this while visiting Rick and Melissa in Austin. It's one of their favorite movies, and while I've had no previous interest in it -- parallel to Chicago -- I thought I'd give it a go. Baz Luhrman does well. His vision of Paris of a timeless, placeless place works well, and the cinematography is relatively interesting. That said, the story waxed and waned with me. It waxed during the ensemble cast portions featuring the acting troupe. And it waned when the evil Duke was involved. As a love story, I don't think this really works behind simple sentimentality, and as a death story, Satine's consumption neither emotes pity or sorrow -- nor weakens her supposed courtesan of a character. I needed either more heart of gold or more vamp. And the music? Feh. The pop-music pastiche didn't really impress me, and I think I might have preferred if Luhrman had worked in whole, modern songs, originally written for this film, than the in-joke top 40 mix tape we're left with. This method resonates well with William Burroughs and Brion Gysin's exhortation to "cut paper cut film cut tape," and I'm curious what the royalties and rights ran, but the soundtrack isn't the strongest part of this movie. Still, worth seeing for the visuals -- and for the curiously short John Leguizamo. Oh! And the absinthe-inspired Green Fairy, played by Kylie Minogue. It's about time someone recast Tinkerbell for the adult set!
Monkeybone
Since I've gotten cable, I've tried not to just fall into the Big Blue Couch at Church Corner and zone out with whatever movie was currently airing, but this happened Saturday afternoon while I was kind of, but not really waiting for a friend to call. Monkeybone is an embarrassment. Equal parts Beetlejuice and Roger Rabbit, it could have used the help of Tim Burton. Lacking that, it's a relatively shallow story about a man sent Downtown while in a coma. Downtown is a Beetlejuice-like world featuring awkwardly designed fantasy characters -- and the animated Monkeybone, the comic strip creation of our comatose cartoonist hero. After snagging an Exit pass from the devilish Whoopi Goldberg, the cartoon Monkeybone escapes in the hero's stead, embodying Brendan Fraser's comatose body and wreaking havoc in the real world. Fraser's character later escapes, embodying the form of an organ donor, played by the rubbery Chris Kattan. Eventually, Fraser overcomes, and everyone lives happily ever after. This movie is slightly intriguing on several levels. One, the star power deployed is confusing: Goldberg, Bridget Fonda, Rose McGowan as the feline and fine anthropomorphic Kitty, John Turturro as the voice of Monkeybone, and Dave Foley. I'd always pictured this as a Chris Kattan vehicle, but his role is relatively limited. Two, there are several cameos that surprised me. Stephen King shows up in the prison holding Fraser's character after he was caught by Goldberg's Death. He exchanges a funny bit with Edgar Allen Poe. And Austin's own Harry Knowles pops up briefly. The character designs could have been much better, but to be honest, Monkeybone's cartoony possession of Fraser's body has its moments, although the Joker-like Smile-X scheme could have been better handled. A time waster if you need one.
Moulin Rouge!
The couch surfing continued because this came on right after Monkeybone, and I'd just caught the end of this while visiting Rick and Melissa in Austin. It's one of their favorite movies, and while I've had no previous interest in it -- parallel to Chicago -- I thought I'd give it a go. Baz Luhrman does well. His vision of Paris of a timeless, placeless place works well, and the cinematography is relatively interesting. That said, the story waxed and waned with me. It waxed during the ensemble cast portions featuring the acting troupe. And it waned when the evil Duke was involved. As a love story, I don't think this really works behind simple sentimentality, and as a death story, Satine's consumption neither emotes pity or sorrow -- nor weakens her supposed courtesan of a character. I needed either more heart of gold or more vamp. And the music? Feh. The pop-music pastiche didn't really impress me, and I think I might have preferred if Luhrman had worked in whole, modern songs, originally written for this film, than the in-joke top 40 mix tape we're left with. This method resonates well with William Burroughs and Brion Gysin's exhortation to "cut paper cut film cut tape," and I'm curious what the royalties and rights ran, but the soundtrack isn't the strongest part of this movie. Still, worth seeing for the visuals -- and for the curiously short John Leguizamo. Oh! And the absinthe-inspired Green Fairy, played by Kylie Minogue. It's about time someone recast Tinkerbell for the adult set!
Friday, March 21, 2003
Corollary: Nervy, Pervy XII
Phew! Despite an iBill screw up and challenges accessing Suicide Girls' new secure payment server using multiple browsers in multiple OS's, a password tweak and assistance on the part of almost all of the core SG team -- LE, O, and Spooky -- has helped me get back into the mix.
It's weird. I don't even visit SG every day, but my interest in what they're doing -- and my inexplicable need to keep giving them $48 a year -- was really starting to take its toll. If I didn't have a passing acquaintance with them and hella respect for their community organizing model, I'd have given up and jumped ship when it first got difficult to get back in with my existing membership. Hope no one else has the same problems I was having!
Their attention to customer service is impressive. I'm sure they had better things to do today.
Phew! Despite an iBill screw up and challenges accessing Suicide Girls' new secure payment server using multiple browsers in multiple OS's, a password tweak and assistance on the part of almost all of the core SG team -- LE, O, and Spooky -- has helped me get back into the mix.
It's weird. I don't even visit SG every day, but my interest in what they're doing -- and my inexplicable need to keep giving them $48 a year -- was really starting to take its toll. If I didn't have a passing acquaintance with them and hella respect for their community organizing model, I'd have given up and jumped ship when it first got difficult to get back in with my existing membership. Hope no one else has the same problems I was having!
Their attention to customer service is impressive. I'm sure they had better things to do today.
Corollary: South by Southwest 2003 XXI
This is oversimplifying his response to my SXSW Interactive reports, but Joe Clark doesn't think I should blog conferences. He's got some interesting reasons why, and an intriguing technical solution to the challenges of manual real-time transcription.
This is oversimplifying his response to my SXSW Interactive reports, but Joe Clark doesn't think I should blog conferences. He's got some interesting reasons why, and an intriguing technical solution to the challenges of manual real-time transcription.
Anchormen, Aweigh! XVII
The forthcoming CD, Nation of Interns, isn't even done yet, but the Anchormen have already written four new songs! Before you know it, we'll have another record's worth of material ready. Here are the new songs we almost completed last night. They're about 99% finished, I think.
Evacuation Day
Do we ever really know if we've found the one we're looking for, or do we just get tired and stumble home? Do we ever really care about the places where we spend our time, or are they just containers for the air that we breathe, and the water that we drink, and the dreams that we dream with the coming of the sleep, and the songs that always get sung when the bars are closed and we're walking home? Evacuation, oh, happy Evacuation Day. You've got to get out while the getting's good. Your reputation, your reputation can't be saved. Do we ever really claim the prizes that we're fighting for, or do the felt ears come off in the rain? Do we ever really heal from little scars in little wars, or are they just an outline of the pain that we feel when we're walking down your street, and the books that we read while we're eating our last meal, and the songs that always get sung when the blinds are drawn and we're home alone?
Harrison Avenue Overpass
I'm on the Harrison Avenue Overpass, watching the sun set behind the Pru, and the bridge below me is shaking and quaking as the commuter rail pushes through. And the cranes behind me are bending their necks as they life their heads high as my hopes. And the sky is turning purple as my heart. And I am reminded how great I am not.
She's Sick
She's sick: That's what her family says. Just like her mother, counting down the days. Please fix: I seek repair. I am so, so tired, just like damaged hair. She's sick, and I don't know what to say. She's sick, and she's always going away. She's sick; I guess that's the price that I've got to pay. She is sick. She's sick: That's what the doctor says. No chance of improvement; limited recovery.
Trapped in the Basement
We broke in through a window and climbed into the house. We were all tippy toe and dodgeball. We had to check it out. But then we saw the flashlight coming down the stairs so we ducked into a closet; we were feeling pretty scared. Now we are trapped in the basement. Got to get out!
The forthcoming CD, Nation of Interns, isn't even done yet, but the Anchormen have already written four new songs! Before you know it, we'll have another record's worth of material ready. Here are the new songs we almost completed last night. They're about 99% finished, I think.
Evacuation Day
Do we ever really know if we've found the one we're looking for, or do we just get tired and stumble home? Do we ever really care about the places where we spend our time, or are they just containers for the air that we breathe, and the water that we drink, and the dreams that we dream with the coming of the sleep, and the songs that always get sung when the bars are closed and we're walking home? Evacuation, oh, happy Evacuation Day. You've got to get out while the getting's good. Your reputation, your reputation can't be saved. Do we ever really claim the prizes that we're fighting for, or do the felt ears come off in the rain? Do we ever really heal from little scars in little wars, or are they just an outline of the pain that we feel when we're walking down your street, and the books that we read while we're eating our last meal, and the songs that always get sung when the blinds are drawn and we're home alone?
Harrison Avenue Overpass
I'm on the Harrison Avenue Overpass, watching the sun set behind the Pru, and the bridge below me is shaking and quaking as the commuter rail pushes through. And the cranes behind me are bending their necks as they life their heads high as my hopes. And the sky is turning purple as my heart. And I am reminded how great I am not.
She's Sick
She's sick: That's what her family says. Just like her mother, counting down the days. Please fix: I seek repair. I am so, so tired, just like damaged hair. She's sick, and I don't know what to say. She's sick, and she's always going away. She's sick; I guess that's the price that I've got to pay. She is sick. She's sick: That's what the doctor says. No chance of improvement; limited recovery.
Trapped in the Basement
We broke in through a window and climbed into the house. We were all tippy toe and dodgeball. We had to check it out. But then we saw the flashlight coming down the stairs so we ducked into a closet; we were feeling pretty scared. Now we are trapped in the basement. Got to get out!
Conferences and Community IV
Adam Greenfield is planning a conference about moblogging in Tokyo this summer. I was supposed to go to Japan last spring, and a dear friend is moving back home next month, so I'm thinking about going. We'll see if this passes muster as a topic for a presentation or panel discussion, but here's what I just proposed to Adam:
What do you think? Worth researching?
Adam Greenfield is planning a conference about moblogging in Tokyo this summer. I was supposed to go to Japan last spring, and a dear friend is moving back home next month, so I'm thinking about going. We'll see if this passes muster as a topic for a presentation or panel discussion, but here's what I just proposed to Adam:
1:1 Mapblogging
Billboards outfitted with low-frequency radio transmitters. Acoustiguide's audio tours of museums. The Portland Radical History Tour's coupling of audio cassette and fanzine. The Web-based New York Songlines walking tour guide. The Wiki-like Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. What if every building in every city in every country was set up with WiFi and a Web site or blog? What if you could learn what was inside the building -- offices, shops, sales, access to telephone directories and Web search results -- as well as about the _history_ of the building merely by approaching the building? What if you could contribute to that living urban history and map using Moblogging -- or Maplogging -- technology? This panel discussion will consider several extant experiments leading in this direction -- and consider what the final product and process might be, as well as its societal and cultural implications.
What do you think? Worth researching?
The Free-Range Comic Book Project IV
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
The Adventures of Superman #477 (DC, April 1991). Writer and artist: Dan Jurgens. Location: On the Green Line between Haymarket and Park Street.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Products I Love VII
I don't know if you remember the zine Office Supply Junkie, which was published by the Baby Split Bowling News crew in the Twin Cities. But a catalog I received in the mail recently rekindled my love affair with the humble office supply. Particularly those supplies found in the mail room and shipping department.
Ship It, a mail-order company based in Twinsburg, Ohio, is "your complete shipping supply source." Claiming more than 600 box sizes, the company also provides bags, bins, bubble wrap, edge protectors, envelopes, packing foam, knives, labels, mailing tubes, scales, stretch wrap, and tape.
And the catalog is a joy to behold, hella better than the office supplies available at Staples or Office Depot. Ship It also sells carton stands so you can neatly organize your flattened boxes, as well as a carton sizer so you can perforate and resize boxes that aren't the right size. The label section alone is awe-inspiring: "Discard," "Hold," "Salvage," "Re-Work," "Must Ship Today." There are international pictorial labels and caution labels available, as are your general mailing labels and manila shipping tags.
To paraphrase Devo, "Ship it. Ship it good"
I don't know if you remember the zine Office Supply Junkie, which was published by the Baby Split Bowling News crew in the Twin Cities. But a catalog I received in the mail recently rekindled my love affair with the humble office supply. Particularly those supplies found in the mail room and shipping department.
Ship It, a mail-order company based in Twinsburg, Ohio, is "your complete shipping supply source." Claiming more than 600 box sizes, the company also provides bags, bins, bubble wrap, edge protectors, envelopes, packing foam, knives, labels, mailing tubes, scales, stretch wrap, and tape.
And the catalog is a joy to behold, hella better than the office supplies available at Staples or Office Depot. Ship It also sells carton stands so you can neatly organize your flattened boxes, as well as a carton sizer so you can perforate and resize boxes that aren't the right size. The label section alone is awe-inspiring: "Discard," "Hold," "Salvage," "Re-Work," "Must Ship Today." There are international pictorial labels and caution labels available, as are your general mailing labels and manila shipping tags.
To paraphrase Devo, "Ship it. Ship it good"
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The Free-Range Comic Book Project III
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Action Comics #658 (DC, October 1990). Writer: Bill Messner-Loebs. Artist: Curt Swan. Location: On the Red Line between Park Street and Central Square.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Animation Nation III
If you haven't already eyed the Animatrix shorts currently available, they're worth checking out. Beautiful work. So far, there are two episodes available -- and a trailer. Seven directors take on nine animated shorts, some of which will be released for free online, and some of which will precede feature-length films in movie theaters. A DVD of all the eps will be released this June. The animation released online to date is primarily Moebius-meets-anime styled work, but some of the pieces teased in the trailer appear to be more video game graphic-like in approach. There's even a Hack the Matrix Easter egg hidden on the site that allows you to access video shorts from the Matrix movie itself. Fun stuff.
If you haven't already eyed the Animatrix shorts currently available, they're worth checking out. Beautiful work. So far, there are two episodes available -- and a trailer. Seven directors take on nine animated shorts, some of which will be released for free online, and some of which will precede feature-length films in movie theaters. A DVD of all the eps will be released this June. The animation released online to date is primarily Moebius-meets-anime styled work, but some of the pieces teased in the trailer appear to be more video game graphic-like in approach. There's even a Hack the Matrix Easter egg hidden on the site that allows you to access video shorts from the Matrix movie itself. Fun stuff.
The Mediated Me
Two recent Web readings match up quite nicely. Joi Ito comments on how different Anil Dash is in person than he is in his blog, remarking that "his ability to manage his online personality was his key to success."
Elsewhere, William Gibson considers the difference between mediated personas and the public self. "While a ruler would have a public (as well as a private) self, this technological 'broadcasting' of the individual constitutes something else, something fundamentally different," Gibson says.
These posts raise some interesting questions. Sure, Sherry Turkle and Brenda Laurel have written about the performative aspects of computer-mediated communication. But what about blogs and LiveJournals?
Here, in Media Diet, am I sharing a public self? Or am I portraying an idealized self? The me I want to be -- or the me I want you to think I am? I don't know. To be true, the Media Diet me is a mediated me. I consider what to say and how to say it -- which is no different than in real life. And I can probably make myself out to be more than I really am, although I like to think I rarely do that. But it's easier to say less or more when an audience is largely anonymous. Just like when I published perzines.
I've also been thinking about this in terms of email communications with friends. Sometimes there are things that are easier to write -- and hit Send -- than they are to say in person. You can be more honest. You can be almost irresponsible. But yet, what's been said is out there, and we're left with the repercussions, as tenuous as they may be.
Were I to ask Media Dieticians a question, it wouldn't be whether our Web writing represents a mediated persona (which I believe it does), but what such self-representation means -- for us as well as for the other.
Discuss.
Two recent Web readings match up quite nicely. Joi Ito comments on how different Anil Dash is in person than he is in his blog, remarking that "his ability to manage his online personality was his key to success."
Elsewhere, William Gibson considers the difference between mediated personas and the public self. "While a ruler would have a public (as well as a private) self, this technological 'broadcasting' of the individual constitutes something else, something fundamentally different," Gibson says.
These posts raise some interesting questions. Sure, Sherry Turkle and Brenda Laurel have written about the performative aspects of computer-mediated communication. But what about blogs and LiveJournals?
Here, in Media Diet, am I sharing a public self? Or am I portraying an idealized self? The me I want to be -- or the me I want you to think I am? I don't know. To be true, the Media Diet me is a mediated me. I consider what to say and how to say it -- which is no different than in real life. And I can probably make myself out to be more than I really am, although I like to think I rarely do that. But it's easier to say less or more when an audience is largely anonymous. Just like when I published perzines.
I've also been thinking about this in terms of email communications with friends. Sometimes there are things that are easier to write -- and hit Send -- than they are to say in person. You can be more honest. You can be almost irresponsible. But yet, what's been said is out there, and we're left with the repercussions, as tenuous as they may be.
Were I to ask Media Dieticians a question, it wouldn't be whether our Web writing represents a mediated persona (which I believe it does), but what such self-representation means -- for us as well as for the other.
Discuss.
Technofetishism XXIX
It's about time! For years, I've pestered the fine folks at Corex Technologies to release a Mac-compatible CardScan business card reader to no avail. Earlier this week, in the April 2003 issue of MacHome magazine, I read about the Iris Business Card Reader II for Mac. I still need to research its features and such, but, wow. Maybe my piles and stacks and shopping bags of business cards will soon be useful.
It's about time! For years, I've pestered the fine folks at Corex Technologies to release a Mac-compatible CardScan business card reader to no avail. Earlier this week, in the April 2003 issue of MacHome magazine, I read about the Iris Business Card Reader II for Mac. I still need to research its features and such, but, wow. Maybe my piles and stacks and shopping bags of business cards will soon be useful.
Shock Jock or Not?
Howard Stern has filed a $10 million law suit claiming that ABC stole its "Are You Hot?" idea from him. I'd say that it's much more likely that they cribbed the concept from the uber-rating Web site Hot or Not?, if anywhere. I wonder whether Jim and James' project predates Stern's "The Evaluators" radio bit.
Howard Stern has filed a $10 million law suit claiming that ABC stole its "Are You Hot?" idea from him. I'd say that it's much more likely that they cribbed the concept from the uber-rating Web site Hot or Not?, if anywhere. I wonder whether Jim and James' project predates Stern's "The Evaluators" radio bit.
Archeolo-Gee!
It's a good day for archeologists, historians, and urban anthropoligists. In Boston, preservationists have determined how the Union Oyster House acquired the characteristic bend in its structure. Turns out that the proprietor of a once-nearby candy needed to widen the street to accomodate carriage access to his building. The Union Oyster House bent to his will.
Meanwhile, an FBI sting snagged North Carolina's original bill of rights when a collector tried to sell it for $5 million. The historic document, actually worth about $20 million, was stolen by Union soldiers in 1865 and has been passed hand to hand since then.
And Spanish archivists have discovered almost 1,000 ancient Hebrew texts tucked into the covers of medieval books. Hidden inside about 165 books, the texts include fragments of the Torah, as well as wedding and business contracts. The son my my childhood piano teacher used to hide pages torn from pornographic magazines in the sleeves of record albums. I wonder if those documents have ever been found.
Just goes to show, as uncertain as the future might be, the past can only become more and more certain.
It's a good day for archeologists, historians, and urban anthropoligists. In Boston, preservationists have determined how the Union Oyster House acquired the characteristic bend in its structure. Turns out that the proprietor of a once-nearby candy needed to widen the street to accomodate carriage access to his building. The Union Oyster House bent to his will.
Meanwhile, an FBI sting snagged North Carolina's original bill of rights when a collector tried to sell it for $5 million. The historic document, actually worth about $20 million, was stolen by Union soldiers in 1865 and has been passed hand to hand since then.
And Spanish archivists have discovered almost 1,000 ancient Hebrew texts tucked into the covers of medieval books. Hidden inside about 165 books, the texts include fragments of the Torah, as well as wedding and business contracts. The son my my childhood piano teacher used to hide pages torn from pornographic magazines in the sleeves of record albums. I wonder if those documents have ever been found.
Just goes to show, as uncertain as the future might be, the past can only become more and more certain.
Got "Our" War On
So we bombed Baghdad early their morning. And I think I now realize the source of part of the malaise I felt earlier this week. It's war. A war that much of America doesn't support, that much of the rest of the world doesn't support, that the "leaders" of America are waging in our name regardless.
I felt this way back when the Gulf War was just getting started, and I was hanging out with Jodie and stressing over whether I'd be drafted. At the time, there was no draft, but I'd researched conscientious objection and talked with friends in Canada just in case I needed an out. I also felt this way just after Sept. 11, having left work early to eat takeout pizza with Sarah and Paul -- and debate whether we should watch the news coverage or change the channel to something less real. I felt this way days later sitting upstairs at Charlie's Kitchen, almost crying into a beer as the import of what had really happened really hit me. (That night, I actually left without paying my bill. I mailed the restaurant a check for $9 because I wasn't able to get back before leaving for the 2001 CoF Roadshow. I've never ditched a bill before. Or since.)
And I feel this way now. It's a slightly different feeling because so much of the country's population isn't with Bush on this one. But it's frustrating to think that this is happening in America's name without the full support of America. We do this to ourselves. And the sociologist in me is curious. What impact does war have on the mood and emotions of the populace? Is there a war-time depression?
A lot of research has been done on war's impact on soldiers and veterans -- shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder -- but what of those who don't fight but still bear the psychological brunt of the fighting? Researchers have considered how the threat of war affects Iraqi children. Clinical psychologists offer advice on reacting to terrorist attacks on our soil. Economists analyze how war can influence economic activity. And experts line up to comment on the psychological effects of war.
But what about me? That's all a bit macro; let's go micro. Is war-time sadness and helplessness natural and normal? What toll does this take on us as military conflicts expand and continue?
How does this make you feel?
So we bombed Baghdad early their morning. And I think I now realize the source of part of the malaise I felt earlier this week. It's war. A war that much of America doesn't support, that much of the rest of the world doesn't support, that the "leaders" of America are waging in our name regardless.
I felt this way back when the Gulf War was just getting started, and I was hanging out with Jodie and stressing over whether I'd be drafted. At the time, there was no draft, but I'd researched conscientious objection and talked with friends in Canada just in case I needed an out. I also felt this way just after Sept. 11, having left work early to eat takeout pizza with Sarah and Paul -- and debate whether we should watch the news coverage or change the channel to something less real. I felt this way days later sitting upstairs at Charlie's Kitchen, almost crying into a beer as the import of what had really happened really hit me. (That night, I actually left without paying my bill. I mailed the restaurant a check for $9 because I wasn't able to get back before leaving for the 2001 CoF Roadshow. I've never ditched a bill before. Or since.)
And I feel this way now. It's a slightly different feeling because so much of the country's population isn't with Bush on this one. But it's frustrating to think that this is happening in America's name without the full support of America. We do this to ourselves. And the sociologist in me is curious. What impact does war have on the mood and emotions of the populace? Is there a war-time depression?
A lot of research has been done on war's impact on soldiers and veterans -- shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder -- but what of those who don't fight but still bear the psychological brunt of the fighting? Researchers have considered how the threat of war affects Iraqi children. Clinical psychologists offer advice on reacting to terrorist attacks on our soil. Economists analyze how war can influence economic activity. And experts line up to comment on the psychological effects of war.
But what about me? That's all a bit macro; let's go micro. Is war-time sadness and helplessness natural and normal? What toll does this take on us as military conflicts expand and continue?
How does this make you feel?
Technofetishism XXVIII
Mystery solved! What I thought was a smudge on my PowerBook screen -- and which I've tried to clean off to no avail using the iKlear Apple Polish Kit -- is in fact the luminous Apple on the lid of my laptop shining through the display. It's only visible when the sun is shining on the flip top of my PowerBook, and it's good to know that my laptop display doesn't have a permanent smudge worked into the screen. Mystery solved!
Mystery solved! What I thought was a smudge on my PowerBook screen -- and which I've tried to clean off to no avail using the iKlear Apple Polish Kit -- is in fact the luminous Apple on the lid of my laptop shining through the display. It's only visible when the sun is shining on the flip top of my PowerBook, and it's good to know that my laptop display doesn't have a permanent smudge worked into the screen. Mystery solved!
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Corollary: Magazine Me XXV
The 2003 National Magazine Awards finalists have now been officially announced. The full list is now available.
The 2003 National Magazine Awards finalists have now been officially announced. The full list is now available.
The Free-Range Comic Book Project II
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is an installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
Accelerate #1 (DC/Vertigo, August 2000). Writer: Richard Kadrey. Artists: The Pander Bros. Location: A bench in front of Pagliuca's.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Event-O-Dex XLIII
There's a Blog Meetup that I can't make tonight, but it's exactly one week before the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash that I'm organizing, it's a good time for a reminder. Media Dieticians everywhere are invited.
There's a Blog Meetup that I can't make tonight, but it's exactly one week before the No. 1 Fun Boston Blog Bash that I'm organizing, it's a good time for a reminder. Media Dieticians everywhere are invited.
Nervy, Pervy XII
My Suicide Girls membership has been deactivated. When I went to log in and catch up on the discussions last night, my username wasn't recognized. When I entered my email address to make sure I was using the right password, I was informed that I wasn't a member. So I emailed the customer service address. This is what I got in response:
So I emailed Spooky directly, and this is what's going on:
Phew! I was wondering what I might have said or done that would prompt an arbitrary deactivation, but it seems that SG is moving its billing in house -- and that the transition hasn't gone as well as it could have. For a minute, my conspiracy-filled mind was doing cartwheels.
My Suicide Girls membership has been deactivated. When I went to log in and catch up on the discussions last night, my username wasn't recognized. When I entered my email address to make sure I was using the right password, I was informed that I wasn't a member. So I emailed the customer service address. This is what I got in response:
i don't know what's up, i'm just a customer support lackey. you probably said something lame on the boards or something. sorry! happy trails.
So I emailed Spooky directly, and this is what's going on:
According to our records your last transaction did not go through at iBill, our old payment processor, due to a technical error on their part. If you would like to reactivate your account, simply go to join page and use the reactivation box to turn your account back on. In the future you will be billed directly by us, and these sort of errors should not repeat themselves.
I apologize for the inconvenience, and hope you decide to remain a member of suicidegirls.
Phew! I was wondering what I might have said or done that would prompt an arbitrary deactivation, but it seems that SG is moving its billing in house -- and that the transition hasn't gone as well as it could have. For a minute, my conspiracy-filled mind was doing cartwheels.
Magazine Me XXV
Judges for the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Awards gathered yesterday to select the finalists. To be announced later today, here are most of the finalists, hastily scribbled down during the judging:
General Excellence: Under 100,000
American Scholar
Chronicle of Higher Education
Foreign Policy
JD Jungle
STEP Inside Design
General Excellence: 100-250,000
Architectural Record
Harper's
Mother Jones
Nylon
[One more]
General Excellence: 250-500,000
National Geographic
Saveur
Skiing
W
[One more]
General Excellence: 500-1,000,000
Atlantic Monthly
Conde Nast Traveler
Esquire
House and Garden
New Yorker
General Excellence: 1-2,000,000
Entertainment Weekly
ESPN
Fortune
Real Simple
Vanity Fair
Discover
General Excellence: 2 million and up
Newsweek
O
Parenting
Sports Illustrated
[One more]
Web Site
Chronicle of Higher Education
National Geographic
Slate
Style.com
[One more]
Personal Service
Business Week
Money
My Generation
Newsweek
Outside
Reporting
Atlantic Monthly
Newsweek
New Yorker
Sports Illustrated
Public Interest
Golf for Women
Texas Monthly
Newsweek
National Review
Harper's
Atlantic Monthly
Feature Writing
GQ
New Yorker
Harper's
Men's Journal
Outside
Columns/Commentary
Fortune
The Nation
New York
New Yorker
Vanity Fair
Essays
American Scholar
Atlantic Monthly
New Yorker
Self
Vanity Fair
Reviews/Criticism
Atlantic Monthly
Harper's
New Yorker
Vanity Fair
Profiles
Atlantic Monthly
GQ
Harper's
Outside
Sports Illustrated
Photos
Conde Nast Traveler
Elegant Bride [?]
National Geographic
Vanity Fair
[One more]
Design
Details
Dwell
Esquire
Nest
Surface
Single Topic
GQ
Popular Science
Scientific American
Tech Review
Texas Monthly
Fiction
Book
Georgia Review
New Yorker
Leisure Interests
Esquire
Sports Illustrated
Vogue
National Geographic Adventure
Time Out New York
Judges for the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Awards gathered yesterday to select the finalists. To be announced later today, here are most of the finalists, hastily scribbled down during the judging:
General Excellence: Under 100,000
General Excellence: 100-250,000
General Excellence: 250-500,000
General Excellence: 500-1,000,000
General Excellence: 1-2,000,000
General Excellence: 2 million and up
Web Site
Personal Service
Reporting
Public Interest
Feature Writing
Columns/Commentary
Essays
Reviews/Criticism
Profiles
Photos
Design
Single Topic
Fiction
Leisure Interests
Tele-Phony III
Two cell phone models manufactured by Siemens can be disabled if the user opens a text message containing specific language. The two models affected are sold only in Europe.
This makes me wonder whether all cell phones have such back doors or ways phone makers, government and law officials, or other people can deactivate or limit our access to and use of our cell phones. Paranoid? Sure feels like it.
Thanks to Lost Remote.
Two cell phone models manufactured by Siemens can be disabled if the user opens a text message containing specific language. The two models affected are sold only in Europe.
The e-mails contain a single word, taken from the phone's language menu, surrounded by quote marks and preceded by an asterisk, such as "*English" or "*Deutsch," Siemens said.
This makes me wonder whether all cell phones have such back doors or ways phone makers, government and law officials, or other people can deactivate or limit our access to and use of our cell phones. Paranoid? Sure feels like it.
Thanks to Lost Remote.
Business Media Reportage Goes Bust, Now Boom? IV
BusinessWeek's working on a "dramatic" redesign that could hit the stands as early as this summer.
Hmm. I can barely wade through the thing every week. Maybe this'll help!
Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News.
BusinessWeek's working on a "dramatic" redesign that could hit the stands as early as this summer.
"It has a lot more pop," said one person who has seen the work. "It gets rid of the spindly, spinster look."
Hmm. I can barely wade through the thing every week. Maybe this'll help!
Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Event-O-Dex XLII
What is up with March 29 this year? Regardless of where you might find yourself, chances are good that there's a good independent media gathering afoot. Here are just a few:
Boston: Beantown Zinetown 6
San Francisco: 8th Annual Anarchist Book Fair
Toronto: Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Sheesh. Do I stay home? No. I'll be heading up to Toronto to hang out with Jim Munroe of No Media Kings and to check out the fest. The Highwater Books hoi polloi -- Marc Bell, Tom Devlin, Megan Kelso, Brian Ralph, and Ron Rege, Jr. -- will also be present. Should be a fun time. Perhaps I'll even blog it like I did SXSW.
What is up with March 29 this year? Regardless of where you might find yourself, chances are good that there's a good independent media gathering afoot. Here are just a few:
Boston: Beantown Zinetown 6
San Francisco: 8th Annual Anarchist Book Fair
Toronto: Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Sheesh. Do I stay home? No. I'll be heading up to Toronto to hang out with Jim Munroe of No Media Kings and to check out the fest. The Highwater Books hoi polloi -- Marc Bell, Tom Devlin, Megan Kelso, Brian Ralph, and Ron Rege, Jr. -- will also be present. Should be a fun time. Perhaps I'll even blog it like I did SXSW.
Among the Literati XXVIII
Jeffrey LeRoy Boison recently stepped down as editor of the hip-lit journal Pindeldyboz "to raise his heir so that the Boison name might someday rule all of the earth." Whitney Pastorek will replace him as editor. Big shoes to fill, given that Boison founded Pindeldyboz and all. Best of luck, Whittlz!
Jeffrey LeRoy Boison recently stepped down as editor of the hip-lit journal Pindeldyboz "to raise his heir so that the Boison name might someday rule all of the earth." Whitney Pastorek will replace him as editor. Big shoes to fill, given that Boison founded Pindeldyboz and all. Best of luck, Whittlz!
Workaday World XXIII
With the overcast skies and turn toward the cold in Boss Town today, I was feeling pretty down and mopey earlier today. I was feeling sad, even. Then I talked with Seth Godin on the phone for awhile, and our conversation picked me right up. New directions, new ideas, new people. I've got my twitch on again. Woohoo!
With the overcast skies and turn toward the cold in Boss Town today, I was feeling pretty down and mopey earlier today. I was feeling sad, even. Then I talked with Seth Godin on the phone for awhile, and our conversation picked me right up. New directions, new ideas, new people. I've got my twitch on again. Woohoo!
Workaday World XXII
Lately, I've become fast friends with Chuck, the current security guard for the Scotch & Sirloin building. Since we learned each others' names, he's greeted me by name every single time he's seen me. Having worked in the security and building management industry for 14 years, Chuck's working here to get out of the house -- and "away from my wife during the day." He's retired military, and he's organized his work load so he's busy for six of the eight hours on the job. Most of the time, security work might be four hours of work during an eight-hour day. He reads when he has free time, and if his wife weren't out of work, he'd go back to school in political science and history. He's only got 18 credits left, he says.
But the excitement today is that they're fixing the windows in the Scotch & Sirloin building. The building management company spent the last five months securing a contractor for the project, and it looks like it's about to start. In the building, there are two kinds of windows. An older, single-pane style, and a newer, double-pane style. They're going to replace all of the single-pane windows and make sure that the new windows are up to snuff. Of the 380-odd windows in the building, about 160-plus are old. On our floor, there are about 45 old windows. I just checked my window now, and it's a new window, double paned with a 3/4-inch silver strip in between the panes. So they won't be climbing all over my desk.
How many windows per floor? I'm glad you asked because I wanted to do the math. If there are 380 windows in the building, with nine floors, that's about 92 windows per floor. If 45 windows in our office are old, that means that they'll replacing about half of them. That's quite an undertaking.
And I wouldn't have known about it were it not for my new friend Chuck.
Lately, I've become fast friends with Chuck, the current security guard for the Scotch & Sirloin building. Since we learned each others' names, he's greeted me by name every single time he's seen me. Having worked in the security and building management industry for 14 years, Chuck's working here to get out of the house -- and "away from my wife during the day." He's retired military, and he's organized his work load so he's busy for six of the eight hours on the job. Most of the time, security work might be four hours of work during an eight-hour day. He reads when he has free time, and if his wife weren't out of work, he'd go back to school in political science and history. He's only got 18 credits left, he says.
But the excitement today is that they're fixing the windows in the Scotch & Sirloin building. The building management company spent the last five months securing a contractor for the project, and it looks like it's about to start. In the building, there are two kinds of windows. An older, single-pane style, and a newer, double-pane style. They're going to replace all of the single-pane windows and make sure that the new windows are up to snuff. Of the 380-odd windows in the building, about 160-plus are old. On our floor, there are about 45 old windows. I just checked my window now, and it's a new window, double paned with a 3/4-inch silver strip in between the panes. So they won't be climbing all over my desk.
How many windows per floor? I'm glad you asked because I wanted to do the math. If there are 380 windows in the building, with nine floors, that's about 92 windows per floor. If 45 windows in our office are old, that means that they'll replacing about half of them. That's quite an undertaking.
And I wouldn't have known about it were it not for my new friend Chuck.
The Free-Range Comic Book Project
This is the first installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
This is the first installment of Media Diet's Free-Range Comic Book Project.
100 Bullets #13 (DC/Vertigo, August 2000). Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Eduardo Risso. Location: A park bench in the North End.
For more information on this project, please refer to this Media Diet entry.
Monday, March 17, 2003
March Is the Month of the Prominent Crotch
You might already know that March is Women's History Month. And if you read advertising circulars in the Sunday newspaper, you might also know that March is Frozen Food Month. But if you take some time to flip through the March 2003 issue of Interview magazine, it quickly becomes clear that March is also the Month of the Prominent Crotch. Let's spread ourselves out and take a look, shall we?
Not too far into the book, we come across a two-page Prada spread. Here, a male model wearing an awkward knit sweater, lei, and almost-tartan skirt ensemble raises his left knee to the sky and bunches his eyebrows forward in a glower as if to say, "Look at me! You lookin' at me?" A mere eight pages later, we have a two-page Donna Karan spread in which a well-dressed and high-heeled model with no undershirt demurely knocks her knees while she reads what appears to be an academic journal or book of scientific abstracts. This is perhaps the most tasteful and teasing shot of the crotch in this issue, softcore for randy R&D kids.
On the following page, an oiled-up Dior model flashes the swell of her breast while swooning against a blood-red rubber wall, clutching at her pelvic region with the hand not holding her steady. Eyes closed and lips parted, the model seems to be losing consciousness: "I should eat," she thinks. Six more pages in, Dolce & Gabbana goes ga-ga glancing at a full-frontal crotch shot of a woman spreading her legs for a handheld video camera. Surrounded by no fewer than 10 monitors and two cameras, this is self-mediated crotch prominence at its best. Another showing swell of breast hints that this model is much more than just a crotch. Let's not pigeonhole these people, please.
On p. 70, a 1990 Herb Ritts photograph shows Madonna clutching at her crotch, indicating that the crotch knows no class boundaries. Everyone's got a crotch. P. 77 sports a Matthew Barney advertisement in which a pale-skinned, bee-hived model spreads her legs for the camera's eye too, demurely and delicately crossing her unringed and uncalloused hands in front of her bared crotch. "Don't go there! Oh, whatever, come on," her eyes seem to beckon tiredly. On p. 94, a slightly out-of-focus tennis ball hovers in front of -- and partially obscuring -- Buddhist athlete Paradorn Srichaphan's crotch. A Bebe advert on p. 109 displays another full-frontal crotch shot. And on p. 167, a fashion shoot by Kelly Klein highlights yet another full-frontal, spread-legged male crotch rocket. Clad in a silk robe, our near-prone hero has dangled a string of pearls over his midriff. "Barbara Bush has got nothing on me."
But it is the Gucci ad placed just one page before the magazine's masthead that has brows a-sweating, angry pens a-writing, and tongues a-wagging. It is also this advert that successfully secures March's position as the Month of the Prominent Crotch. The Guardian has yawned at the ad's daring and slightly dangerous display of pubic hair shaved into the shape of a capital "g." MarketingWeb's Kim Penstone has asked whether Gucci has gone too far. And Adland has also addressed the controversy surrounding the ad.
It's interesting that this advert hit the stands just before wannabe Boston brahmin began to bawl about a barely bawdlerized FCUK advert insert in the Boston Globe this Sunday. In today's newspaper, the Globe's ombudsman -- or woman, as the case may be -- Christine Chinlund takes it on the chin and collapses under the weight of reader complaint faster than any of the lingerie-clad models would have fallen for one of their male (or female) counterparts. I have no problem with FCUK's naming or branding strategy -- as long as they fess up to the value and vigor of the probable pun.
But Gucci. Whither Gucci? When I first heard about the ad, I was shocked. Shocked. Pubic hair on parade in a newsstand magazine? Then I saw the ad. And you know what? I have no problems with it whatsover. It's hardly titillating, and the male model kneeling before the G-shaved girly girl seems more bemused and confused than aroused. There's little sense of what comes next. So the fantasy hangs in the air and we are left to turn the page and our attention elsewhere -- and to other prominent crotches. Counter to Chinlund's unnecessary concession that the Boston Globe is a family publication -- what daily newspaper shouldn't strive to be so? -- Interview has no such limitation. While a pale shadow of what I think Andy Warhol envisioned, Interview is quite similar to the previous iteration of Details magazine, a periodical focusing on gloss, fashion, and celebrities -- all the while embracing an intriguing queer angle to everything it does.
I think instituting March as the Month of the Prominent Crotch is a fine idea. And I salute Interview for holding the banner so high. Because that way, we can see people's pelvises more prominently.
You might already know that March is Women's History Month. And if you read advertising circulars in the Sunday newspaper, you might also know that March is Frozen Food Month. But if you take some time to flip through the March 2003 issue of Interview magazine, it quickly becomes clear that March is also the Month of the Prominent Crotch. Let's spread ourselves out and take a look, shall we?
Not too far into the book, we come across a two-page Prada spread. Here, a male model wearing an awkward knit sweater, lei, and almost-tartan skirt ensemble raises his left knee to the sky and bunches his eyebrows forward in a glower as if to say, "Look at me! You lookin' at me?" A mere eight pages later, we have a two-page Donna Karan spread in which a well-dressed and high-heeled model with no undershirt demurely knocks her knees while she reads what appears to be an academic journal or book of scientific abstracts. This is perhaps the most tasteful and teasing shot of the crotch in this issue, softcore for randy R&D kids.
On the following page, an oiled-up Dior model flashes the swell of her breast while swooning against a blood-red rubber wall, clutching at her pelvic region with the hand not holding her steady. Eyes closed and lips parted, the model seems to be losing consciousness: "I should eat," she thinks. Six more pages in, Dolce & Gabbana goes ga-ga glancing at a full-frontal crotch shot of a woman spreading her legs for a handheld video camera. Surrounded by no fewer than 10 monitors and two cameras, this is self-mediated crotch prominence at its best. Another showing swell of breast hints that this model is much more than just a crotch. Let's not pigeonhole these people, please.
On p. 70, a 1990 Herb Ritts photograph shows Madonna clutching at her crotch, indicating that the crotch knows no class boundaries. Everyone's got a crotch. P. 77 sports a Matthew Barney advertisement in which a pale-skinned, bee-hived model spreads her legs for the camera's eye too, demurely and delicately crossing her unringed and uncalloused hands in front of her bared crotch. "Don't go there! Oh, whatever, come on," her eyes seem to beckon tiredly. On p. 94, a slightly out-of-focus tennis ball hovers in front of -- and partially obscuring -- Buddhist athlete Paradorn Srichaphan's crotch. A Bebe advert on p. 109 displays another full-frontal crotch shot. And on p. 167, a fashion shoot by Kelly Klein highlights yet another full-frontal, spread-legged male crotch rocket. Clad in a silk robe, our near-prone hero has dangled a string of pearls over his midriff. "Barbara Bush has got nothing on me."
But it is the Gucci ad placed just one page before the magazine's masthead that has brows a-sweating, angry pens a-writing, and tongues a-wagging. It is also this advert that successfully secures March's position as the Month of the Prominent Crotch. The Guardian has yawned at the ad's daring and slightly dangerous display of pubic hair shaved into the shape of a capital "g." MarketingWeb's Kim Penstone has asked whether Gucci has gone too far. And Adland has also addressed the controversy surrounding the ad.
It's interesting that this advert hit the stands just before wannabe Boston brahmin began to bawl about a barely bawdlerized FCUK advert insert in the Boston Globe this Sunday. In today's newspaper, the Globe's ombudsman -- or woman, as the case may be -- Christine Chinlund takes it on the chin and collapses under the weight of reader complaint faster than any of the lingerie-clad models would have fallen for one of their male (or female) counterparts. I have no problem with FCUK's naming or branding strategy -- as long as they fess up to the value and vigor of the probable pun.
But Gucci. Whither Gucci? When I first heard about the ad, I was shocked. Shocked. Pubic hair on parade in a newsstand magazine? Then I saw the ad. And you know what? I have no problems with it whatsover. It's hardly titillating, and the male model kneeling before the G-shaved girly girl seems more bemused and confused than aroused. There's little sense of what comes next. So the fantasy hangs in the air and we are left to turn the page and our attention elsewhere -- and to other prominent crotches. Counter to Chinlund's unnecessary concession that the Boston Globe is a family publication -- what daily newspaper shouldn't strive to be so? -- Interview has no such limitation. While a pale shadow of what I think Andy Warhol envisioned, Interview is quite similar to the previous iteration of Details magazine, a periodical focusing on gloss, fashion, and celebrities -- all the while embracing an intriguing queer angle to everything it does.
I think instituting March as the Month of the Prominent Crotch is a fine idea. And I salute Interview for holding the banner so high. Because that way, we can see people's pelvises more prominently.
Music to My Ears XXX
A three-pack of new record reviews!
The Hardwood Brothers "Hardwoods on Humpnight" (Hardwood)
This is a pre-release version of a live recording made at the Dutchman Inn in Houston. Why pre-release? "We're still trying to figure out the names of some of these tunes, who wrote them, and how to pay royalties!" What we have here are 27 songs performed by the Hardwood Brothers, a five piece playing acoustic guitar, upright bass, harmonica, baritone saxophone, and fiddle. Some of the pieces are covers, and some are originals, and the overall effect is one of Lady and the Mant by way of Harmonious Wail or the Gomers if they were into bluegrass and country swing. While the band comes off as primarily a joke band, their playing is surprisingly adept, and I'm curious where they could go if they took themselves just a little more seriously. Regardless, the CD captures an extremely enjoyable 80 minutes of what must be a great live show. Highlights include Lennon and McCartney's "I've Just Seen a Face," Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home," the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil," and the silly song "D.I.V.O.R.C.E.E." The on-stage banter is friendly, and the Hardwoods' interaction with the crowd is playful. Worth catching live if you can, for sure!
The Movielife Selections from "Forty Hour Train Back to Penn" (Drive-Thru)
I usually avoid reviewing samplers because labels really should send full releases to get a proper review, but this is impressive enough to warrant comment. This "limited edition" CD comprises four songs from the Movielife's new album: "Face or Kneecaps," "Jamestown," "Spanaway," and "Takin' It Out and Choppin' It Up." Based in Long Island, the band suffered a setback in a near-fatal van accident a couple of years ago, and these four songs recorded after the wreck indicate that they haven't broken stride one bit. The first track is an earnest, melodic number that eschews emo leanings for energy and some nice angular guitar work. "Jamestown," the source of the album's title, chronicles the band's almost unfortunate end. The third song features some interesting multi-tracked harmonies by lyricist and vocalist Vinnie Caruana, as well as some subtle piano work. We'll see what the liner notes share, but the press release that accompanied this promotional mailing serves up sone of the positive aftermath of the accident -- a benefit concert featuring the Reunion Show and support from the label to get up and running again. And run Movielife does. The closing track is a fast-paced pleaser with an infectiously humorous chorus. Well done, and way to recover. It's good to see such survival and support in the scene. And if the full length is as solid as this four-song teaser, it should be a great record. But who knows? These could be the four best songs.
Terror "Lowest of the Low" (Bridge 9)
Featuring former members of Buried Alive and Carry On, this aggro hardcore five piece has done recent tour duty with Biohazard and Madball. So their shouted, mosh-tinged hardcore comes as no surprise. What does come as a surprise is how angry Terror is. Oh, plenty of metal-influenced hardcore bands are angry, but what is Terror so angry about? Nailing their frustration down is a challenge because Terror's expression of anger is largely an exercise in negative self-definition. Terror takes a stand against pretense, insincere assistance, unrequested support, and, well, a lot of things. At the same time, Terror takes no stands for anything, and their message is mostly one of reaction in a vacuum. This makes the record somewhat sad rather than empowering. Every song expresses frustration and displeasure with how things are, contends that the primary speaker in the songs is alone and has no support -- while avoiding statements of helplessness, however -- and paints a bleak picture of the lyricist's self-esteem and -image -- despite his self-sufficiency. So there's no hope here. Perhaps Terror reflects the isolation and dissatifaction of others, but in the end, if you stand against everything, what do you stand for? Hopefully Terror will tire of tearing everything down and refusing to take the responsibility to create their own future. Then, perhaps, we can build something more positive and productive in its place. As things are, this record is good background music for the disaffected. But it's far from a call to arms.
A three-pack of new record reviews!
The Hardwood Brothers "Hardwoods on Humpnight" (Hardwood)
This is a pre-release version of a live recording made at the Dutchman Inn in Houston. Why pre-release? "We're still trying to figure out the names of some of these tunes, who wrote them, and how to pay royalties!" What we have here are 27 songs performed by the Hardwood Brothers, a five piece playing acoustic guitar, upright bass, harmonica, baritone saxophone, and fiddle. Some of the pieces are covers, and some are originals, and the overall effect is one of Lady and the Mant by way of Harmonious Wail or the Gomers if they were into bluegrass and country swing. While the band comes off as primarily a joke band, their playing is surprisingly adept, and I'm curious where they could go if they took themselves just a little more seriously. Regardless, the CD captures an extremely enjoyable 80 minutes of what must be a great live show. Highlights include Lennon and McCartney's "I've Just Seen a Face," Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home," the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil," and the silly song "D.I.V.O.R.C.E.E." The on-stage banter is friendly, and the Hardwoods' interaction with the crowd is playful. Worth catching live if you can, for sure!
The Movielife Selections from "Forty Hour Train Back to Penn" (Drive-Thru)
I usually avoid reviewing samplers because labels really should send full releases to get a proper review, but this is impressive enough to warrant comment. This "limited edition" CD comprises four songs from the Movielife's new album: "Face or Kneecaps," "Jamestown," "Spanaway," and "Takin' It Out and Choppin' It Up." Based in Long Island, the band suffered a setback in a near-fatal van accident a couple of years ago, and these four songs recorded after the wreck indicate that they haven't broken stride one bit. The first track is an earnest, melodic number that eschews emo leanings for energy and some nice angular guitar work. "Jamestown," the source of the album's title, chronicles the band's almost unfortunate end. The third song features some interesting multi-tracked harmonies by lyricist and vocalist Vinnie Caruana, as well as some subtle piano work. We'll see what the liner notes share, but the press release that accompanied this promotional mailing serves up sone of the positive aftermath of the accident -- a benefit concert featuring the Reunion Show and support from the label to get up and running again. And run Movielife does. The closing track is a fast-paced pleaser with an infectiously humorous chorus. Well done, and way to recover. It's good to see such survival and support in the scene. And if the full length is as solid as this four-song teaser, it should be a great record. But who knows? These could be the four best songs.
Terror "Lowest of the Low" (Bridge 9)
Featuring former members of Buried Alive and Carry On, this aggro hardcore five piece has done recent tour duty with Biohazard and Madball. So their shouted, mosh-tinged hardcore comes as no surprise. What does come as a surprise is how angry Terror is. Oh, plenty of metal-influenced hardcore bands are angry, but what is Terror so angry about? Nailing their frustration down is a challenge because Terror's expression of anger is largely an exercise in negative self-definition. Terror takes a stand against pretense, insincere assistance, unrequested support, and, well, a lot of things. At the same time, Terror takes no stands for anything, and their message is mostly one of reaction in a vacuum. This makes the record somewhat sad rather than empowering. Every song expresses frustration and displeasure with how things are, contends that the primary speaker in the songs is alone and has no support -- while avoiding statements of helplessness, however -- and paints a bleak picture of the lyricist's self-esteem and -image -- despite his self-sufficiency. So there's no hope here. Perhaps Terror reflects the isolation and dissatifaction of others, but in the end, if you stand against everything, what do you stand for? Hopefully Terror will tire of tearing everything down and refusing to take the responsibility to create their own future. Then, perhaps, we can build something more positive and productive in its place. As things are, this record is good background music for the disaffected. But it's far from a call to arms.
The Movie I Watched Last Night LX
Saturday: The Twilight Zone
In "A Passage for Trumpet," which originally aired May 20, 1960, Jack Klugman plays a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic trumpet player who waits in the back alley of a nightclub to persuade an old friend to let him play. His character's monologue on the meaning of his music and how half of his language is inside his horn is wonderful. But the scene in which he notices that the trumpet he just sold for $8.50 is now in the pawn shop window priced $25 is quite sad. While the purgatory sequence is fun, the ending is slightly disappointing. Still, a good episode with an interesting Angel Gabriel cameo. "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" originally aired March 3, 1955, and is a silly twist on the Willy Loman story. Burgess Meredith plays an inept, cowardly vacuum cleaner salesman who is embued with superhuman strength by two horribly costumed aliens. Meredith's stutter contradicts his strength well, but all in all, the episode isn't that great. Still, it's neat to see Meredith tear a phonebook in half. The dramatic and fey TV announcer with the unplugged but oft-used microphone is a highlight, as is Meredith's growing confidence until his anticlimactic end. Don Rickles' presence is appreciated. The third episode on the DVD, "Two," which originally aired Sept. 15, 1961, has a great opening line: "This is a jungle, a monument built by nature commemorating disuse." After a slightly more interesting title sequence, we are presented with the story of a city that's been abandoned for five years after enemy foot troops land on Earth. Two survivors, one male, one female -- including a young Charles Bronson -- have to determine the future of both of their races. "There are no longer any armies, just rags of different colors that were once uniforms." A good episode to watch on the day the Stand up for Peace rally was held along Massachusetts Avenue. Lastly, "The Four of Us Are Dying" originally aired Jan. 1, 1960. Perhaps the darkest and most twisted take on the human condition on this DVD, the episode features a man who can change his facial features at will. He impersonates several people who have disappeared, tinkering with the lives and loves of those who remain behind. Then he adopts the persona of a boxer to escape some thugs in an alley -- only to encounter the boxer's estranged father, and his own strange end. Rod Serling-era Twilight Zone episodes rock.
Sunday: Sneakers
Movies like this give me hope that Dan Aykroyd isn't a washed-up has been. In fact, for a movie about computer hacking and cryptography, this movie's cast comprises a surprising number of stars: Aykroyd, Robert Redford, a young River Phoenix, and Sidney Poitier. A Ghostbusters-like clutch of cryptographers, hackers, and cat burglars are enlisted to recover a little black box that can break any code. Redford's character has a countercultural past from his days at Harvard (That was the Widener Library, wasn't it?), and the team quickly learns that they were hired by people who weren't as they claimed. So they decide to try to reclaim the box. It's a fun movie that casts security hacking in a surprisingly sensitive light circa 1992, and the mystery is convoluted enough that you're kept guessing for much of the movie. In the end, the hackers win, of course, but it's sure fun getting there. Ben Kingsley plays a wonderful misguided, evil genius. And the scene in which the blind Whistler -- played by David Strathairn -- commandeers a van to save the day is a one to root for. Surprisingly good, and it's held up well for the last 10-plus years.
Saturday: The Twilight Zone
In "A Passage for Trumpet," which originally aired May 20, 1960, Jack Klugman plays a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic trumpet player who waits in the back alley of a nightclub to persuade an old friend to let him play. His character's monologue on the meaning of his music and how half of his language is inside his horn is wonderful. But the scene in which he notices that the trumpet he just sold for $8.50 is now in the pawn shop window priced $25 is quite sad. While the purgatory sequence is fun, the ending is slightly disappointing. Still, a good episode with an interesting Angel Gabriel cameo. "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" originally aired March 3, 1955, and is a silly twist on the Willy Loman story. Burgess Meredith plays an inept, cowardly vacuum cleaner salesman who is embued with superhuman strength by two horribly costumed aliens. Meredith's stutter contradicts his strength well, but all in all, the episode isn't that great. Still, it's neat to see Meredith tear a phonebook in half. The dramatic and fey TV announcer with the unplugged but oft-used microphone is a highlight, as is Meredith's growing confidence until his anticlimactic end. Don Rickles' presence is appreciated. The third episode on the DVD, "Two," which originally aired Sept. 15, 1961, has a great opening line: "This is a jungle, a monument built by nature commemorating disuse." After a slightly more interesting title sequence, we are presented with the story of a city that's been abandoned for five years after enemy foot troops land on Earth. Two survivors, one male, one female -- including a young Charles Bronson -- have to determine the future of both of their races. "There are no longer any armies, just rags of different colors that were once uniforms." A good episode to watch on the day the Stand up for Peace rally was held along Massachusetts Avenue. Lastly, "The Four of Us Are Dying" originally aired Jan. 1, 1960. Perhaps the darkest and most twisted take on the human condition on this DVD, the episode features a man who can change his facial features at will. He impersonates several people who have disappeared, tinkering with the lives and loves of those who remain behind. Then he adopts the persona of a boxer to escape some thugs in an alley -- only to encounter the boxer's estranged father, and his own strange end. Rod Serling-era Twilight Zone episodes rock.
Sunday: Sneakers
Movies like this give me hope that Dan Aykroyd isn't a washed-up has been. In fact, for a movie about computer hacking and cryptography, this movie's cast comprises a surprising number of stars: Aykroyd, Robert Redford, a young River Phoenix, and Sidney Poitier. A Ghostbusters-like clutch of cryptographers, hackers, and cat burglars are enlisted to recover a little black box that can break any code. Redford's character has a countercultural past from his days at Harvard (That was the Widener Library, wasn't it?), and the team quickly learns that they were hired by people who weren't as they claimed. So they decide to try to reclaim the box. It's a fun movie that casts security hacking in a surprisingly sensitive light circa 1992, and the mystery is convoluted enough that you're kept guessing for much of the movie. In the end, the hackers win, of course, but it's sure fun getting there. Ben Kingsley plays a wonderful misguided, evil genius. And the scene in which the blind Whistler -- played by David Strathairn -- commandeers a van to save the day is a one to root for. Surprisingly good, and it's held up well for the last 10-plus years.
Games People Play VII
Just in time for St. Patrick's Day: LepreKong 2!
Just in time for St. Patrick's Day: LepreKong 2!
Music to My Eyes XIII
Handstand Command now offers the entire Unstoppable Records' back catalog at a glance online. As the collective's third anniversary -- and the CD release party for the Anchormen's forthcoming CD, "Nation of Interns" -- nears, we're fondly recalling our collective past. Catch up with some of the Handstand history and take a short walk down memory lane with us.
Handstand Command now offers the entire Unstoppable Records' back catalog at a glance online. As the collective's third anniversary -- and the CD release party for the Anchormen's forthcoming CD, "Nation of Interns" -- nears, we're fondly recalling our collective past. Catch up with some of the Handstand history and take a short walk down memory lane with us.
Interlude: South by Southwest 2003 XXI
Some found text from Aus-Town:
My welcome to Rick's house
Found on the sidewalk in front of the convention center
On the flip side
Some found text from Aus-Town:
My welcome to Rick's house
Found on the sidewalk in front of the convention center
On the flip side
Friday, March 14, 2003
Workaday World XXI
What a day! I stayed up not too late last night -- but definitely too lively. A bunch of us went out to the Drummer and Paddy Burke's, and while I was home by 11:30 last night, I was a little slow and mopey this morning. Following the relaunch of the CoF Web at the end of January, today was the deadline for members to confirm their involvement. I emailed the people who haven't yet confirmed their memberships a deactivation notice earlier today, and I've been working on customer service emails as a result for a large part of the day.
I also spent time researching and considering the entries for this year's Webby Awards. As the Communitt category chair, I worked with a qualified team of nominating judges. It's not been as tightly connected or collaborative a team as we've had for the last few years, but I'm pleased with my final five suggestions for nominees. We'll see what the others vote on for the final mix!
It''s 5:40, and the sun's still out. Spring's a poppin'!
I hope.
What a day! I stayed up not too late last night -- but definitely too lively. A bunch of us went out to the Drummer and Paddy Burke's, and while I was home by 11:30 last night, I was a little slow and mopey this morning. Following the relaunch of the CoF Web at the end of January, today was the deadline for members to confirm their involvement. I emailed the people who haven't yet confirmed their memberships a deactivation notice earlier today, and I've been working on customer service emails as a result for a large part of the day.
I also spent time researching and considering the entries for this year's Webby Awards. As the Communitt category chair, I worked with a qualified team of nominating judges. It's not been as tightly connected or collaborative a team as we've had for the last few years, but I'm pleased with my final five suggestions for nominees. We'll see what the others vote on for the final mix!
It''s 5:40, and the sun's still out. Spring's a poppin'!
I hope.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
South by Southwest 2003 XXI
I have two more SXSW Interactive-related entries left in me. Then I need to let it go, get it behind me, and get back to Media Diet's usual business. One of the entries will be my wrapup of and commentary on the entire event's discussions, in which I'll draw connections between the different sessions I sat in on and try to make some conclusions.
This is not that. This entry is a quick explanation of what I was trying to do, how it felt -- and how I think it went. These thoughts aren't fully formed, but I wanted to share a little glimpse of the process behind my SXSW reports. This is that.
I've long been interested in what I consider Immediate Journalism. The Web reports I've filed during the last four annual Company of Friends Roadshows for Fast Company magazine are the outcome of my first experiments with Immediate Journalism.
For the last four years, I've taken six weeks out of the office to cut a swath across part of the world. I stay with Fast Company readers in their homes. I visit two or three companies and organizations during the day. I gather with members of the local CoF groups in the evening. And I document everything I do, experience, and learn in almost-daily diary entries on the Web. People can follow me as I travel, and when I finally get back home after the six weeks, I write an essay highlighting the major themes that arose over the course of the trip.
This experiment was slightly different. Highly inspired by Cory Doctorow's conference and panel reports in Boing Boing, I wanted to see how else this Immediate Journalism could be done. Cory's reports are relatively impressionistic compilations of what he considers the major points, ideas, and concepts of a given talk. I didn't want to copycat Cory, and I didn't want to compete with Cory, had he planned to file SXSW reports as he's done for other gatherings. So I could either go shorter. Or longer.
I chose longer. I type really, really fast, so I was able to capture almost verbatim transcripts of what went on. Oh, I didn't catch everything, but I'm pretty sure I caught almost everything. But why go so long? Why strive to be such a completist? Many conference organizers opt to audio record the event's keynote speakers and breakout sessions. SXSW does not. And if we look at projects such as DharmaNet (for whom I've transcribed Buddhist texts in the past), the Open Pamphlet Series, and Big Sur tapes, the Left and counterculture has a long history of making talk transcripts, audio recordings, and interview-driven pamphlets widely available. The world of technology culture has no such parallel. If people are going to publish a pamphlet every time Noam Chomsky spits up soup, why aren't talks given by people such as Lawrence Lessig, Bruce Sterling, and others similarly captured, published, and distributed -- online or offline? We're losing an important part of our industry and culture's conversation and history. (That's not a slag on Chomsky, by the way.)
Similarly, I just wanted to see if I could do it. And making such an effort to transcribe everything, typing real-time transcripts as the speakers spoke, lightly editing them, and publishing them -- most of the time -- mere minutes after a session ended really changed my experience of the event. While I like to think I was present and engaged with my friends outside of sessions, inside the breakout rooms, it was just me, what I heard, my head, my hands, and my PowerBook. It was kind of neat when I'd really get in the zone and almost fall away so I was typing automatically. I almost wasn't paying attention to what was being said. I wasn't ascribing any meaning to the sounds and words I was entering into the blank Word document. I wasn't really there.
But it wasn't easy. While I'm not a trained stenographer -- lots of SXSW participants have asked -- and while my hands didn't really hurt at the ends of the days, my head did kind of hurt. When you're trying not to be present or actively engaged in a given situation, when you're only trying to document, project, and reflect what's happening, you get this thin feeling. You're fragile. Light like balsa wood. And it took some effort to come out of the near-fugue state to be present and in the moment again. For much of the conference I was distracted and inattentive. That was a weird state for me to be in -- actually, that's not totally true because I'm pretty hyper -- and if any of the people I hung out noticed or were bothered by it, I apologize.
So. How'd it go? Great. I'll do it again. Response on site was amazing, and word quickly spread throughout the conference that I was documenting the talks so thoroughly. Some people made decisions on what sessions to go to based on what session I was going to go to. If I was going to publish a transcript of a given panel, people felt free to go elsewhere. That brings up some interesting traffic flow and attendance questions. I hope I didn't gut people's headcounts because I was there in the room. I also hope that Cory, who didn't report on much at SXSW -- but who has said he was busy in his own panels and sessions -- didn't choose not to take notes because I was. I have him and Boing Boing to thank for most of the people coming to Media Diet to read my SXSW reports. Boing Boing far and away drove more traffic to Media Diet over the last week than the other folks I've given shouts out to. That speaks well of Boing Boing's readership and influence.
How was Media Diet traffic affected? Let's go to the traffic logs. Since I started doing Media Diet in June 2001, I've averaged about 100 readers -- unique visitors -- a day. Thank you, faithful Media Dieticians! But let's look at the last handful of days:
Hopefully, some of y'all will decide to stick around. I've gotten several emails from people who weren't able to make it to Austin for the conference thanking me for the reports, and I think that response to date goes to show that if your blog or journalism is of widespread interest, extremely timely, and not replicated elsewhere, readers will follow. That's part of why I don't regularly blog stuff that's already hit Boing Boing, Blogdex, or Daypop. Don't just mimic the memes that are already reveling in the blogosphere. Do the new. People will pick up on it.
What would I do differently? I'd let the speakers know what I wanted to do -- and get their verbal permission. A couple of people were slightly surprised that what they'd just said showed up on the Web so quickly after they finished saying it, and I apologize for the surprise. The good thing is that everyone felt like I accurately captured their remarks, so the concern of misreporting their comments was relatively low.
OK. I think that's enough. I would like to thank some of the people who really made my SXSW Interactive experience worthwhile. This, then, is a potentially incomplete alphabetical thank-you list.
Thank you: The 15 bus, Lauri Apple, Lane Becker, BookPeople, Ben Brown, Heather Champ, Joe Clark, Viki Collier, Michael Cruftbox, Cory Doctorow, Dudley Dog, Dan Gillmor, Heather Gold, Adam Greenfield, Scott Heiferman, Hiromi Hiraoka, James Hong, Don Jarrell, Kyle Johnson, Pableaux Johnson, Morris Johnston, Philip Kaplan, Will Kreth, Eric Lawrence, Jon Lebkowsky, Gordon Meyer, Monkeywrench, Jim Munroe, Jason Nolan, David Nunez, Anitra Pavka, Derek Powazek, Melissa Quackenbush, Theresa Quintanilla, Dana Robinson, Ana Sisnett, Kevin Smokler, Molly Steenson, Bruce Sterling, Sandy Stone, Toy Joy, Don Turnbull, Mike Wasylik, David Weinberger, Rick Weller, Nancy White, Evan Williams, and Amy Yan. If I forgot anyone, let me know. You all rock me like a hurricane.
I have two more SXSW Interactive-related entries left in me. Then I need to let it go, get it behind me, and get back to Media Diet's usual business. One of the entries will be my wrapup of and commentary on the entire event's discussions, in which I'll draw connections between the different sessions I sat in on and try to make some conclusions.
This is not that. This entry is a quick explanation of what I was trying to do, how it felt -- and how I think it went. These thoughts aren't fully formed, but I wanted to share a little glimpse of the process behind my SXSW reports. This is that.
I've long been interested in what I consider Immediate Journalism. The Web reports I've filed during the last four annual Company of Friends Roadshows for Fast Company magazine are the outcome of my first experiments with Immediate Journalism.
For the last four years, I've taken six weeks out of the office to cut a swath across part of the world. I stay with Fast Company readers in their homes. I visit two or three companies and organizations during the day. I gather with members of the local CoF groups in the evening. And I document everything I do, experience, and learn in almost-daily diary entries on the Web. People can follow me as I travel, and when I finally get back home after the six weeks, I write an essay highlighting the major themes that arose over the course of the trip.
This experiment was slightly different. Highly inspired by Cory Doctorow's conference and panel reports in Boing Boing, I wanted to see how else this Immediate Journalism could be done. Cory's reports are relatively impressionistic compilations of what he considers the major points, ideas, and concepts of a given talk. I didn't want to copycat Cory, and I didn't want to compete with Cory, had he planned to file SXSW reports as he's done for other gatherings. So I could either go shorter. Or longer.
I chose longer. I type really, really fast, so I was able to capture almost verbatim transcripts of what went on. Oh, I didn't catch everything, but I'm pretty sure I caught almost everything. But why go so long? Why strive to be such a completist? Many conference organizers opt to audio record the event's keynote speakers and breakout sessions. SXSW does not. And if we look at projects such as DharmaNet (for whom I've transcribed Buddhist texts in the past), the Open Pamphlet Series, and Big Sur tapes, the Left and counterculture has a long history of making talk transcripts, audio recordings, and interview-driven pamphlets widely available. The world of technology culture has no such parallel. If people are going to publish a pamphlet every time Noam Chomsky spits up soup, why aren't talks given by people such as Lawrence Lessig, Bruce Sterling, and others similarly captured, published, and distributed -- online or offline? We're losing an important part of our industry and culture's conversation and history. (That's not a slag on Chomsky, by the way.)
Similarly, I just wanted to see if I could do it. And making such an effort to transcribe everything, typing real-time transcripts as the speakers spoke, lightly editing them, and publishing them -- most of the time -- mere minutes after a session ended really changed my experience of the event. While I like to think I was present and engaged with my friends outside of sessions, inside the breakout rooms, it was just me, what I heard, my head, my hands, and my PowerBook. It was kind of neat when I'd really get in the zone and almost fall away so I was typing automatically. I almost wasn't paying attention to what was being said. I wasn't ascribing any meaning to the sounds and words I was entering into the blank Word document. I wasn't really there.
But it wasn't easy. While I'm not a trained stenographer -- lots of SXSW participants have asked -- and while my hands didn't really hurt at the ends of the days, my head did kind of hurt. When you're trying not to be present or actively engaged in a given situation, when you're only trying to document, project, and reflect what's happening, you get this thin feeling. You're fragile. Light like balsa wood. And it took some effort to come out of the near-fugue state to be present and in the moment again. For much of the conference I was distracted and inattentive. That was a weird state for me to be in -- actually, that's not totally true because I'm pretty hyper -- and if any of the people I hung out noticed or were bothered by it, I apologize.
So. How'd it go? Great. I'll do it again. Response on site was amazing, and word quickly spread throughout the conference that I was documenting the talks so thoroughly. Some people made decisions on what sessions to go to based on what session I was going to go to. If I was going to publish a transcript of a given panel, people felt free to go elsewhere. That brings up some interesting traffic flow and attendance questions. I hope I didn't gut people's headcounts because I was there in the room. I also hope that Cory, who didn't report on much at SXSW -- but who has said he was busy in his own panels and sessions -- didn't choose not to take notes because I was. I have him and Boing Boing to thank for most of the people coming to Media Diet to read my SXSW reports. Boing Boing far and away drove more traffic to Media Diet over the last week than the other folks I've given shouts out to. That speaks well of Boing Boing's readership and influence.
How was Media Diet traffic affected? Let's go to the traffic logs. Since I started doing Media Diet in June 2001, I've averaged about 100 readers -- unique visitors -- a day. Thank you, faithful Media Dieticians! But let's look at the last handful of days:
March 7: 100
March 8: 223
March 9: 450
March 10: 686
March 11: 400
March 12: 375
March 13: 599 (as of 5:08 p.m.)
Hopefully, some of y'all will decide to stick around. I've gotten several emails from people who weren't able to make it to Austin for the conference thanking me for the reports, and I think that response to date goes to show that if your blog or journalism is of widespread interest, extremely timely, and not replicated elsewhere, readers will follow. That's part of why I don't regularly blog stuff that's already hit Boing Boing, Blogdex, or Daypop. Don't just mimic the memes that are already reveling in the blogosphere. Do the new. People will pick up on it.
What would I do differently? I'd let the speakers know what I wanted to do -- and get their verbal permission. A couple of people were slightly surprised that what they'd just said showed up on the Web so quickly after they finished saying it, and I apologize for the surprise. The good thing is that everyone felt like I accurately captured their remarks, so the concern of misreporting their comments was relatively low.
OK. I think that's enough. I would like to thank some of the people who really made my SXSW Interactive experience worthwhile. This, then, is a potentially incomplete alphabetical thank-you list.
Thank you: The 15 bus, Lauri Apple, Lane Becker, BookPeople, Ben Brown, Heather Champ, Joe Clark, Viki Collier, Michael Cruftbox, Cory Doctorow, Dudley Dog, Dan Gillmor, Heather Gold, Adam Greenfield, Scott Heiferman, Hiromi Hiraoka, James Hong, Don Jarrell, Kyle Johnson, Pableaux Johnson, Morris Johnston, Philip Kaplan, Will Kreth, Eric Lawrence, Jon Lebkowsky, Gordon Meyer, Monkeywrench, Jim Munroe, Jason Nolan, David Nunez, Anitra Pavka, Derek Powazek, Melissa Quackenbush, Theresa Quintanilla, Dana Robinson, Ana Sisnett, Kevin Smokler, Molly Steenson, Bruce Sterling, Sandy Stone, Toy Joy, Don Turnbull, Mike Wasylik, David Weinberger, Rick Weller, Nancy White, Evan Williams, and Amy Yan. If I forgot anyone, let me know. You all rock me like a hurricane.
Corollary: Mention Me! XXXIV
One more shout out, then I'll stop eyeing my reference logs.
Die Puny Humans
Phew!
One more shout out, then I'll stop eyeing my reference logs.
Phew!
South by Southwest 2003 XX
One last batch of SXSW Interactive reports. Nancy White took some great notes on Cliff Figallo's session Tuesday morning, which I missed. Here's Nancy's report, barely edited:
Cliff Figallo: Putting Online Conversation to Work
Attention is energy. If a small child is acting out, giving them attention gives energy to those behaviors. Online you have to pay attention to whom you are paying attention. Pay attention to negative behaviors, you "feed the energy creature."
These are concepts we’ve put to work. Having a conversation you want to get things out of consider:
Who’s talking
Intentions
Commitment
Tolerance
Traction
A productive conversation can only happen under certain conditions. Forcing people who don’t exhibit the right intention, commitment, tolerance -- sometimes you have to be selective as to who you invite. The Well said anyone with a modem, money and could navigate on, they could join. Everything else was up for grabs. Stuart Brand thought it would be good to have people with communal experience managing this thing rather than business or technological experience. There were tradeoffs there, but we did understand what it took for a community to be productive. In this case, be functional. We went through quite a learning phase in the first 5 years. Some people could inhibit others from participating in an online conversation. How can we make these things work when people who are more willing to join the conversation could dominate a conversation and send it off in directions that chase people away.
We’ve learned a lot over the years. Now millions online who have experienced chat, online communities. Seen how they can work and be a total pain in the ass. It would keep people up at night on the well because there was such hope that people would join this group, writers, consultants who did not work with a team on a day by day basis. They had a hope that the well would thrive as a community. When someone came and tried to crash the party, they wanted us to throw them off, but we did not want to be the despots, the cops. We wanted the community to sort out it’s own problems. There were cases where we had to remove people because they were detractors from the conversation. It’s important to know who’s talking
Intentional Community
If you have an intention about a conversation in an organization or business. Shared sense of mission, purpose, ethos. It is then easier to solve problems. All aimed in the same direction and willing to tolerate each other. To listen as well as talk.
Nardi, Whittaker and Schwarz called them "Intentional Networks’ PERSONAL Social networks. "We chose the term intentional to reflect the effort and deliberateness with which people construct and manage personal networks.
In a conversation in NY last Fall, Listening to the City, a conversation about what to do with the site around ground zero. WHT TO do with that neighborhood, how to redevelop Manhattan. They had a 1 day F2F LARGE Meeting with tables of ten with facilitators and laptops who collected the conversational themes and feelings and fed them back to the larger group. Briefly they formed an intentional conversational community. All of their aims were tom come up with a good solution for where the WTC had been blown up. Even though they did not agree- some were strongly opinionated that it be a symbolic building that NY will not be defeated, we’ll put up something bigger. The final design is taller.
We took this online the week after in groups of 30. Half with facilitators and half without facilitator. All could read each other’s conversations. Most of the groups that did not have an assigned facilitator, one rose from the ranks and took on that role to lead the conversation. It was quite and emotional couple of weeks. Some had lost close relatives, friends, involved in recover efforts, had seen the towers collapsed. Everyone had a strong emotion around it and willing to engage in the conversation. But there were differences between groups. Some people were tying to shout their positions down the throats of other people. We call them the tall towers people. Bu t there were other people who were victims family who said the memorial was most important. There were complaints that they were getting more than their representative voice. It wasn’t
fair that their emotions were going to sway how things would developed.
Mostly people were concerned about the trust that their input would be part of the decision. They hoped to have some effect on the decision makers. As it turned out it really did. The F2f conversation was widely reported as expressing strong disapproval to the initial plans. Based on that the publicity of getting this strong disapproval and sent everyone back to the drawing board. The online conversations contributed that yes it was important that the towers be tall and there be a memorial. And the chose design reflects this.
Trust, Identity, Reputation
These are concepts you see being talked about on the web. Software is being developed and put in to portal software. I was associated with a company called RealCommunities which had a flexible database where people could establish identity and a reputation management module. A lot of this stuff operates in our daily life according to where we trust people, what we know of their identity and reputation. When engaging in online conversations with people online you rely on many other factors to determine if it is worthwhile in engaging in the conversation. You are investing your time. Don’t want to feel like you’ve wasted it.
What we found on the Well when we all came together, a bunch of people who didn’t know each other with just a bunch of words on a screen connecting. Came to a point when Howard Rheingold and Howard Mandel started a conference called "True Confessions." It was basically a place where people could write stories about themselves. Up until them people learned just what they learned about each other in conversations about politics, news, sports. That was valuable especially if you engaged in conversations across topics. A person in politics might be a flaming liberal and you were conservative, but in the parenting conference both have kids and shared experiences. A multidimensional relationship, the way it is in real life, we know each other from at least two different contexts. Helps us get a sense of what these people are. IN True CONFESSIONAS once they saw a bit more about each other’s background, it opened up the community. They knew this person was what they stood for, what they’d been through, why they were what they were.
Leadership
When you start a conversational community you will find different kinds of leaders. Founders who understand the mission, where the conversation is supposed to go, who was invited and why. The Implementers who actually start the conversations, comfortable with the tools, recognize what to do with the vision provided by the founders. The Sustainers hang in there. The facilitators, the challengers who keep volatility in the conversation and attract more people to it because conversations generally want to expand.
Power Imbalances Destabilize
Make it difficult for people to trust. Today’s world situation. People don’t necessarily want to go along. They don’t want the US to say not only are we the most wealthy, but powerful, military strength, democracy – and thus our vision is the most powerful vision. But will we be kept in our place. Will other nations keep their validity. France is digging in it’s heels. Other countries are digging in their heels.
The Truth Will Out
The internet has lent this whole other side to propaganda. You can’t keep a lid on things anymore. There will be other visions represented. Blogging, even though its in principle the same internet publishing model, we’re probably being blogged as we speak -- this element was not there when Berners-Lee put up the initial web pages. Blogging is now a medium, or an application of the medium, that allows many viewpoints to come together, cross represent each other, disagree with each other. A wide conversation that when used well in communities in trust -- which does nto mean you necessarily agree, but you understand where they are coming from, but as long as you believe they are speaking from the heart, you have a level of trust that they are a known element, not a maverick, one who spoofs you.
In a conversation if the truth doesn’t out, if people don’t agree to speak truthfully, not a balance of weight in the conversation, and least everyone going in the same direction of having a productive conversation rather than shouting each other out. On the well we had "subtext" you could read a conversation and tell if there was dissatisfaction or lack of cred under the surface. People might not say it, but a vibe, of argument running below the surface. In an online discussion that happens on a company’s intranet you will find a lot of that. People are afraid to really express what they believe because their jobs at stake. If the company does not have a culture that encourage people to say what they believe, if people don’t’ feel they can say what they believe, it will still come across in refusal to participate or what you can read between the lines. People’s subconscious. Belief system at work that they did not want to express because it would create a hassle, an argument. But their subconscious will still come through in how they talked.
This is part of the problem with business culture and how it’s developed through the years. In the first couple of chapters of Building the KM Network, we run through a quick history of civilization and how we got through the industrial age, how orgs formed in a hierarchical sense built on a military model. Was not important what the lower ranks thought. Whoever was running the place held all the knowledge and wisdom, hired lower ranks with wisdom and now power. The net has broken into distributed non hierarchical model. Business has not caught up. They go through team building sessions and OD trying to enable a more open and distributed conversation, but still that power balance exists if the upper levels of management don’t participate in conversations that cut across the layers. At the Well it mattered that Steward Brand as founder of the Well participated. But he was sort of thin skinned. If anyone criticized his vision or suggestions, he didn’t stick around very long. We always wished that he would. He was initially a very vocal participant but when the hard questions started he did not feel it was necessary to answer them. That’s when the leadership model has to move on. When the founders and CEOS aren’t going to participate… now the customers are much more powered. They can talk to each other. They can talk about products through boards such as Epinions, online gatherings like on Edmonds.com about their cars, and if the company is not going to be part of this conversation, its going to suffer from not getting, taking and using that feedback. I think not being a CEO and not choosing to work within a company as an employee, throwing rocks from over the wall as a consultant, my council is that companies have to evolve. Look at Enron and all these scandals. If these conversations aren’t enabled with in the company all kinds of things can take place. If they aren’t talking about it they see how it gets out of control. Companies, careers, 401Ks ruined. It’s hard to visualize what its like working in a co with tens of thousands of employees and how you get them started. But conversations start incrementally and can spread within organizations.
What do you do about power imbalances? First acknowledge it. That there is that difference between the person who is operating from a higher rung on the ladder One of the people I worked with on the LTC forum came up with the idea of a "Full Value Contract." When a conversation is engaged, in this case online, that going into it everyone agrees that they are going to give full value to the conversation. They make an agreement going in that they are gong to listen, respect, do what they can to encourage each other to speak, not dominate the conversation, do everything they can to make the conversation as useful for ist purpose as they can. It’s a very important idea that you have an agreement, which formalizes the conversation more than they usually are. Usually more ad hoc. People set up a forum, invite people, a topic. But as far as any kind of social contract they have to evolve over time. On the Well we had "you own your own words" which was formulated to protect the well from liability but adopted as a rallying cry for personal copyright issues. Social contracts evolved by trial and error. When you go into a conversation you set up for a purpose, presenting everyone with some sort of contractually worded agreement can really help, especially where there is a power imbalance so everyone assumes an equal role, even with different levels of responsibility. If a biz is going to have an online discussion w/ CEO and higher folks, that they declare this is the way it is going to be. Not a George Bush press conf where you have to ask the right questions to get picked on.
I don’t that’s really what you are looking for. You are looking for true identity. If you use an alias that allows the person with the higher power position to act like a fly on wall, Joe Everyman and speak. It might be useful for them, but for everyone else, fi they don’t know this.
I was thinking more of a person with some dominant power enters the conversation; it tends to polarize the conversation by dint of their identity. If you wanted exchange of content, not identity, it would make it a more level playing field.
[Cliff asked Nancy what she thought. She talked about unintended consequences of anonymity and the importance of treating root issues at the root. Organizational warts just appear even bigger online.]
It’s (anonymity) tempting. Does it create a false sense of security? What is the organization is about? An organization that does not operating to certain ideals in the offline world, online they have to be based in reality. We are proposing to do work with a company that is promoting the idea of the democratic workplace. They have models and theories and they want to start online discussion. There are plusses and minuses to the democratic workplace.
Gonna rip through the rest of the presentation (clock ticking)
Looping
Getting into an argument …saying if we oust Sadam Hussein it’s going to reduce terrorism and the others say increase and it goes around and around. You don’t’ want to spend time doing that. We’re in a loop and shoot for common ground. Sorting, looking for the exit point to looping conversations. Diplomacy, as we’re seeing, does not work all that great when it is relegated to national PR> What are the conversations that are really happening. People being diplomatic can lead to beating around the bush. Talk about the real stuff even if it is hard. You shouldn’t have to have to use diplomacy. Spit it out and say what you mean.
Not getting Work Done
Diplomacy -- communications out of network
Politics and movingon.org
Gaming and competition (winners and losers is not what getting work done is about. It’s about achieving and cooperating
Gratuitous complexity -- run in to it a lot. With intranet development. We’ve done this and this -- really good business for software consulting development, but it delays getting conversations done via email lists or simple discussion tools. A lot of companies are seeing people use IMs because they need it and it works
Summary
Reveal all motives
Agree on a vision
Share the floor (keep posts to reasonable length)
No praise, no blame (comes out of the communal era -- don’t heap praise on people all the time. When you praise one and others don’t get it, this creates difference much like blame. Keep even keep for appreciating and thanking for contributions. Don’t get excessive.
No free riders -- people should not benefit from a conversation if they don’t’ support it. Tom, we see 80% are readers but they benefit from it. IN an online health support community, they want to see what other people are saying. That is a different context. To solve something then they should all be contributing.
Hooray for progress -- praise the progress you have all made. Make sure everybody notes it to encourage continued participation.
Questions
What’s the best tool for online conversations?
I began with asynchronous message boards and certain features of these boards were key. You could always look up who people were. ON well you could always look up people. Have seen effective email lists, newsgroups, and today blogs are incredibly powerful, especially if Dave Weinberger, who was here earlier, is a model of how somebody who has attained credibility, a very good interesting entertaining writer, connected with other people and they quote and point -- has created this huge, expanded conversation. Blogs can be used by companies, CoPs, as a very powerful medium for linking in not only other peoples comments, but current information. I read Dave’s Blog like I read the NYTimes on the web. Sometimes he’s talking about his family, a convergence, an idea. He forms a core of a specialize conversation that’s happening across many areas. He’s an integrator. Serving as a great model. Bruce Sterling has his Viridian list about global warming. He calls himself the Pope of the list, sole publisher, but includes many people who are related and creates a distributed conversation. Our approach as we get more sophisticated we have a range of tools, skills and publishing models that are happening.
Q: I work for a national nonprofit and part of the charter is to create an online community, but there’s difficulty because there is a Federally project there tends to be a lot of moderator censoring. Difficult to get the free flowing conversations going. Before things are even put online. Self defeating situation
A: That’s the thing about getting funding. If part of the funding proposal does not specify that censorship is not part of the people, once people realize if they say something that crosses the power, then the funding disappears. You have to question how much you are going to accomplish. There’s a lot of power in open discussions.
One last batch of SXSW Interactive reports. Nancy White took some great notes on Cliff Figallo's session Tuesday morning, which I missed. Here's Nancy's report, barely edited:
Cliff Figallo: Putting Online Conversation to Work
Attention is energy. If a small child is acting out, giving them attention gives energy to those behaviors. Online you have to pay attention to whom you are paying attention. Pay attention to negative behaviors, you "feed the energy creature."
These are concepts we’ve put to work. Having a conversation you want to get things out of consider:
A productive conversation can only happen under certain conditions. Forcing people who don’t exhibit the right intention, commitment, tolerance -- sometimes you have to be selective as to who you invite. The Well said anyone with a modem, money and could navigate on, they could join. Everything else was up for grabs. Stuart Brand thought it would be good to have people with communal experience managing this thing rather than business or technological experience. There were tradeoffs there, but we did understand what it took for a community to be productive. In this case, be functional. We went through quite a learning phase in the first 5 years. Some people could inhibit others from participating in an online conversation. How can we make these things work when people who are more willing to join the conversation could dominate a conversation and send it off in directions that chase people away.
We’ve learned a lot over the years. Now millions online who have experienced chat, online communities. Seen how they can work and be a total pain in the ass. It would keep people up at night on the well because there was such hope that people would join this group, writers, consultants who did not work with a team on a day by day basis. They had a hope that the well would thrive as a community. When someone came and tried to crash the party, they wanted us to throw them off, but we did not want to be the despots, the cops. We wanted the community to sort out it’s own problems. There were cases where we had to remove people because they were detractors from the conversation. It’s important to know who’s talking
Intentional Community
If you have an intention about a conversation in an organization or business. Shared sense of mission, purpose, ethos. It is then easier to solve problems. All aimed in the same direction and willing to tolerate each other. To listen as well as talk.
Nardi, Whittaker and Schwarz called them "Intentional Networks’ PERSONAL Social networks. "We chose the term intentional to reflect the effort and deliberateness with which people construct and manage personal networks.
In a conversation in NY last Fall, Listening to the City, a conversation about what to do with the site around ground zero. WHT TO do with that neighborhood, how to redevelop Manhattan. They had a 1 day F2F LARGE Meeting with tables of ten with facilitators and laptops who collected the conversational themes and feelings and fed them back to the larger group. Briefly they formed an intentional conversational community. All of their aims were tom come up with a good solution for where the WTC had been blown up. Even though they did not agree- some were strongly opinionated that it be a symbolic building that NY will not be defeated, we’ll put up something bigger. The final design is taller.
We took this online the week after in groups of 30. Half with facilitators and half without facilitator. All could read each other’s conversations. Most of the groups that did not have an assigned facilitator, one rose from the ranks and took on that role to lead the conversation. It was quite and emotional couple of weeks. Some had lost close relatives, friends, involved in recover efforts, had seen the towers collapsed. Everyone had a strong emotion around it and willing to engage in the conversation. But there were differences between groups. Some people were tying to shout their positions down the throats of other people. We call them the tall towers people. Bu t there were other people who were victims family who said the memorial was most important. There were complaints that they were getting more than their representative voice. It wasn’t
fair that their emotions were going to sway how things would developed.
Mostly people were concerned about the trust that their input would be part of the decision. They hoped to have some effect on the decision makers. As it turned out it really did. The F2f conversation was widely reported as expressing strong disapproval to the initial plans. Based on that the publicity of getting this strong disapproval and sent everyone back to the drawing board. The online conversations contributed that yes it was important that the towers be tall and there be a memorial. And the chose design reflects this.
Trust, Identity, Reputation
These are concepts you see being talked about on the web. Software is being developed and put in to portal software. I was associated with a company called RealCommunities which had a flexible database where people could establish identity and a reputation management module. A lot of this stuff operates in our daily life according to where we trust people, what we know of their identity and reputation. When engaging in online conversations with people online you rely on many other factors to determine if it is worthwhile in engaging in the conversation. You are investing your time. Don’t want to feel like you’ve wasted it.
What we found on the Well when we all came together, a bunch of people who didn’t know each other with just a bunch of words on a screen connecting. Came to a point when Howard Rheingold and Howard Mandel started a conference called "True Confessions." It was basically a place where people could write stories about themselves. Up until them people learned just what they learned about each other in conversations about politics, news, sports. That was valuable especially if you engaged in conversations across topics. A person in politics might be a flaming liberal and you were conservative, but in the parenting conference both have kids and shared experiences. A multidimensional relationship, the way it is in real life, we know each other from at least two different contexts. Helps us get a sense of what these people are. IN True CONFESSIONAS once they saw a bit more about each other’s background, it opened up the community. They knew this person was what they stood for, what they’d been through, why they were what they were.
Leadership
When you start a conversational community you will find different kinds of leaders. Founders who understand the mission, where the conversation is supposed to go, who was invited and why. The Implementers who actually start the conversations, comfortable with the tools, recognize what to do with the vision provided by the founders. The Sustainers hang in there. The facilitators, the challengers who keep volatility in the conversation and attract more people to it because conversations generally want to expand.
Power Imbalances Destabilize
Make it difficult for people to trust. Today’s world situation. People don’t necessarily want to go along. They don’t want the US to say not only are we the most wealthy, but powerful, military strength, democracy – and thus our vision is the most powerful vision. But will we be kept in our place. Will other nations keep their validity. France is digging in it’s heels. Other countries are digging in their heels.
The Truth Will Out
The internet has lent this whole other side to propaganda. You can’t keep a lid on things anymore. There will be other visions represented. Blogging, even though its in principle the same internet publishing model, we’re probably being blogged as we speak -- this element was not there when Berners-Lee put up the initial web pages. Blogging is now a medium, or an application of the medium, that allows many viewpoints to come together, cross represent each other, disagree with each other. A wide conversation that when used well in communities in trust -- which does nto mean you necessarily agree, but you understand where they are coming from, but as long as you believe they are speaking from the heart, you have a level of trust that they are a known element, not a maverick, one who spoofs you.
In a conversation if the truth doesn’t out, if people don’t agree to speak truthfully, not a balance of weight in the conversation, and least everyone going in the same direction of having a productive conversation rather than shouting each other out. On the well we had "subtext" you could read a conversation and tell if there was dissatisfaction or lack of cred under the surface. People might not say it, but a vibe, of argument running below the surface. In an online discussion that happens on a company’s intranet you will find a lot of that. People are afraid to really express what they believe because their jobs at stake. If the company does not have a culture that encourage people to say what they believe, if people don’t’ feel they can say what they believe, it will still come across in refusal to participate or what you can read between the lines. People’s subconscious. Belief system at work that they did not want to express because it would create a hassle, an argument. But their subconscious will still come through in how they talked.
Weinberger: Typical in business that there is an imbalance in power. What do you do to accommodate conversations?
This is part of the problem with business culture and how it’s developed through the years. In the first couple of chapters of Building the KM Network, we run through a quick history of civilization and how we got through the industrial age, how orgs formed in a hierarchical sense built on a military model. Was not important what the lower ranks thought. Whoever was running the place held all the knowledge and wisdom, hired lower ranks with wisdom and now power. The net has broken into distributed non hierarchical model. Business has not caught up. They go through team building sessions and OD trying to enable a more open and distributed conversation, but still that power balance exists if the upper levels of management don’t participate in conversations that cut across the layers. At the Well it mattered that Steward Brand as founder of the Well participated. But he was sort of thin skinned. If anyone criticized his vision or suggestions, he didn’t stick around very long. We always wished that he would. He was initially a very vocal participant but when the hard questions started he did not feel it was necessary to answer them. That’s when the leadership model has to move on. When the founders and CEOS aren’t going to participate… now the customers are much more powered. They can talk to each other. They can talk about products through boards such as Epinions, online gatherings like on Edmonds.com about their cars, and if the company is not going to be part of this conversation, its going to suffer from not getting, taking and using that feedback. I think not being a CEO and not choosing to work within a company as an employee, throwing rocks from over the wall as a consultant, my council is that companies have to evolve. Look at Enron and all these scandals. If these conversations aren’t enabled with in the company all kinds of things can take place. If they aren’t talking about it they see how it gets out of control. Companies, careers, 401Ks ruined. It’s hard to visualize what its like working in a co with tens of thousands of employees and how you get them started. But conversations start incrementally and can spread within organizations.
Weinberger: Short of changing the ethos of the org, a big challenge, many companies would rather die than do that. Experience on the well, someone gets on where the power imbalance is wrecking the conversation, the answer to Brand is not step down from your role, but change your conversational behavior. Do you have advice or help for working within the conversation itself, short of changing the way businesses work?
Tom: All the things you talk about operate in my world of online support groups. If you put a doctor in a conversation it changes the conversation. Just breast cancer survivors the conversation is more open and wide-ranging. In these communities you do not have the flames. A built in "we’re in this together and we need to help each other." Similar response to a disaster when you work with people you had not worked with before.
What do you do about power imbalances? First acknowledge it. That there is that difference between the person who is operating from a higher rung on the ladder One of the people I worked with on the LTC forum came up with the idea of a "Full Value Contract." When a conversation is engaged, in this case online, that going into it everyone agrees that they are going to give full value to the conversation. They make an agreement going in that they are gong to listen, respect, do what they can to encourage each other to speak, not dominate the conversation, do everything they can to make the conversation as useful for ist purpose as they can. It’s a very important idea that you have an agreement, which formalizes the conversation more than they usually are. Usually more ad hoc. People set up a forum, invite people, a topic. But as far as any kind of social contract they have to evolve over time. On the Well we had "you own your own words" which was formulated to protect the well from liability but adopted as a rallying cry for personal copyright issues. Social contracts evolved by trial and error. When you go into a conversation you set up for a purpose, presenting everyone with some sort of contractually worded agreement can really help, especially where there is a power imbalance so everyone assumes an equal role, even with different levels of responsibility. If a biz is going to have an online discussion w/ CEO and higher folks, that they declare this is the way it is going to be. Not a George Bush press conf where you have to ask the right questions to get picked on.
Question: Would you advocate to people with power to use an alias to make it a more egalitarian environment?
I don’t that’s really what you are looking for. You are looking for true identity. If you use an alias that allows the person with the higher power position to act like a fly on wall, Joe Everyman and speak. It might be useful for them, but for everyone else, fi they don’t know this.
I was thinking more of a person with some dominant power enters the conversation; it tends to polarize the conversation by dint of their identity. If you wanted exchange of content, not identity, it would make it a more level playing field.
[Cliff asked Nancy what she thought. She talked about unintended consequences of anonymity and the importance of treating root issues at the root. Organizational warts just appear even bigger online.]
It’s (anonymity) tempting. Does it create a false sense of security? What is the organization is about? An organization that does not operating to certain ideals in the offline world, online they have to be based in reality. We are proposing to do work with a company that is promoting the idea of the democratic workplace. They have models and theories and they want to start online discussion. There are plusses and minuses to the democratic workplace.
Gonna rip through the rest of the presentation (clock ticking)
Looping
Getting into an argument …saying if we oust Sadam Hussein it’s going to reduce terrorism and the others say increase and it goes around and around. You don’t’ want to spend time doing that. We’re in a loop and shoot for common ground. Sorting, looking for the exit point to looping conversations. Diplomacy, as we’re seeing, does not work all that great when it is relegated to national PR> What are the conversations that are really happening. People being diplomatic can lead to beating around the bush. Talk about the real stuff even if it is hard. You shouldn’t have to have to use diplomacy. Spit it out and say what you mean.
Not getting Work Done
Summary
Questions
Corollary: Mention Me! XXXIV
Another shout out to
IdeaFlow
for picking up on my SXSW writing. Renee just sent me the nicest email.
Another shout out to
for picking up on my SXSW writing. Renee just sent me the nicest email.
Corollary: Mention Me! XXXIV
Shouts out to
Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Pure Content
for mentioning my SXSW coverage. Thanks!
Shouts out to
for mentioning my SXSW coverage. Thanks!
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Mention Me! XXXIV
My South by Southwest 2003 reports got good response this past weekend, and I'll follow up soon with some commentary on the event -- as well as some insight on what the immediate journalism experiment felt like. This is the first time I've confblogged, and it went over well enough to do it again in the future. Thanks to the folks who've linked to the Media Diet coverage to date:
Anil Dash
Ben Bailey
Boing Boing
JD's New Media Musings
Just Differently Intelligent
Lawrence Lessig
Stingy Kids
If I've missed anyone, let me know. I'm just going off references today.
My South by Southwest 2003 reports got good response this past weekend, and I'll follow up soon with some commentary on the event -- as well as some insight on what the immediate journalism experiment felt like. This is the first time I've confblogged, and it went over well enough to do it again in the future. Thanks to the folks who've linked to the Media Diet coverage to date:
If I've missed anyone, let me know. I'm just going off references today.
South by Southwest 2003 XIX
Bruce Sterling and Derek Woodgate: Tomorrow Now
Introductions
Sterling: I'm an author. My most recent book is actually a futurist book. After I did this book, I got this really sweet gig writing for Wired, writing this monthly futurist column. That explains what the heck I'm doing here.
Derek and I are going to start ripping on six major league change drivers. Were just going to ping pong some things back and forth.
Woodgate: I'm principal of the futures lab here in Austin. We work with major corporations looking for what we call future potential for them. We really look to provide them with what a strategic plan or R&D company can't. I'm a political economist by profession.
Open Spectrum
Sterling: Topic No. 1: Open spectrum. This baby's come completely out of left field. People are suggesting that you could divvy up the spectrum and rain it down on people's homes. I've got it right here in my machine. I'm running off Cory Doctorow's groovy little 802.11 thing. This is just the baby verson. I'm interested in the struggle because it a microcosm of a bigger one. It's a struggle between the pigopolis and the pirates. Or law and order and the multitudes. In the world of open spectrum, it's very open. No one knows what its good for. The people who are in charge of the spectrum allocation are very worried about it. After the '90s it's very clear that you can bring a lot of capital to stuff, make it widely available, and still lose your ass. You can go down in flames by bringing people access to information.
Here we've got my favorite version, Motorola Canopy. What your talking about is a really big antenna, kind of a moonlight tower. Everyone pitches in a couple of bucks. It's no big deal. The thing is, this is just a small range of spectrum that’s good for microwaving chickens. If we can get just one tiny chunk of Clearchannel's empire, one wasted classic rock station, we could cover the country in 18 months. There would be no last mile problem.
Woodgate: We've been following the spectrum thing, too. We're looking for a tipping point, and I'm not really sure we're there. The car seems to be the tipping point. People much more believe in the local area network than in mesh. The thought is that putting these standards in cars by 2007 means that Ford and Daimler are all in this together. If it really gets commercialized in that way it’s a very consumer-oriented way. We've seen the death of satellites. Other than moving heavy data, where open spectrum's better, we're probably going to see more of the local area networks in the short term.
From a business pojnt of view it’s a little different.
Bubble Money
Sterling: Let's talk about the business side. That’s Topic No. 2: Where's the bubble money? Where's the economic activity? Where's the business model? So much glass was put in the ground and so much human energy was expended for something that doesn’t have a business model. The death of portals is a problem. The death of ISP's is a problem. If something like Canopy takes off, there go the ISP's. Its interesting to me that the biggest thing going right now is Google. Google isn't a portal. It's all about getting right into the database. Get me right into the database.
Who is this poor guy from Red Herring? I saw him on CNN this morning. He says, "I was googling it. I was bloggering it." I was blog dancing him. He says, "Yeah, the enthusiasts usually start it and then someone like me comes in to finance it." I was, like, "Where's your magazine dude?" How many times do these guys need to be punished? How much money do they need to lose? When will they learn that the Internet is a product of the sciences and the military. Those aren't profit-motive ventures.
CNN doesn't have any money to send anyone to Baghdad this time around. Fox lost heaps of money, enough money to build entire cities from the ground up. There's no money. There's no money in Blogger. There's no money in the corporate media. Money has to come from somewhere. Unless information wants to be worthless. Unless we just want to be worse informed from machines that work worse and worse. That’s the trend I'm looking at, and it's bugging me.
Woodgate: I agree with you, but I think there are some places where there is some bubble money. Don't throw it all out. If you look at the drivers, you can see some trends. Things like escapism and maximum pleasure are really quite important. In things like entertainment or really serious stuff, there may not be any money. But in things like experience collecting, cultural diffusion, there may be money.
We are seeing some real creepage in a whole host of environmental issues. Where there is going to be real money is in security and in self-preservation. As a futurist, I usually never try to guess where I should put my money, but security is one of those areas. In addition, I think we need to look at biotech. Another thing ubiquitous computing.
Ubiquitous Computing
Sterling: Let's move right into that. Topic No. 3: Ubicomp. You're beginning to see some of this popping up. When you start having these little gizmos, you know you're moving in the right direction from where it goes from hand waving to where it really hurts people. Ubiciomp bites man.
I think that the first area is traffic monitoring and traffic rings. The mayor of London OK'd the installation of traffic monitoring cameras that take snapshots of your license plate. You get a ticket. That's OK. We don’t want to run people down. But what worries me is ubicomp mission creep. Now you’ve got a database of everybody and her sister's license plate and what they're doing downtown. I don’t know if any of you Austinites have noticed the bloom of video cameras. What is our city doing with this video? How do you leave town without them knowing? How do you really know when you're driving across town to have a little rendezvous with your boyfriend that your husband wont call up and ask where did my wife's license plate go? It's a ubicomp problem. Its an Orwellian ubicomp problem.
It's sexy. The upcoming war between palm tops and cell phone gadgets will be interesting. It's weird. I'ts one of the most exciting places of concurrent technological development: Handhelds trying to become phones and phones trying to become palm tops.
Woodgate: Every project that we've been working on for the last 2-3 years, ubicomp has been a really critical aspect. There are two sides: the everywhere and the nowhere. The likely thing is that the suit is most likely going to be an office. Given heads-up displays, you can really customize them. Having personal wireless area networks is going to be pretty exciting. MIT is working on that. So are a lot of companies, particularly companies making wear ware.
Sterling: You’ve got to love a term like "wear ware." Then GPS can be where wear ware.
Woodgate: What we're seeing is a tremendous number of new polymers with circuitry embedded in them.
Sterling: I love Materials Connection. Their job is to go to Italy and buy all the weirdest shit. They put it in a cubby hole and people pay just to come and handle the stuff. I could make a fork out of this! It takes a while for new materials to become adopted. They’ve been at it for a long time. I ran into this one guy. And he gave me a chunk of foamed aluminum. It's froth. That stuff just smells like the future.
Woodgate: It's good from the sense that you can really understand how you can build anything. That’s important from a sensory perspective. It's really important that it felt good. The technology really has to be invisible. We're looking for, even with ubiquitous computing, things that really do something formless. One interesting point you made is about the handheld vs. the cell phone. I don’t see the future of the screen being between the handheld vs. the cell phone but a piece of plastic.
Sterling: One aspect of this that’s being underplayed is ubijunk. The first wave of ubicomp isnt going to work very well. Then you end up with stuff that's just waiting to be turned off or picked up or thrown out. What happens if you walk into a room that’s experienced the blue screen of death? What if there are buggy rooms? Who do you call? The difficulty of cars has always been the planned obsolescence of cars. What happens when you try to drive an obsolete smart vehicle? It still thinks it's smarter than you, and it's been in a couple of wrecks. Its GPS map is 18 months out of date and you drive right over the edge at 80 miles an hour. Bad maps cause you to blow up the Chinese embassy. What if it's in your clothes? I have an ID tag in my underwear, and I wash it one too many times. There's a whole Philip K. Dick world of hilarity here.
Industry
Sterling: Let's move onto Topic No. 4: Influence on industry. The thing that impressed me with the foamed aluminum wasn’t the thing itself but the amount of sensing. You almost need aluminum moussing. Just the right temperature. What happens when that crashes? What happens when it's no longer under the control of experts? What if I can go down to Kinko's and foam me some aluminum?
It’s the Linux model for physical objects. It's a really intriguing organizational problem that our society has that no else seems to have. What happens to General Motors if people can build cars? What if you could just download the stats to build a Model T? That can't be that hard. Henry Ford wasn't that big a guy. What if you built one out of foamed aluminum and chopped bamboo? How much would it really cost? Maybe a couple of million dollars? A Model T cost $400 bucks new. And there was no one in particular making them.
It's a Red Hat automobile. There's no digital rights management. When it wore out you'd just make another. How would we fit that into the litigation structure? Who do you sue? What are we going to do when kids are making stuff -- stuff -- not drivers, but actual stuff? We have a major military problem over it. The terrorist spread of mass destruction is basically a Linux model for nuclear weapons. That’s why were going to take out Iraq. It used to be that only governments could afford weapons of mass destruction. Now small groups of networked activists can get their hands on the stuff.
They're only weapons. And weapons have a manufacturing aspect. You just have to make the stuff. Aluminum stuff is suddenly contraband. Walk around downtown Austin and see how many aluminum tubes you find. It concerns me. We don’t really have methods to deal with this stuff. People's attitudes are becoming polarized. At the top end its becoming more and more ferocious, and at the bottom it's becoming more and more corrupt. We need a middle here.
Woodgate: We're seeing some of the modeling techniques that are allowing people to make things like little toys. But it's beyond us to work out the distribution problems,. Fabbing's going to be an important part of some community aspects. But the whole issue of community structures is part of society. If you look at the changing nature of work, we are seeing a real breakdown of traditional structures, particularly in knowledge work. There's no real need for these big organizations. You can come in and do what you need to do at any time.
We're starting to see what we call community companies. They're not just profit-making companies but communities of profitable individuals. In Europe, we're seeing already that people are negotiating their own contracts on a very different basis. They're looking for a retirement lifestyle all the way through their entire career. I'm also looking at that from the fabbing point of view.
Sterling: I wonder how you make those structures accountable. And how you can plan that lifestyle when you have no idea how long you're going to live.
Biotech
Sterling: Maybe we should move onto topic No. 5: Biotech. I'm concerned about the structure of the American healthcare system. There's a not so slow crisis brewing there. One of the worst aspects of this I've seen is a revolt on the part of healthcare workers on insurance rates. They're refusing to heal sick people because they can't afford the healthcare premiums. This is a sign of a breakdown in the social order. You can't maintain that drain on the insurance companies.
We've tried. The US has struggled with this for many years, to find a balance between socialized medicine and the high-tech treatment we’ve been aiming for. It doesn’t matter if you can get four heart transplants if the guy next to you at the bus station coughs antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis on you. I belong to the generation where it's sort of a given that healthcare will continue to improve and lifespans will continue to expand. But you see life expectancies crashing in large parts of the world. The World Health Organization used to think that the population was on it's way to 11 billion. Where is it now? 8.3 billion. Where'd all those people go? AIDS, mostly, actually. AIDS and a crashing birth rate. When people don't have sex carefully, we get AIDS. And when people have sex carefully, we get crashing birth rates. We don’t treat our public health as though we all share the same species. The low end and a certain number of people are going to die from this. It's not going to be pretty
Some things are pretty. We have a much better sense of cellular development at this point. I'd be pretty concerned about the degree of antibiotic resistance. We're going to be domesticating microbes, figuring out what they do and how they work. Whereas we used to have home pregnancy tests, we're going to have home everything tests. You're going to have microbe sniffers on towers. Bad cloud today. You're going to have microbe sniffers on every water faucet. There's a potential there for non-commercial health monitoring activity where we can actually see what's eating us. It's a no brainer for domestic offense because it's a bio-war defense. You can see this in elk wasting and West Nile virus. Out of this crisis better things will come.
Woodgate: Other than the UK, compared to other healthcare systems, yours is probably the worse. With new bio materials, tissues, and genetics, we're going to see massive growth in that area which will counterbalance what we see happening. Particularly with an aging population, the costs are up. All those things cost money, and it's going to be even more difficult to keep the system running.
We're going to see more prevention techniques. The air that’s inside your house is 2-3 times worse than the air outside your house. We're going to see a lot of things pumped into the air at home for therapy. Equally, were going to see new soaps and other materials.
Sterling: Instead of home fire things, why don’t we have home cold germs things? People are used to paying a lot of money for medicine, but prevention is more of a hobby. Why can't I see the inside of my head every morning? Why can't I scan my body head to toe and have that as my start page so I can see how much calcium I've lost in my spine? Why do I have to go to an expert and pay them to tell me?
The mechanisms of decay in the human body, there are probably eight or nine of them. We might beat one or two of them in pretty short order. You could have fresh dewy young skin but still be going blind or deaf. Life extension isn't going to be like this fountain of youth crap. You'll have life extension in your nose. You'll spend all your time patching things up while you're Chernobyling somewhere else. I think the first people to do it are going to really suffer. Don’t ever be the alpha test for a biotech upgrade. Let the junkies do it. Let RU Sirius do it. Let the extropians do it.
Globalization
Sterling: We're done to our last topic here: Globalizatioon, Americanization, anti-Americanization. The war. Movement in the street. NATO, the UN, the scene, baby!
Woodgate: Is globalization Americanization? It's really China-ization. The factory of the world is in China. The way globalization spreads is more about timing than anything else. It's perceived as Americanization because there's a complete gap between the ideology of America and the ideology of the rest of the world. In most of Europe and in Japan, you don't have ultra-capitalism like you have in the US. Look at what's important to people's lives. That makes it really different and difficult.
You have the same problem internally between states and federalization. States are going their own way. There's a massive change that’s going to go on. If it doesn’t, the US is going to go through a really difficult period. That might not be the end of the world. Go back 100 years and you have two world wars and tens of wars elsewhere. And we're still here. 10 years from now the US will be very different in its attitudes. It has to be if it's going to sustain any kind of growth.
Sterling: I think a lot of people mistook globalization for Americanization because for a long time Americans held the megaphone. During the '90s there was kind of a period of quiescence. People in the rest of the world expect Americans to behave the way the Washington Consensus would have us act. But now we've got more of a Serbian or South African-style regime in power that’s trying to shift foreign policy away from here. It's a large continental, militarized superpower with a population under surveillance and punishment.
That’s not the way America was when it was globalizing. Other countries are globalizing better now. ??? Al jazira ??? has the vitality of CNN during the first Gulf War. I would expect this second Gulf War to make them. They're a global newsmaking organization. They're breaking a lot of stories, people. The non-resident Indians have had a huge impact on their home country. Al Qaeda are globalized Arabs. They're guys with western educations and engineering degrees. They're globalized Arabs and they're angry about it.
I think it's about time the globe woke up that 4% of the people in the world can't do all the damn heavy lifting. If you're Brazil, you need your own damn government. The idea that the UN becomes irrelevant because the Bush administration says so is ridicuolous. It's not like the Chinese prime minister is going to stop talking to the Indian prime minister because they shut down a building in New York. The future is people in Belgrade talking to people in Latvia.
This too shall pass. The clock will not stop ticking. Armageddon never lives up to its hype. Things change and they change for the better, the worse, and the indifferent. Let's all go to my house and have a beer this evening.
Bruce Sterling and Derek Woodgate: Tomorrow Now
Do I really need to introduce Sterling? Woodgate is the principal partner of the Futures Lab. Here is a rough transcript of the discussion:
Introductions
Sterling: I'm an author. My most recent book is actually a futurist book. After I did this book, I got this really sweet gig writing for Wired, writing this monthly futurist column. That explains what the heck I'm doing here.
Derek and I are going to start ripping on six major league change drivers. Were just going to ping pong some things back and forth.
Woodgate: I'm principal of the futures lab here in Austin. We work with major corporations looking for what we call future potential for them. We really look to provide them with what a strategic plan or R&D company can't. I'm a political economist by profession.
Open Spectrum
Sterling: Topic No. 1: Open spectrum. This baby's come completely out of left field. People are suggesting that you could divvy up the spectrum and rain it down on people's homes. I've got it right here in my machine. I'm running off Cory Doctorow's groovy little 802.11 thing. This is just the baby verson. I'm interested in the struggle because it a microcosm of a bigger one. It's a struggle between the pigopolis and the pirates. Or law and order and the multitudes. In the world of open spectrum, it's very open. No one knows what its good for. The people who are in charge of the spectrum allocation are very worried about it. After the '90s it's very clear that you can bring a lot of capital to stuff, make it widely available, and still lose your ass. You can go down in flames by bringing people access to information.
Here we've got my favorite version, Motorola Canopy. What your talking about is a really big antenna, kind of a moonlight tower. Everyone pitches in a couple of bucks. It's no big deal. The thing is, this is just a small range of spectrum that’s good for microwaving chickens. If we can get just one tiny chunk of Clearchannel's empire, one wasted classic rock station, we could cover the country in 18 months. There would be no last mile problem.
Woodgate: We've been following the spectrum thing, too. We're looking for a tipping point, and I'm not really sure we're there. The car seems to be the tipping point. People much more believe in the local area network than in mesh. The thought is that putting these standards in cars by 2007 means that Ford and Daimler are all in this together. If it really gets commercialized in that way it’s a very consumer-oriented way. We've seen the death of satellites. Other than moving heavy data, where open spectrum's better, we're probably going to see more of the local area networks in the short term.
From a business pojnt of view it’s a little different.
Bubble Money
Sterling: Let's talk about the business side. That’s Topic No. 2: Where's the bubble money? Where's the economic activity? Where's the business model? So much glass was put in the ground and so much human energy was expended for something that doesn’t have a business model. The death of portals is a problem. The death of ISP's is a problem. If something like Canopy takes off, there go the ISP's. Its interesting to me that the biggest thing going right now is Google. Google isn't a portal. It's all about getting right into the database. Get me right into the database.
Who is this poor guy from Red Herring? I saw him on CNN this morning. He says, "I was googling it. I was bloggering it." I was blog dancing him. He says, "Yeah, the enthusiasts usually start it and then someone like me comes in to finance it." I was, like, "Where's your magazine dude?" How many times do these guys need to be punished? How much money do they need to lose? When will they learn that the Internet is a product of the sciences and the military. Those aren't profit-motive ventures.
CNN doesn't have any money to send anyone to Baghdad this time around. Fox lost heaps of money, enough money to build entire cities from the ground up. There's no money. There's no money in Blogger. There's no money in the corporate media. Money has to come from somewhere. Unless information wants to be worthless. Unless we just want to be worse informed from machines that work worse and worse. That’s the trend I'm looking at, and it's bugging me.
Woodgate: I agree with you, but I think there are some places where there is some bubble money. Don't throw it all out. If you look at the drivers, you can see some trends. Things like escapism and maximum pleasure are really quite important. In things like entertainment or really serious stuff, there may not be any money. But in things like experience collecting, cultural diffusion, there may be money.
We are seeing some real creepage in a whole host of environmental issues. Where there is going to be real money is in security and in self-preservation. As a futurist, I usually never try to guess where I should put my money, but security is one of those areas. In addition, I think we need to look at biotech. Another thing ubiquitous computing.
Ubiquitous Computing
Sterling: Let's move right into that. Topic No. 3: Ubicomp. You're beginning to see some of this popping up. When you start having these little gizmos, you know you're moving in the right direction from where it goes from hand waving to where it really hurts people. Ubiciomp bites man.
I think that the first area is traffic monitoring and traffic rings. The mayor of London OK'd the installation of traffic monitoring cameras that take snapshots of your license plate. You get a ticket. That's OK. We don’t want to run people down. But what worries me is ubicomp mission creep. Now you’ve got a database of everybody and her sister's license plate and what they're doing downtown. I don’t know if any of you Austinites have noticed the bloom of video cameras. What is our city doing with this video? How do you leave town without them knowing? How do you really know when you're driving across town to have a little rendezvous with your boyfriend that your husband wont call up and ask where did my wife's license plate go? It's a ubicomp problem. Its an Orwellian ubicomp problem.
It's sexy. The upcoming war between palm tops and cell phone gadgets will be interesting. It's weird. I'ts one of the most exciting places of concurrent technological development: Handhelds trying to become phones and phones trying to become palm tops.
Woodgate: Every project that we've been working on for the last 2-3 years, ubicomp has been a really critical aspect. There are two sides: the everywhere and the nowhere. The likely thing is that the suit is most likely going to be an office. Given heads-up displays, you can really customize them. Having personal wireless area networks is going to be pretty exciting. MIT is working on that. So are a lot of companies, particularly companies making wear ware.
Sterling: You’ve got to love a term like "wear ware." Then GPS can be where wear ware.
Woodgate: What we're seeing is a tremendous number of new polymers with circuitry embedded in them.
Sterling: I love Materials Connection. Their job is to go to Italy and buy all the weirdest shit. They put it in a cubby hole and people pay just to come and handle the stuff. I could make a fork out of this! It takes a while for new materials to become adopted. They’ve been at it for a long time. I ran into this one guy. And he gave me a chunk of foamed aluminum. It's froth. That stuff just smells like the future.
Woodgate: It's good from the sense that you can really understand how you can build anything. That’s important from a sensory perspective. It's really important that it felt good. The technology really has to be invisible. We're looking for, even with ubiquitous computing, things that really do something formless. One interesting point you made is about the handheld vs. the cell phone. I don’t see the future of the screen being between the handheld vs. the cell phone but a piece of plastic.
Sterling: One aspect of this that’s being underplayed is ubijunk. The first wave of ubicomp isnt going to work very well. Then you end up with stuff that's just waiting to be turned off or picked up or thrown out. What happens if you walk into a room that’s experienced the blue screen of death? What if there are buggy rooms? Who do you call? The difficulty of cars has always been the planned obsolescence of cars. What happens when you try to drive an obsolete smart vehicle? It still thinks it's smarter than you, and it's been in a couple of wrecks. Its GPS map is 18 months out of date and you drive right over the edge at 80 miles an hour. Bad maps cause you to blow up the Chinese embassy. What if it's in your clothes? I have an ID tag in my underwear, and I wash it one too many times. There's a whole Philip K. Dick world of hilarity here.
Industry
Sterling: Let's move onto Topic No. 4: Influence on industry. The thing that impressed me with the foamed aluminum wasn’t the thing itself but the amount of sensing. You almost need aluminum moussing. Just the right temperature. What happens when that crashes? What happens when it's no longer under the control of experts? What if I can go down to Kinko's and foam me some aluminum?
It’s the Linux model for physical objects. It's a really intriguing organizational problem that our society has that no else seems to have. What happens to General Motors if people can build cars? What if you could just download the stats to build a Model T? That can't be that hard. Henry Ford wasn't that big a guy. What if you built one out of foamed aluminum and chopped bamboo? How much would it really cost? Maybe a couple of million dollars? A Model T cost $400 bucks new. And there was no one in particular making them.
It's a Red Hat automobile. There's no digital rights management. When it wore out you'd just make another. How would we fit that into the litigation structure? Who do you sue? What are we going to do when kids are making stuff -- stuff -- not drivers, but actual stuff? We have a major military problem over it. The terrorist spread of mass destruction is basically a Linux model for nuclear weapons. That’s why were going to take out Iraq. It used to be that only governments could afford weapons of mass destruction. Now small groups of networked activists can get their hands on the stuff.
They're only weapons. And weapons have a manufacturing aspect. You just have to make the stuff. Aluminum stuff is suddenly contraband. Walk around downtown Austin and see how many aluminum tubes you find. It concerns me. We don’t really have methods to deal with this stuff. People's attitudes are becoming polarized. At the top end its becoming more and more ferocious, and at the bottom it's becoming more and more corrupt. We need a middle here.
Woodgate: We're seeing some of the modeling techniques that are allowing people to make things like little toys. But it's beyond us to work out the distribution problems,. Fabbing's going to be an important part of some community aspects. But the whole issue of community structures is part of society. If you look at the changing nature of work, we are seeing a real breakdown of traditional structures, particularly in knowledge work. There's no real need for these big organizations. You can come in and do what you need to do at any time.
We're starting to see what we call community companies. They're not just profit-making companies but communities of profitable individuals. In Europe, we're seeing already that people are negotiating their own contracts on a very different basis. They're looking for a retirement lifestyle all the way through their entire career. I'm also looking at that from the fabbing point of view.
Sterling: I wonder how you make those structures accountable. And how you can plan that lifestyle when you have no idea how long you're going to live.
Biotech
Sterling: Maybe we should move onto topic No. 5: Biotech. I'm concerned about the structure of the American healthcare system. There's a not so slow crisis brewing there. One of the worst aspects of this I've seen is a revolt on the part of healthcare workers on insurance rates. They're refusing to heal sick people because they can't afford the healthcare premiums. This is a sign of a breakdown in the social order. You can't maintain that drain on the insurance companies.
We've tried. The US has struggled with this for many years, to find a balance between socialized medicine and the high-tech treatment we’ve been aiming for. It doesn’t matter if you can get four heart transplants if the guy next to you at the bus station coughs antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis on you. I belong to the generation where it's sort of a given that healthcare will continue to improve and lifespans will continue to expand. But you see life expectancies crashing in large parts of the world. The World Health Organization used to think that the population was on it's way to 11 billion. Where is it now? 8.3 billion. Where'd all those people go? AIDS, mostly, actually. AIDS and a crashing birth rate. When people don't have sex carefully, we get AIDS. And when people have sex carefully, we get crashing birth rates. We don’t treat our public health as though we all share the same species. The low end and a certain number of people are going to die from this. It's not going to be pretty
Some things are pretty. We have a much better sense of cellular development at this point. I'd be pretty concerned about the degree of antibiotic resistance. We're going to be domesticating microbes, figuring out what they do and how they work. Whereas we used to have home pregnancy tests, we're going to have home everything tests. You're going to have microbe sniffers on towers. Bad cloud today. You're going to have microbe sniffers on every water faucet. There's a potential there for non-commercial health monitoring activity where we can actually see what's eating us. It's a no brainer for domestic offense because it's a bio-war defense. You can see this in elk wasting and West Nile virus. Out of this crisis better things will come.
Woodgate: Other than the UK, compared to other healthcare systems, yours is probably the worse. With new bio materials, tissues, and genetics, we're going to see massive growth in that area which will counterbalance what we see happening. Particularly with an aging population, the costs are up. All those things cost money, and it's going to be even more difficult to keep the system running.
We're going to see more prevention techniques. The air that’s inside your house is 2-3 times worse than the air outside your house. We're going to see a lot of things pumped into the air at home for therapy. Equally, were going to see new soaps and other materials.
Sterling: Instead of home fire things, why don’t we have home cold germs things? People are used to paying a lot of money for medicine, but prevention is more of a hobby. Why can't I see the inside of my head every morning? Why can't I scan my body head to toe and have that as my start page so I can see how much calcium I've lost in my spine? Why do I have to go to an expert and pay them to tell me?
The mechanisms of decay in the human body, there are probably eight or nine of them. We might beat one or two of them in pretty short order. You could have fresh dewy young skin but still be going blind or deaf. Life extension isn't going to be like this fountain of youth crap. You'll have life extension in your nose. You'll spend all your time patching things up while you're Chernobyling somewhere else. I think the first people to do it are going to really suffer. Don’t ever be the alpha test for a biotech upgrade. Let the junkies do it. Let RU Sirius do it. Let the extropians do it.
Globalization
Sterling: We're done to our last topic here: Globalizatioon, Americanization, anti-Americanization. The war. Movement in the street. NATO, the UN, the scene, baby!
Woodgate: Is globalization Americanization? It's really China-ization. The factory of the world is in China. The way globalization spreads is more about timing than anything else. It's perceived as Americanization because there's a complete gap between the ideology of America and the ideology of the rest of the world. In most of Europe and in Japan, you don't have ultra-capitalism like you have in the US. Look at what's important to people's lives. That makes it really different and difficult.
You have the same problem internally between states and federalization. States are going their own way. There's a massive change that’s going to go on. If it doesn’t, the US is going to go through a really difficult period. That might not be the end of the world. Go back 100 years and you have two world wars and tens of wars elsewhere. And we're still here. 10 years from now the US will be very different in its attitudes. It has to be if it's going to sustain any kind of growth.
Sterling: I think a lot of people mistook globalization for Americanization because for a long time Americans held the megaphone. During the '90s there was kind of a period of quiescence. People in the rest of the world expect Americans to behave the way the Washington Consensus would have us act. But now we've got more of a Serbian or South African-style regime in power that’s trying to shift foreign policy away from here. It's a large continental, militarized superpower with a population under surveillance and punishment.
That’s not the way America was when it was globalizing. Other countries are globalizing better now. ??? Al jazira ??? has the vitality of CNN during the first Gulf War. I would expect this second Gulf War to make them. They're a global newsmaking organization. They're breaking a lot of stories, people. The non-resident Indians have had a huge impact on their home country. Al Qaeda are globalized Arabs. They're guys with western educations and engineering degrees. They're globalized Arabs and they're angry about it.
I think it's about time the globe woke up that 4% of the people in the world can't do all the damn heavy lifting. If you're Brazil, you need your own damn government. The idea that the UN becomes irrelevant because the Bush administration says so is ridicuolous. It's not like the Chinese prime minister is going to stop talking to the Indian prime minister because they shut down a building in New York. The future is people in Belgrade talking to people in Latvia.
This too shall pass. The clock will not stop ticking. Armageddon never lives up to its hype. Things change and they change for the better, the worse, and the indifferent. Let's all go to my house and have a beer this evening.
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
South by Southwest 2003 XVIII
Richard Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class
Kirk Watson: Welcome, everyone. I'm pleased to see such a crowd. As the former mayor of Austin and someone who tried to pay attention to why regions flourish, I have been enamored with Dr. Florida's work for some time. It is difficult to be a rock star when you talk about economic development and regionalism. Richard Florida is a rock star. Many of you already know that he's the author of The Rise of the Creative Class. If you have not picked up that book, you should do so. In Austin, Texas, we debate creativity all the time. It's stirring debate all around the country.
Richard Florida: When you callled me up, it was a long time ago. When you said, "Will you do South by Southwest?", I jumped out of my chair. I said, "Sure, I'll do South by Southwest!" It's great to be here.
After writing this book I've gotten to be interviewed by lots of journalists. The book couldn’t have been written without two places, Newark, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I teach at a place called Carnegie-Mellon. If you know anything about Carnegie-Mellon you know it’s a pretty technologically oriented place.
When I was recruited there in 1987, Pittsburgh was going through a bit of a transformation. They recruited me and the whole idea was to turn Pittsburgh into a high-tech place. The steel mills were closing. We would develop small business incubators, high-tech councils, and spur economic development. I used to come to Austin and talk to people in entrepreneurship. The idea was that we could do some of that in Pittsburgh.
You might not be aware that one of the Carnegie-Mellon spin-offs is Sun Microsystems. Carnegie-Mellon was spinning off companies, but for some reason they weren't rooting in Pittsburgh. In 1991 and 1992 we thought we'd hit a major home run. We'd landed a big Internet search company, Lycos. Everyone thought that that was the company that would change Pittsburgh. 1994 came along. It was my seventh year, so I got to go on sabbatical. I went to teach at Harvard.
I opened up the paper one morning, and it said Lycos to move to Boston. That was a surprise. This was the company that was supposed to transform Pittsburgh. And it was moving to Boston.
People move to the place that has the best jobs. You will do anything in your community regardless of what it takes to lure those jobs. Here was the bizarre thing. The people weren't moving to the jobs. Jobs were moving to the people. When I called the people at Carnegie-Mellon to see why Lycos was moving to Boston, it wasn't that Boston was offering economically incentives. Lycos was moving because it wanted to be closer to the people that were in Boston.
That's when the lightbulb turned on in my head. Companies don't lead economic growth, people do. People move inexorably to the highest paying jobs. Maybe, just maybe, the biggest driver to economic growth was where people choose to go. When I looked back over the entire field I found not one paper about this question. No one had even bothered too ask.
We did all sorts of research. We talked to waiters and waitresses. We talked to people in bars. We talked to students. Students are interesting because they're making location decisions. And we did some statistical research.
The first thing we figured out was that most people have belief that what generates economic growth and wealth is technological progress. Some people criticize my notion off the creative class as elitist. Generally speaking, the field of economics says if you want to grow your field you need to invest in technology. My simple-minded notion was that that was far too narrow of a conceptualization. Technology is a very narrow sliver of something called human creativity.
Where you get real cycles of economic growth is where the different kinds of creativity come together. When hippie culture and universities come together, centers of economic growth have always been centers of creativity. Where in the hell is Silicon Valley? It may be nerdy, but it's equidistant between the Haight-Ashbury and the Monterey peninsula. Before the Grateful Dead, there was John Steinbeck. It has always been a place of creativity.
In the Bay Area, when Apple when to Valentine to ask for money, he didn't care what they looked like. Creativity is the source of innovation, not technology. The argument in the book is that creativity is involved in and integral to everything we do, every good we make, and every service we provide. I learned that from my father.
My dad's glasses cost $8 or $9. I'm not going to tell you how much these bad boys cost, but they cost a lot more than that, and I got them for 50% off. I didn't just buy the glasses, I bought the creative content. Whether its eyeglasses or textiles or CD's or music or architecture, everything is valued increasingly it’s the creative content of goods rather than the physical content.
Creativity is the economic force. Where does creativity come from? This is the point that many of the critics of the book criticize. Isn't the idea of the creative class elitist? Every single human being is creative. That's what the book says. Creativity is the great leveler. It defies race, gender, ethnicity, appearance, and sexual orientation. You can't hand creativity down to your children no matter how rich you are. If you suck at playing guitar, you suck. It comes from real live people who defy type.
People are the critical economic resource, not the raw materials, gold, or oil. Those places that can attract creative people because they provide the environment, they're going to be the economic winners. Because people are fickle. What do people want? People want to be themselves. All the other stuff give signals that a place will let people be themselves.
If creativity is the economic force and creativity comes from people and people are the real thing that matters, we come to the third thin. That's the role of place, of community, or region. Geographic place and community have become the essential organizing building block. Geographic place and community have supplanted the corporation. That makes our job a heck of a lot harder. We, all of us, have become stewards of the essential economic building block of the creativity age.
It's not just the Internet. This has been going on for 100 years. The great story of the 20th century was that the Internet was going to make place irrelevant. What is a corporation? What is a company? Well, the company pays dividends, salaries, and wages. It provides a base of people to participate in the company. How does a company do that? The company takes a person, a human being, and matches them up with a task. In the age of the Company Man, companies matched lots of people to lots of jobs, and it worked relatively well. Anyone remember what IBM used to stand for? I've been moved. Your company was your life.
What's the average length of a job today? Three years. What is the mechanism of matching people to work? The geographic place. For a company, the geographic place provides a thick pool of potential people who can come to work or leave work to do more interesting things. People told us we won't move to a place for a job. We want to move to places with lots of jobs. We want to move to a place where there's a vibrant labor market. Place provides this critical economic organizing function.
We began to ask people why do you move. Jobs weren't high on the list. Economists believe that people move according to economic incentives. If you're a 22 year old and you're graduating from college, and there's a great job there but no boys or girls, where are you going to go? People go to other people. Creativity people have always wanted to live in creative environments. There weren't a lot of people who are paid to be creative, so you had these little pockets of people. According to our research, there are 38 million people paid to be creative as part of their job. That's a third of the workforce.
People wanted to be in exciting places with lots of stimli. They wanted outdoors stuff. They wanted to be able to do what they wanted to do. It's not just about the high arts. The things that came through was what we call the informal arts, the independent arts, or street-level culture. Artistic and cultural and music scenes. We associate a place with its audio identity. We had do develop an indicator, right? Can we make up a bohemian index? We counted the people who were paid to be bohemian. It's an admittedly crude, flawed measure. But when you test across 300 metro cities, places that score high on this bohemian measure have high rates of innovation and economic growth.
Places also need to be open, accepting, inclusive, and tolerant. Places that are exlusionary and segregationist, creative people move away. Then other people move away. What would be an indicator that a place is open? We build a measure of foreign-born people and called it the Melting Pot Index. Canada's gone one better. They call it a mosaic. We accept people to melt and become assimilated. The Canadians say it's a mosaic. Come, whoever you are, bring your cultural heritage, and you can be a Canadian.
It's bogus bullshit that creativity is American. 30% of the companies in Silicon Valley were founded by a non-American. The places that are open are the economic winners. Then I met Gary Gates. I was studying the high-tech stuff, and Gary was studying gay people. We met, and we put our lists together, and the high-tech cities were also the gayest cities. I named my five favorite cities, and they were the top five gay cities.
Places that are open to diversity, places where anyone can come and plug in, those are the places that are going to get economic advantage. It wasn't so much that gays or the bohemians drove or attracted economic growth, but that the place attracted people and creativity bubbled up from the people who were there.
Lastly, what people gravitate to in a world with high levels of transience is history and authenticity. Pittsburgh might have a lot more history and authenticity than Austin, but we want to eradicate it. We knock down the Homestead Works and put up a mall because we were afraid o our past. Austin has leveraged its history.
I grew up in a Leave it to Beaver family. My dad went to work, my mom stayed at home, and there were two boys. You know how many Americans live in a family like that today? 7%. Between 93% and 75% live in some other kind of different setup. It's not one or the other. It's not about recruiting families, gays, or singles. It's about having cities that have something for everyone.
Richard Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class
Florida is a professor of economic development at Carnegie-Mellon Universiy and author of The Rise of the Creative Class. Here is a rough transcript of his remarks:
Kirk Watson: Welcome, everyone. I'm pleased to see such a crowd. As the former mayor of Austin and someone who tried to pay attention to why regions flourish, I have been enamored with Dr. Florida's work for some time. It is difficult to be a rock star when you talk about economic development and regionalism. Richard Florida is a rock star. Many of you already know that he's the author of The Rise of the Creative Class. If you have not picked up that book, you should do so. In Austin, Texas, we debate creativity all the time. It's stirring debate all around the country.
Richard Florida: When you callled me up, it was a long time ago. When you said, "Will you do South by Southwest?", I jumped out of my chair. I said, "Sure, I'll do South by Southwest!" It's great to be here.
After writing this book I've gotten to be interviewed by lots of journalists. The book couldn’t have been written without two places, Newark, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I teach at a place called Carnegie-Mellon. If you know anything about Carnegie-Mellon you know it’s a pretty technologically oriented place.
When I was recruited there in 1987, Pittsburgh was going through a bit of a transformation. They recruited me and the whole idea was to turn Pittsburgh into a high-tech place. The steel mills were closing. We would develop small business incubators, high-tech councils, and spur economic development. I used to come to Austin and talk to people in entrepreneurship. The idea was that we could do some of that in Pittsburgh.
You might not be aware that one of the Carnegie-Mellon spin-offs is Sun Microsystems. Carnegie-Mellon was spinning off companies, but for some reason they weren't rooting in Pittsburgh. In 1991 and 1992 we thought we'd hit a major home run. We'd landed a big Internet search company, Lycos. Everyone thought that that was the company that would change Pittsburgh. 1994 came along. It was my seventh year, so I got to go on sabbatical. I went to teach at Harvard.
I opened up the paper one morning, and it said Lycos to move to Boston. That was a surprise. This was the company that was supposed to transform Pittsburgh. And it was moving to Boston.
People move to the place that has the best jobs. You will do anything in your community regardless of what it takes to lure those jobs. Here was the bizarre thing. The people weren't moving to the jobs. Jobs were moving to the people. When I called the people at Carnegie-Mellon to see why Lycos was moving to Boston, it wasn't that Boston was offering economically incentives. Lycos was moving because it wanted to be closer to the people that were in Boston.
That's when the lightbulb turned on in my head. Companies don't lead economic growth, people do. People move inexorably to the highest paying jobs. Maybe, just maybe, the biggest driver to economic growth was where people choose to go. When I looked back over the entire field I found not one paper about this question. No one had even bothered too ask.
We did all sorts of research. We talked to waiters and waitresses. We talked to people in bars. We talked to students. Students are interesting because they're making location decisions. And we did some statistical research.
The first thing we figured out was that most people have belief that what generates economic growth and wealth is technological progress. Some people criticize my notion off the creative class as elitist. Generally speaking, the field of economics says if you want to grow your field you need to invest in technology. My simple-minded notion was that that was far too narrow of a conceptualization. Technology is a very narrow sliver of something called human creativity.
Where you get real cycles of economic growth is where the different kinds of creativity come together. When hippie culture and universities come together, centers of economic growth have always been centers of creativity. Where in the hell is Silicon Valley? It may be nerdy, but it's equidistant between the Haight-Ashbury and the Monterey peninsula. Before the Grateful Dead, there was John Steinbeck. It has always been a place of creativity.
In the Bay Area, when Apple when to Valentine to ask for money, he didn't care what they looked like. Creativity is the source of innovation, not technology. The argument in the book is that creativity is involved in and integral to everything we do, every good we make, and every service we provide. I learned that from my father.
My dad's glasses cost $8 or $9. I'm not going to tell you how much these bad boys cost, but they cost a lot more than that, and I got them for 50% off. I didn't just buy the glasses, I bought the creative content. Whether its eyeglasses or textiles or CD's or music or architecture, everything is valued increasingly it’s the creative content of goods rather than the physical content.
Creativity is the economic force. Where does creativity come from? This is the point that many of the critics of the book criticize. Isn't the idea of the creative class elitist? Every single human being is creative. That's what the book says. Creativity is the great leveler. It defies race, gender, ethnicity, appearance, and sexual orientation. You can't hand creativity down to your children no matter how rich you are. If you suck at playing guitar, you suck. It comes from real live people who defy type.
People are the critical economic resource, not the raw materials, gold, or oil. Those places that can attract creative people because they provide the environment, they're going to be the economic winners. Because people are fickle. What do people want? People want to be themselves. All the other stuff give signals that a place will let people be themselves.
If creativity is the economic force and creativity comes from people and people are the real thing that matters, we come to the third thin. That's the role of place, of community, or region. Geographic place and community have become the essential organizing building block. Geographic place and community have supplanted the corporation. That makes our job a heck of a lot harder. We, all of us, have become stewards of the essential economic building block of the creativity age.
It's not just the Internet. This has been going on for 100 years. The great story of the 20th century was that the Internet was going to make place irrelevant. What is a corporation? What is a company? Well, the company pays dividends, salaries, and wages. It provides a base of people to participate in the company. How does a company do that? The company takes a person, a human being, and matches them up with a task. In the age of the Company Man, companies matched lots of people to lots of jobs, and it worked relatively well. Anyone remember what IBM used to stand for? I've been moved. Your company was your life.
What's the average length of a job today? Three years. What is the mechanism of matching people to work? The geographic place. For a company, the geographic place provides a thick pool of potential people who can come to work or leave work to do more interesting things. People told us we won't move to a place for a job. We want to move to places with lots of jobs. We want to move to a place where there's a vibrant labor market. Place provides this critical economic organizing function.
We began to ask people why do you move. Jobs weren't high on the list. Economists believe that people move according to economic incentives. If you're a 22 year old and you're graduating from college, and there's a great job there but no boys or girls, where are you going to go? People go to other people. Creativity people have always wanted to live in creative environments. There weren't a lot of people who are paid to be creative, so you had these little pockets of people. According to our research, there are 38 million people paid to be creative as part of their job. That's a third of the workforce.
People wanted to be in exciting places with lots of stimli. They wanted outdoors stuff. They wanted to be able to do what they wanted to do. It's not just about the high arts. The things that came through was what we call the informal arts, the independent arts, or street-level culture. Artistic and cultural and music scenes. We associate a place with its audio identity. We had do develop an indicator, right? Can we make up a bohemian index? We counted the people who were paid to be bohemian. It's an admittedly crude, flawed measure. But when you test across 300 metro cities, places that score high on this bohemian measure have high rates of innovation and economic growth.
Places also need to be open, accepting, inclusive, and tolerant. Places that are exlusionary and segregationist, creative people move away. Then other people move away. What would be an indicator that a place is open? We build a measure of foreign-born people and called it the Melting Pot Index. Canada's gone one better. They call it a mosaic. We accept people to melt and become assimilated. The Canadians say it's a mosaic. Come, whoever you are, bring your cultural heritage, and you can be a Canadian.
It's bogus bullshit that creativity is American. 30% of the companies in Silicon Valley were founded by a non-American. The places that are open are the economic winners. Then I met Gary Gates. I was studying the high-tech stuff, and Gary was studying gay people. We met, and we put our lists together, and the high-tech cities were also the gayest cities. I named my five favorite cities, and they were the top five gay cities.
Places that are open to diversity, places where anyone can come and plug in, those are the places that are going to get economic advantage. It wasn't so much that gays or the bohemians drove or attracted economic growth, but that the place attracted people and creativity bubbled up from the people who were there.
Lastly, what people gravitate to in a world with high levels of transience is history and authenticity. Pittsburgh might have a lot more history and authenticity than Austin, but we want to eradicate it. We knock down the Homestead Works and put up a mall because we were afraid o our past. Austin has leveraged its history.
I grew up in a Leave it to Beaver family. My dad went to work, my mom stayed at home, and there were two boys. You know how many Americans live in a family like that today? 7%. Between 93% and 75% live in some other kind of different setup. It's not one or the other. It's not about recruiting families, gays, or singles. It's about having cities that have something for everyone.
South by Southwest 2003 XVII
Paul Bausch, Anil Dash, Justin Hall, Ben Trott, and Mena Trott: Beyond the Blog
Mena: Welcome to the Beyond the Blog panel. I'm one of the co-creators of Moveable Type and co-founder of TK which is the company that releases Moveable Type. I also have a personal blog called a A Day Late and a Dollar Short.
Das: My name's Anil Dash, and I live in New York City. Until recently I worked for Village Voice Media. Before that I worked in the music promotion industry. And now I'm freelancing about Web logs to see if there's a possibility of making a living in this area.
Bausch: I was one of the co-creators and developers of Blogger. Recently I helped write a book about Web logs.
Ben: I'm co-creator of Moveable Type as well. I have the exact same bio as Mena except my site isnt A Dollar Short, it's Stupid Fool.
Hall: In 1994 I got really jazzed about making pages on the Web using Simpletext and Emacs. I did that for 9 years. I kinda fell into freelance journalism because it’s the thing closest to writing on the Web and getting paid for it.
Mena: We want to talk about how the different elements of a Web log are going to evolve. Basically, we see a Web log as a reverse chronological, permalink-filled sort of mess. It's open to question whether the chronology is important.
Hall: Personal Web sites were a big topic of conversation at SXSW four years ago. Today we talk about Web logs. If everyone organizes their thoughts in reverse chronology, there are other ways to organize our thoughts. There's something being broken about the Web sites being so strictly controlled. What possibly could be better?
Bausch: I have to defend reverse chronology because I helped put that in there. It adds a hint of structure to something that might not have structure.
Mena: I agree with Justin that we shouldn't be limited to reading Web logs in day order. Part of it is that we expect it, but if you find somebody's Web logs six months after they started, you don't care about the date, you care about the content.
Bausch: We need a way to get a sense of how ideas evolve and how memes move throughout communities. Before Web logs put that structure into the Web, there was no shared time. Web logs provide that.
Dash: One of the things I think is valuable about having time in your Web log is that there's a contract. There's a social contract. You want to know when there's going to be something new. If it's ordered by date, I can scroll down to what I've already read and get a sense of completion. The contract has been fulfilled.
Mena: It isn't so much the date but the expectation that they're going to be publishing.
Hall: It's like commitment.
Mena: It's commitment. It's weird. When I see a regular Web site it's weird. What is this? They haven't updated this in six months?
Hall: Even with personal Web sites, there's no sense of immediacy. The convenience of Web logs is neat because people can make their own personal newspaper. That’s great. But now that we've got personal newspapers down, what else can we do?
Dash: I want to be able to view by category or by author or by topic or by arbitrary category, not the ones that they've assigned.
Mena: PB [Paul Bausch] has a lot to say about where the content is. We have personal newsletters. We want to publish our thoughts, own our thoughts, and be responsible for them.
Bausch: As people get the taste of controlling their own information, it's going to be harder and harder for centralized sites to get people to contribute there. We contribute to the Web in lots of different ways. It's not just about posting to our Web logs. We post to other sites. We post via email. We IM. It's just one big text box. All of these applications can talk to each other. You can post a review to Amazon.com but why can't you also post it to your Web log?
Ben: This comes back to identity and ownership. How do you feel like you have control over your information on these other sites? Your URL is your identity in a sense. You have the control over where it flows.
Mena: I think that’s why Web logs have take off. We have our identities. And we like that control.
Hall: That predates Web logs in a way.
Dash: Part of what interests me is this entry form, though. There is one entry that works. You have our URL, your identiy, your entry form. I want blogs to look the same. I want to know how they work. I want it to be a desktop application. I want anything I do in Word on the desktop to be available to all of these media.
Hall: I was talking to a guy whose working on a universal gaming system. The game scales to fit the client. The direction you're moving with blogs is happening in other areas of electronics.
Mena: This is Matt Haughey's Web log.
Bausch: He realized that he's contributing to many different places across the Web. He didn't have a place to aggregate all of this information together. If you don't know Matt personally, you might not know that he contributes to all these different sites. It's sort of a next step of taking information that’s distributed.
Mena: if you post a comment on Amazon, you don’t want it to be limited to Amazon.
Dash: I almost resent that someone else control swhat I've written. The tools need to evolve so I post to this one place, and it's posted somewhere else.
Bausch: The interfaces are so similar, why can't they just talk to each other?
Dash: Can't we all just get along?
Hall: I was in Japan taking pictures with a cell phone, and I decided I would only post in Japanese. It's hard to write in these shrunk-down devices. People are also hacking audio blogs.
Dash: Audio blogs suck.
Hall: No, it doesn't fit into your rational Web log structure, Anil.
Dash: How many people here have had a crush on someone just from reading their Web log? You fill in the blanks just like you do in a book.
Hall: Do you like pictures?
Mena: He doesn't even like pictures. He likes straight text.
Dash: I want binary. I want to be able to fill in the blanks myself. Because you know what it is.
Hall: What you really want is video blogs. Is that what I'm hearing?
Mena: Let's play devil's advocate. I have a similar feeling about audio blogging, but I think it'll work as supplementary content. Not every post needs to be audio. Maybe it would work in a disaster.
Hall: Matt Haughey at the bottom of his blog said that he wished he had a recording of the sound of the forks hitting the plates in the restaurant he was in because it was so dinny.
Dash: If we look at what Ben and Mena and Paul have done with moblogs, or little photos that they've taken somewhere, that is interesting to me. It is a snapshot of their life. Audio could be supplementary content. But photos and text are less intrusive and work better for me.
Hall: They're less captivating. You can multitask more easily just with text and pictures.
Mena: In Japan, they're not really allowed to use their cell phones on the train -- as though to speak. So they're IM'ing.
Hall: They're also checking their stock quotes and getting their fortunes told.
Mena: We should talk about identity.
Ben: I guess identity as your identity is your URL.
Mena: In the sense of your reputation, how do we see the blogroll changing?
Ben: I don’t think we'll see it change much in terms of how it looks, but the back end will change. Like the Friend of a Friend thing in XML. You have data in interchangeable formats that you can make sense of. You can graph relationships.
Bausch: Blogrolls are used for several different things. These are the people I fit in with.
Dash: Or want to fit in with.
Bausch: Yeah. This is my community. These are the people I trust. We need tools. No one is going to write Friend of a Friend files by hand. It's just like RSS. The tool should handle the creation of it and the consumption of it. It's moving beyond what tools can currently do. You're going to need semantic search engines. You're going to need to be able to traverse the tools. And these tools aren't here now.
Dash: The number of Web logs I track has gone up exponentially. I know a lot of people who keep active track of 20 and then through an aggregator keep up with 100 Web logs.
Hall: Those aggregators increase Web log consumption.
Dash: The next threshold is 10,000. If you use an aggregator and all this stuff, I honestly think that a lot of people will actively track 150 and passively track 10,000.
Mena: The day we have no jobs.
Dash: You may not know everybody by name. If you take everything your immediate friends have posted in a given day and then go out two degrees, you've got Metafilter. It looks like Metafilter.
Mena: We're evolving to each of us having our own Metafilter.
Hall: What's the Lafayette Project?
Dash: As far as I know it's what Nick Denton and Meg Hourihan in New York are working on, some sort of content aggregator.
Bausch: I don’t know that RSS readers are the best way to read personal publishing.
Dash: Is this because of the amateur thing?
Bausch: We're all designers.
Mena: That’s just part of the personal publishing thing. There's a bigger part. Are we just aggregating text? If I was writing about design, I want people to see my site to maybe think I know what I'm talking about.
Hall: If you look at what the newspapers now, they've got hundreds of reporters. They take Ap and Reuters stories, and AP and Reuters have 10,000 reporters. So the New York Times is basically 10,000 reporters. Anil's tool is people's amateur, non-professional, non-corporate news sources.
Mena: We assume that when we get to 10,000, we will read them differently.
Hall: If we read them like we do now, we'll need to buy a new mouse every two days.
Dash: For me, it's because I don't watch TV. I would rather have 10,000 people's real realities than one B-list celebrity on a desert island.
Hall: Or 10.
Paul Bausch, Anil Dash, Justin Hall, Ben Trott, and Mena Trott: Beyond the Blog
Bausch co-created Blogger. Dash used to write for the Village Voice. Hall has a long and storied history that you can check at Justin's Links. The Trotts co-created Moveable Type. Here is a rough transcript of the panel discussion:
Mena: Welcome to the Beyond the Blog panel. I'm one of the co-creators of Moveable Type and co-founder of TK which is the company that releases Moveable Type. I also have a personal blog called a A Day Late and a Dollar Short.
Das: My name's Anil Dash, and I live in New York City. Until recently I worked for Village Voice Media. Before that I worked in the music promotion industry. And now I'm freelancing about Web logs to see if there's a possibility of making a living in this area.
Bausch: I was one of the co-creators and developers of Blogger. Recently I helped write a book about Web logs.
Ben: I'm co-creator of Moveable Type as well. I have the exact same bio as Mena except my site isnt A Dollar Short, it's Stupid Fool.
Hall: In 1994 I got really jazzed about making pages on the Web using Simpletext and Emacs. I did that for 9 years. I kinda fell into freelance journalism because it’s the thing closest to writing on the Web and getting paid for it.
Mena: We want to talk about how the different elements of a Web log are going to evolve. Basically, we see a Web log as a reverse chronological, permalink-filled sort of mess. It's open to question whether the chronology is important.
Hall: Personal Web sites were a big topic of conversation at SXSW four years ago. Today we talk about Web logs. If everyone organizes their thoughts in reverse chronology, there are other ways to organize our thoughts. There's something being broken about the Web sites being so strictly controlled. What possibly could be better?
Bausch: I have to defend reverse chronology because I helped put that in there. It adds a hint of structure to something that might not have structure.
Mena: I agree with Justin that we shouldn't be limited to reading Web logs in day order. Part of it is that we expect it, but if you find somebody's Web logs six months after they started, you don't care about the date, you care about the content.
Bausch: We need a way to get a sense of how ideas evolve and how memes move throughout communities. Before Web logs put that structure into the Web, there was no shared time. Web logs provide that.
Dash: One of the things I think is valuable about having time in your Web log is that there's a contract. There's a social contract. You want to know when there's going to be something new. If it's ordered by date, I can scroll down to what I've already read and get a sense of completion. The contract has been fulfilled.
Mena: It isn't so much the date but the expectation that they're going to be publishing.
Hall: It's like commitment.
Mena: It's commitment. It's weird. When I see a regular Web site it's weird. What is this? They haven't updated this in six months?
Hall: Even with personal Web sites, there's no sense of immediacy. The convenience of Web logs is neat because people can make their own personal newspaper. That’s great. But now that we've got personal newspapers down, what else can we do?
Dash: I want to be able to view by category or by author or by topic or by arbitrary category, not the ones that they've assigned.
Mena: PB [Paul Bausch] has a lot to say about where the content is. We have personal newsletters. We want to publish our thoughts, own our thoughts, and be responsible for them.
Bausch: As people get the taste of controlling their own information, it's going to be harder and harder for centralized sites to get people to contribute there. We contribute to the Web in lots of different ways. It's not just about posting to our Web logs. We post to other sites. We post via email. We IM. It's just one big text box. All of these applications can talk to each other. You can post a review to Amazon.com but why can't you also post it to your Web log?
Ben: This comes back to identity and ownership. How do you feel like you have control over your information on these other sites? Your URL is your identity in a sense. You have the control over where it flows.
Mena: I think that’s why Web logs have take off. We have our identities. And we like that control.
Hall: That predates Web logs in a way.
Dash: Part of what interests me is this entry form, though. There is one entry that works. You have our URL, your identiy, your entry form. I want blogs to look the same. I want to know how they work. I want it to be a desktop application. I want anything I do in Word on the desktop to be available to all of these media.
Hall: I was talking to a guy whose working on a universal gaming system. The game scales to fit the client. The direction you're moving with blogs is happening in other areas of electronics.
Mena: This is Matt Haughey's Web log.
Bausch: He realized that he's contributing to many different places across the Web. He didn't have a place to aggregate all of this information together. If you don't know Matt personally, you might not know that he contributes to all these different sites. It's sort of a next step of taking information that’s distributed.
Mena: if you post a comment on Amazon, you don’t want it to be limited to Amazon.
Dash: I almost resent that someone else control swhat I've written. The tools need to evolve so I post to this one place, and it's posted somewhere else.
Bausch: The interfaces are so similar, why can't they just talk to each other?
Dash: Can't we all just get along?
Hall: I was in Japan taking pictures with a cell phone, and I decided I would only post in Japanese. It's hard to write in these shrunk-down devices. People are also hacking audio blogs.
Dash: Audio blogs suck.
Hall: No, it doesn't fit into your rational Web log structure, Anil.
Dash: How many people here have had a crush on someone just from reading their Web log? You fill in the blanks just like you do in a book.
Hall: Do you like pictures?
Mena: He doesn't even like pictures. He likes straight text.
Dash: I want binary. I want to be able to fill in the blanks myself. Because you know what it is.
Hall: What you really want is video blogs. Is that what I'm hearing?
Mena: Let's play devil's advocate. I have a similar feeling about audio blogging, but I think it'll work as supplementary content. Not every post needs to be audio. Maybe it would work in a disaster.
Hall: Matt Haughey at the bottom of his blog said that he wished he had a recording of the sound of the forks hitting the plates in the restaurant he was in because it was so dinny.
Dash: If we look at what Ben and Mena and Paul have done with moblogs, or little photos that they've taken somewhere, that is interesting to me. It is a snapshot of their life. Audio could be supplementary content. But photos and text are less intrusive and work better for me.
Hall: They're less captivating. You can multitask more easily just with text and pictures.
Mena: In Japan, they're not really allowed to use their cell phones on the train -- as though to speak. So they're IM'ing.
Hall: They're also checking their stock quotes and getting their fortunes told.
Mena: We should talk about identity.
Ben: I guess identity as your identity is your URL.
Mena: In the sense of your reputation, how do we see the blogroll changing?
Ben: I don’t think we'll see it change much in terms of how it looks, but the back end will change. Like the Friend of a Friend thing in XML. You have data in interchangeable formats that you can make sense of. You can graph relationships.
Bausch: Blogrolls are used for several different things. These are the people I fit in with.
Dash: Or want to fit in with.
Bausch: Yeah. This is my community. These are the people I trust. We need tools. No one is going to write Friend of a Friend files by hand. It's just like RSS. The tool should handle the creation of it and the consumption of it. It's moving beyond what tools can currently do. You're going to need semantic search engines. You're going to need to be able to traverse the tools. And these tools aren't here now.
Dash: The number of Web logs I track has gone up exponentially. I know a lot of people who keep active track of 20 and then through an aggregator keep up with 100 Web logs.
Hall: Those aggregators increase Web log consumption.
Dash: The next threshold is 10,000. If you use an aggregator and all this stuff, I honestly think that a lot of people will actively track 150 and passively track 10,000.
Mena: The day we have no jobs.
Dash: You may not know everybody by name. If you take everything your immediate friends have posted in a given day and then go out two degrees, you've got Metafilter. It looks like Metafilter.
Mena: We're evolving to each of us having our own Metafilter.
Hall: What's the Lafayette Project?
Dash: As far as I know it's what Nick Denton and Meg Hourihan in New York are working on, some sort of content aggregator.
Bausch: I don’t know that RSS readers are the best way to read personal publishing.
Dash: Is this because of the amateur thing?
Bausch: We're all designers.
Mena: That’s just part of the personal publishing thing. There's a bigger part. Are we just aggregating text? If I was writing about design, I want people to see my site to maybe think I know what I'm talking about.
Question: Why do you even want to keep track of 10,000 web logs? How much information can you assimilate even with 20 or 30?
Hall: If you look at what the newspapers now, they've got hundreds of reporters. They take Ap and Reuters stories, and AP and Reuters have 10,000 reporters. So the New York Times is basically 10,000 reporters. Anil's tool is people's amateur, non-professional, non-corporate news sources.
Mena: We assume that when we get to 10,000, we will read them differently.
Hall: If we read them like we do now, we'll need to buy a new mouse every two days.
Dash: For me, it's because I don't watch TV. I would rather have 10,000 people's real realities than one B-list celebrity on a desert island.
Hall: Or 10.
South by Southwest 2003 XVI
Po Bronson: What Should You Do with Your Life?
What should I do with my life? Often, we don't like having to answer that question. It's itchy and confusing. We feel about destiny the same way we feel about inheritance. We want it to come easy. We feel that if it doesn't come easy, it's wrong.
We know the text and the subtext. The text is never enough money, never enough time. The subtext is psychological hurdles. Some people feel the question is self-indulgent. What is freedom if not the chance to live for yourself? In farming, success doesn't come at the expense of another man.
We equate money with freedom. True economic freedom is the confidence that you can live within the means of something you're passionate about. It's a dangerous thought that you're environment won't get to you. Academia compared to Hollywood is like bathing in altruism.
It's wrong to assume that it's in good times that we can change our lives. It's the bad times that force us to change. Sometimes the answers aren't out there. They're in here. How many events in our lives do we just ignore? Learn to love what you get, not just get what you love.
If you're open to strangers, willing to be empathetic and willing to learn from their stories, you can have a new life every day.
Po Bronson: What Should You Do with Your Life?
Author Bronson wrote the books Bombardiers and What Should I Do with My Life?. Here is an extremely abbreviated transcript of his remarks:
What should I do with my life? Often, we don't like having to answer that question. It's itchy and confusing. We feel about destiny the same way we feel about inheritance. We want it to come easy. We feel that if it doesn't come easy, it's wrong.
We know the text and the subtext. The text is never enough money, never enough time. The subtext is psychological hurdles. Some people feel the question is self-indulgent. What is freedom if not the chance to live for yourself? In farming, success doesn't come at the expense of another man.
We equate money with freedom. True economic freedom is the confidence that you can live within the means of something you're passionate about. It's a dangerous thought that you're environment won't get to you. Academia compared to Hollywood is like bathing in altruism.
It's wrong to assume that it's in good times that we can change our lives. It's the bad times that force us to change. Sometimes the answers aren't out there. They're in here. How many events in our lives do we just ignore? Learn to love what you get, not just get what you love.
If you're open to strangers, willing to be empathetic and willing to learn from their stories, you can have a new life every day.
Interlude: South by Southwest 2003 XV
After the sessions ended yesterday, I headed over to the Film Threat party at B.D. Riley's. There, I met up with Jim Munroe and David from MP4. We talked about punk rock, filmmaking, and road trips before Jim and I left to meet my friend Amy so we could sit down and get some food. After dinner on the deck at Iron Cactus, we made our way to Texture for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Cyberorganic Jam. Remember Cyborganic? Ahhh.
The party was fun. Cory gave a rousing talk about the ongoing erosion of our offline and online rights. Sandy Stone, founder of UT-Austin's ActLab gave a short welcome and then lapsed into an extremely interesting spoken-word performance piece about cats, RF, and the fragility of life. We stayed almost until the very end, and my night last night was not as late or as crazy as Sunday. Still, I've taken this morning a little easy. Migas and a smoothie for breakfast with Rick, the 15 bus downtown, and more impressionistic note taking during Po Bronson's morning session. We'll turn our attention there now.
After the sessions ended yesterday, I headed over to the Film Threat party at B.D. Riley's. There, I met up with Jim Munroe and David from MP4. We talked about punk rock, filmmaking, and road trips before Jim and I left to meet my friend Amy so we could sit down and get some food. After dinner on the deck at Iron Cactus, we made our way to Texture for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Cyberorganic Jam. Remember Cyborganic? Ahhh.
The party was fun. Cory gave a rousing talk about the ongoing erosion of our offline and online rights. Sandy Stone, founder of UT-Austin's ActLab gave a short welcome and then lapsed into an extremely interesting spoken-word performance piece about cats, RF, and the fragility of life. We stayed almost until the very end, and my night last night was not as late or as crazy as Sunday. Still, I've taken this morning a little easy. Migas and a smoothie for breakfast with Rick, the 15 bus downtown, and more impressionistic note taking during Po Bronson's morning session. We'll turn our attention there now.
Monday, March 10, 2003
South by Southwest 2003 XV
Mikela Tarlow and Philip Tarlow: Digital Aboriginals
Philip: Digital Abroiginals is the name of a book we wrote.
Mikela: I was working on a proposal for our second book, Charting Your Career in a World Without Rules. The proposal was kind of bogging down. I was talking to our agent, and I said I was getting a little bored. He said, "What do you want to do?" I said I'd write a book called Digital Aboriginals.
10 years ago I was in a museum. I've always had a passion for aboriginal paintings. We were in the Museum of Modern Art, and there was a new show getting hung. They were paintings of circuit boards. It began this journey of what was encoded in those images that could lead to a deeper understanding of what was happening in the digital landscape.
What we do when were not writing books is consulting to corporations. We walk into places like Coca-Cola and Philip Morris and play stuff like this. We do consulting on future trends and the big picture.
Philip: Mikela's background is in anthropology. My background is in the fine art. I'm a painter. We're both interested in trends but in different ways.
Mikela: What you see there is a picture we took last year at SXSW.
Philip: And up in the upper left-hand corner is a segment of a tribe of aboriginals from north Australia. They were just having a meeting, sitting around. There is some connection and relationship betwene these two photographs.
Mikela: The aboriginal photograph just shows men. Women participated in those circles, but the women are very shy. As we put those two images together, even the number of people was identical. The ideal number for small group work is no more than 12. When you put together more than 12, it becomes difficult to do complex tasks. And if you look at the distance, its about the right distance for sitting around a fire.
There's another number that begins to appear. Malcolm Gladwell writes about the number 200. That number 200 is interesting because it's about as large as a tribe ever got. Once they got bigger than 200, a power struggle would occur and the tribe would break apart. 12 is the family unit. And 200 is the economic unit. It's just the last couple hundred years that were tryign to work in these mega-corporations. We're going against our biology almost.
Philip: Another level of talking about these photographs is that these aboriginals assumed that they were connected, connected in a way that’s hard for us to understand because of their connection to the earth, to plants, and to animals. Digital aboriginals means that we're coming full circle. We're relearning what it means to be connected.
Mikela: A lot of what's happening in the digital landscape, like blogging, is triggering this biological memory.
This is where our research is. Is there something happening in our culture that's very similar to what's happening in the business landscape and in our journey of consciousness? How we describe that centerpiece is with four platforms. The first one is Who Owns the Wind, which has to do with the dissolution of ownership as we know it. Ownership is not working. The second piece has to do with the return of the storytellers and the collapse of traditional advertising. Advertising people say that as soon as Tivo households hit 10 million they're going to stop doing TV advertisements. Even people who listen to the ads don't remember where they heard what. What does that mean if advertisers can't reach you with traditional advertising? The only way to connect with us is authentic stories.
Philip: Authentic and compelling. Our feeling is that this is just the beginning. You can't fool the public.
Mikela: The third platform is Tribal Mind, which has to do with collaborative work structures. And the fourth platform is Riding the Songlines, or the capacity of new models of leadership and consciousness.
When the dialogue space is transformed the power relationship is transformed. Whenever the power relationship is transformed we must change our perception of what is important. When Matt Damon was in Japan, teenage girls held up their cell phones to stream video to their friends. The traditional media was also there. Who is more important in that equation, the teenagers or the media? Those teenagers are the ones who are going to create the buzz about the movie, not the article in Teen People. Now you have to consider how to connect with the teenagers. A traditional press release is not going to connect with them.
Philip: Gere are some of the things that go along with storytelling. They're all ages. Nobody's bored. And nobody, I can assure you, is asking whether this is his original story. This is a story that has been told since time immemorial.
Mikela: This is how the big stories happen. When stories were conveyed by oral tradition, storytellers revised stories when people looked away. The oral tradition gives you tremendous feedback. These stories become fully tweaked.
Philip: It was also considered a work in progress. It was never a finished product.
Mikela: You were not allowed to create an original work until you had copied all of the masters.
Philip: Original work was not a concept. Copyright? There was no question about that
Mikela: What Lessig is describing is the way things have been since the beginning of time. We're returning to an oral culture. I think we're the last generation that's going to write the way we write. The average person use to know 50,000 words. Kids today know about 25,000 words. When was the last time you said "I sauntered across the room?" You don't. That's a written word, not a spoken word. If we're approaching the characteristics and number of words of an oral tradition, what does that mean? In an oral tradition, reputation is extremely important. Relationships are extremely important. Intimacy is extremely important.
I grew up in a strange household where we had a lot of books about Zen tradition. There was a story about a teacup that I used to hear all the time. When we began telling these stories in corporations, we decided we needed a story that communicated the importance to open your mind.
Philip: This is the story of a student who had been wanting his entire adult life to visit with the master and watch the master perform the traditional tea ceremony. Finally, the opportunity arose. As he watched the master pouring the tea, he felt privileged to be in the presence of the master. He noticed that the tea was getting dangerously close to the top of the cup. Before he knew it, the tea had overflowed and was staining the table. He continued to pour. At a certain point, he couldn't hold back any more. "Master, the tea is overflowing! The cup is full! It can't take any more!" And the master said, "Yes, just like your mind."
Mikela: I heard this story many times. It wasn't until we started telling this story until we discovered the meaning of it. The reason why he gained enlightenment? There are two reasons. One is that the tea ceremony is a profound part of their cultural context. It's a metaphor for all life. In anthropology, it’s the difference between a high-content culture and a high-context culture. The second thing is his relationship with the teacher. He had such profound intimacy and trust with the teacher that everything the teacher said was like a pebble in a pond.
Philip: He was listening differently.
Mikela: The story used to just be a stupid story, but when I began to think about it in a different way, it came to life. We don't spend a lot of time doing things over and over and over and over and over and looking for deeper meaning in things. I think blogging is going to shift our society, and it's because of the storytelling.
Something happens when you go deeper and deeper and deeper. These core archetypes have formed in every culture of the world. As storytelling is being introduced not just into the cultural space but also the corporate space, the ancient creative is being tapped into in ourselves.
These are some of the things you would learn if you studied with a mystic. You're not your personality. Everything is connected. You are the storyteller. Does that seem familiar? Is it something that you kind of know at some level? We came up with this phrase: digital sutras. Those are statements designed to shift your consciousness in a certain way.
Philip: They're sounds. They're like a scientific experiments.
Mikela: What are our big predictions for the future? Virtually enhanced real-life events are going to be more and more where the artistry is going to exist. We're also in an age where complexity is going to reclaim control. The third is established redundancies. The capacity to utilize social networks will be the work of the next generation.
In an information dense world the unrepeatable present moment will become a highly valued event.
Mikela Tarlow and Philip Tarlow: Digital Aboriginals
Mikela and Philip are corporate consultants and the co-authors of Digital Aboriginals. Here is a rough transcript of their talk.
Philip: Digital Abroiginals is the name of a book we wrote.
Mikela: I was working on a proposal for our second book, Charting Your Career in a World Without Rules. The proposal was kind of bogging down. I was talking to our agent, and I said I was getting a little bored. He said, "What do you want to do?" I said I'd write a book called Digital Aboriginals.
10 years ago I was in a museum. I've always had a passion for aboriginal paintings. We were in the Museum of Modern Art, and there was a new show getting hung. They were paintings of circuit boards. It began this journey of what was encoded in those images that could lead to a deeper understanding of what was happening in the digital landscape.
What we do when were not writing books is consulting to corporations. We walk into places like Coca-Cola and Philip Morris and play stuff like this. We do consulting on future trends and the big picture.
Philip: Mikela's background is in anthropology. My background is in the fine art. I'm a painter. We're both interested in trends but in different ways.
Mikela: What you see there is a picture we took last year at SXSW.
Philip: And up in the upper left-hand corner is a segment of a tribe of aboriginals from north Australia. They were just having a meeting, sitting around. There is some connection and relationship betwene these two photographs.
Mikela: The aboriginal photograph just shows men. Women participated in those circles, but the women are very shy. As we put those two images together, even the number of people was identical. The ideal number for small group work is no more than 12. When you put together more than 12, it becomes difficult to do complex tasks. And if you look at the distance, its about the right distance for sitting around a fire.
There's another number that begins to appear. Malcolm Gladwell writes about the number 200. That number 200 is interesting because it's about as large as a tribe ever got. Once they got bigger than 200, a power struggle would occur and the tribe would break apart. 12 is the family unit. And 200 is the economic unit. It's just the last couple hundred years that were tryign to work in these mega-corporations. We're going against our biology almost.
Philip: Another level of talking about these photographs is that these aboriginals assumed that they were connected, connected in a way that’s hard for us to understand because of their connection to the earth, to plants, and to animals. Digital aboriginals means that we're coming full circle. We're relearning what it means to be connected.
Mikela: A lot of what's happening in the digital landscape, like blogging, is triggering this biological memory.
This is where our research is. Is there something happening in our culture that's very similar to what's happening in the business landscape and in our journey of consciousness? How we describe that centerpiece is with four platforms. The first one is Who Owns the Wind, which has to do with the dissolution of ownership as we know it. Ownership is not working. The second piece has to do with the return of the storytellers and the collapse of traditional advertising. Advertising people say that as soon as Tivo households hit 10 million they're going to stop doing TV advertisements. Even people who listen to the ads don't remember where they heard what. What does that mean if advertisers can't reach you with traditional advertising? The only way to connect with us is authentic stories.
Philip: Authentic and compelling. Our feeling is that this is just the beginning. You can't fool the public.
Mikela: The third platform is Tribal Mind, which has to do with collaborative work structures. And the fourth platform is Riding the Songlines, or the capacity of new models of leadership and consciousness.
When the dialogue space is transformed the power relationship is transformed. Whenever the power relationship is transformed we must change our perception of what is important. When Matt Damon was in Japan, teenage girls held up their cell phones to stream video to their friends. The traditional media was also there. Who is more important in that equation, the teenagers or the media? Those teenagers are the ones who are going to create the buzz about the movie, not the article in Teen People. Now you have to consider how to connect with the teenagers. A traditional press release is not going to connect with them.
Philip: Gere are some of the things that go along with storytelling. They're all ages. Nobody's bored. And nobody, I can assure you, is asking whether this is his original story. This is a story that has been told since time immemorial.
Mikela: This is how the big stories happen. When stories were conveyed by oral tradition, storytellers revised stories when people looked away. The oral tradition gives you tremendous feedback. These stories become fully tweaked.
Philip: It was also considered a work in progress. It was never a finished product.
Mikela: You were not allowed to create an original work until you had copied all of the masters.
Philip: Original work was not a concept. Copyright? There was no question about that
Mikela: What Lessig is describing is the way things have been since the beginning of time. We're returning to an oral culture. I think we're the last generation that's going to write the way we write. The average person use to know 50,000 words. Kids today know about 25,000 words. When was the last time you said "I sauntered across the room?" You don't. That's a written word, not a spoken word. If we're approaching the characteristics and number of words of an oral tradition, what does that mean? In an oral tradition, reputation is extremely important. Relationships are extremely important. Intimacy is extremely important.
I grew up in a strange household where we had a lot of books about Zen tradition. There was a story about a teacup that I used to hear all the time. When we began telling these stories in corporations, we decided we needed a story that communicated the importance to open your mind.
Philip: This is the story of a student who had been wanting his entire adult life to visit with the master and watch the master perform the traditional tea ceremony. Finally, the opportunity arose. As he watched the master pouring the tea, he felt privileged to be in the presence of the master. He noticed that the tea was getting dangerously close to the top of the cup. Before he knew it, the tea had overflowed and was staining the table. He continued to pour. At a certain point, he couldn't hold back any more. "Master, the tea is overflowing! The cup is full! It can't take any more!" And the master said, "Yes, just like your mind."
Mikela: I heard this story many times. It wasn't until we started telling this story until we discovered the meaning of it. The reason why he gained enlightenment? There are two reasons. One is that the tea ceremony is a profound part of their cultural context. It's a metaphor for all life. In anthropology, it’s the difference between a high-content culture and a high-context culture. The second thing is his relationship with the teacher. He had such profound intimacy and trust with the teacher that everything the teacher said was like a pebble in a pond.
Philip: He was listening differently.
Mikela: The story used to just be a stupid story, but when I began to think about it in a different way, it came to life. We don't spend a lot of time doing things over and over and over and over and over and looking for deeper meaning in things. I think blogging is going to shift our society, and it's because of the storytelling.
Something happens when you go deeper and deeper and deeper. These core archetypes have formed in every culture of the world. As storytelling is being introduced not just into the cultural space but also the corporate space, the ancient creative is being tapped into in ourselves.
These are some of the things you would learn if you studied with a mystic. You're not your personality. Everything is connected. You are the storyteller. Does that seem familiar? Is it something that you kind of know at some level? We came up with this phrase: digital sutras. Those are statements designed to shift your consciousness in a certain way.
Philip: They're sounds. They're like a scientific experiments.
Mikela: What are our big predictions for the future? Virtually enhanced real-life events are going to be more and more where the artistry is going to exist. We're also in an age where complexity is going to reclaim control. The third is established redundancies. The capacity to utilize social networks will be the work of the next generation.
In an information dense world the unrepeatable present moment will become a highly valued event.
South by Southwest 2003 XIV
Karl Deckard, Cory Doctorow, Maitresse Elise, and Jim Munroe: Why I Dig Working in the Cultural Gutter
Munroe: My name's Jim Munroe. I've written three novels. One of them is about another guy who goes to another planet to teach English. But when I'm at parties, I find myself saying I write novels. And I say it's science fiction-influenced stuff. I'm interested in my own tendency to sidestep that sort of stuff. I'm very interested in people who are involved in things that are not terribly highly regarded by society in terms of the arts.
Doctorow: I'm Cory Doctorow. I'm a blogger, a science-fiction writer, and I work for a nonprofit organziation called the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I write science fiction, and not just science fiction, but science fiction for Slashdot readers that will get published on the Internet. That can be seen as one step below self-publishing. It's considered scraping the bottom of the barrel. But if there's hope, it's in the trolls. Will someone care about the poor Slashdot reader? I write for them. You need to be involved in Internet culture to understand it. I'm fairly unapologetic about using terms and jargon that comes out of that milieu. I get surrounded by people at science-fiction conventions by people who wonder what I'm smoking.
Science-fiction writing doesn’t pay for shit. Roald Dahl sold his short stories one at a time for enough money to feed his family of four for a month. Asimov's pays about enough to feed a family of four for a meal. But occasionally, the New York Times discovers you and what you do. Fuck you gutter, the New York Times thinks I'm cool
Elise: Ive done a lot of things in the adult entertainment. I'm on this panel as a porn actress. I've done four adult videos. Two were bi and two were lesbian. I've done stripping. I write erotica. I've done the modeling. I've done the Internet.
I also have a Ph.D. in romance linguistics. The adult entertainment industry got me through school. When people ask me what I do, I say translation. That is one of my jobs. But that pays nothing. If someone's truly interested, I'll go into detail about what I do, but if it's just anyone, I'll say I'm a writer. If they ask what I'm writing, I'll say true-life adventure stories. I'm not ashamed, but sometimes you do have to protect yourself.
Deckard: I design video games. I worked on the PC game Half-Life and a game for Nintendo's console Metroid Prime. What is this gutter? Who are these people who look down on all of the careers were talking about today? And why do we care?
Munroe: The cultural gutter is just something I made up. I made up this idea of there being gutter genres. I've always been attracted to science fiction, but people generally remember the crappy science-fiction movie that they saw and stigmatize the genre as a whole. I'm drawn to the genre with the interest in defusing that as much as I can.
When I got involved in video games and started talking about video games, talking about them as art, I realized that I'm drawn to these genres because they have a basis that keeps drawing people back to them. Because I like violating these cultural norms, it’s a perfect place for me. For unconventional thinkers like Elise, instead of following a traditional writing career with a smattering of erotica, she did what she did.
When I write a science-fiction novel, I feel free. You get to write about robots, for Christ's sake. There's a fundamental fun element that draws me to it. I have a lot more freedom in terms of what I can do.
Elise: I've really been enjoying the BDS&M I've been seeing in the mass media lately. I don't mind the lesser stigma. My sister understands what I'm doing a little more. My parents appreciate some of the writing I've done, but they don’t know everything I'm doing.
It's a huge fantasy being a porn star. It's fantasy being a stripper or a dominatrix. You get to be a schoolgirl, a teacher, a nurse. My life is not boring.
Doctorow: Who are the people looking down their nose? And why does it matter? It only matters when it matters. I used to work at a science-fiction bookstore, and I used to hang out at the science-fiction library. "Speculative fiction" is one of those shame words. "It's not a comic, it's a graphic novel!"
When I was 12, it was a great place to hang out. But when I was 20 and applying to a writing program at York University, saying I wanted to write science fiction was fairly embarrassing. In Canada, much of the writing is supported by arts grants. And they don't award grants to genre writers. That can mean the difference between a writer having time to finish writing a novel or not having the time.
I like having the freedom to write about the things that excite me. You guys are my tribe, and it's not necessarily the case that this is weird. But in the larger world, there's a bit of disdain for such unbridled technology-related enthusiasm. Not having to be apologetic about being enthusiastic about technology is good and refreshing. The rewards of fiction writing are so slim that if you didn't love it there'd be no reason to do it. I'm glad to be in the gutter to write like I feel like writing.
Deckard: The kind of work I do I don’t necessarily want it to be talked about at dinner parties. I want people in cool smoky lounges and subway stations to talk about my work. That's my tribe. That's who you should be doing your art for: the people like you. There've been a lot of times in my life where I've noticed that there is definitely a "them" spoiling things for me. I don't know who they are.
I've worked in Seattle and in record stores for a lot of my time. When the Nirvana record "Bleach" came out, we all loved it. Then some jerk at Rolling Stone dubbed it the Seattle grunge scene. We were wearing flannel because it's cold and wet in Seattle. It's hard to keep creativity when you have to filter it through so many people.
Doctorow: Working in the gutter is working out of scrutiny. William Gibson got an honorary Ph.D. from the Rhode Island School of Design. William Gibson's start in the genre is actually pretty interesting. He used to draw single-panel comic strips for fanzines. We are all geeks under the sin. It's nice to avoid the scrutiny.
Elise: What we have in common is that we enjoy extreme fantasy. In the leather world, there's a huge crossover between the leather community, science fiction, games, and Ren fair. I consider myself to be a big geek in a big way. Put me in a costume and I'm happy. Is there a bigger stigma being a sci-fi geek or being a porn enthusiast?
Doctorow: Do we really need to measure? My pain is like… [He gestures with his hands.]
Elise: This isn’t about pain.
Munroe: If you're at a rock concert, it's cooler to know a lot about porn than it is about science fiction. Fantasy is an interesting thing. It's assumed that they're immature. A lot of people's enthusiasm for it and dismissed. Everyone has that inside them. We go on a binge/purge thing. We watch a couple of Hollywood movies and then we read a very important novel. You know how there are writers who are light, but filling? I like to think of myself as the falafel of science fiction readers. I enjoy it when someone says, "I don’t like science fiction, but I like your books."
Doctorow: I thought you were science fiction influenced!
Munroe: I'm over that. I've come to terms with that. The fantasy of it is its strength. The media is heaping attention on, say, Grand Theft Auto. But I feel like it's like it was with comics 10 years ago when Watchmen came out. 10 years later, people don't really think about comics the same way. The stigma remains. Because these genres are fantasy based, they slip towards the gutter. They may have a moment in the spotlight, but then they fade away. I think that's a good thing.
Deckard: It's not interesting to me that these people are pushing these things back into the gutter. That’s being driven by people who might not understand any of these genres. If you've never seen this film that you say is so bad, how do you know it's so bad?
Elise: you know how they say if you're going to smoke pot, then you start heroin? If you become a stripper, the next step is porn. I didn't have any stripper friends, but being in the leather community, I was very comfortable. And I didn't start stripping under I was 31. My leather friends thought it was great. When I started doing movies, I had huge support. I don’t know if I'd want to move to Southern California and just do them with anyone.
Doctorow: Science-fiction writers in Toronto are really lucky. When I was 12, I was hanging out at the Spaced Out Library. By the time I was 16 and got to alternative school, I was in a writing workshop.
Munroe: I just met Cory a few years ago. I didn’t really have any contacts with the science-fiction community. I grew up making zines in the punk-rock community. I started self-publishing and ended up with a full-length novel. I published my first novel with Harper Collins, and it didn't work out that great, so I decided to self-publish my second novel. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if it weren't for zines. Self-publishing is OK.
Deckard: I basically grew up my whole life playing video games. I knew it was something I wanted to get into. In college I studied graphic design. It was a natural step to get into game design. I moved out to Seattle to work for Nintendo and did graphic design for their magazine and players guides. And then I got a job in game design.
Munroe: The economics are just an indicator for the appetites that exists for these things. The guilt that I'm performing is just a mirror of how socially as a society we aren't comfortable acting out these fantasies. We cordon it off.
Doctorow: If the gutter is just right, you have no scrutiny, and there's vibrant economic activity.
Elise: The money is a driving factor in the adult entertainment industry. But a lot of people go into it just out of curiosity.
Deckard: When my wife and I were talking about this, she said, "Haven't you already stepped up onto the curb?" Because video games do sell well.
Doctorow: The urge to transgress is the urge to step back into the gutter. They've mainstreamed Grand Theft Auto, but can they mainstream Journey Through the Cancerous Colon?
Deckard: Games are a much more family thing in Japan. It's not just little Timmy buying games. It's mom. And it's a bunch of games. It's the same for comics and porn. One section of the gutter that's not included here today is board games. Board games are huge in Germany. I end up having to import games and translate them so I can play them.
Elise: I would still do it, but less often.
Doctorow: I started submitting science-fiction stories when I was 16, and I didn’t get accepted until I was 26. When I got my advance for the novel, I got a check for a three-paragraph piece in Wired. The check from Wired was $100 less than my advance.
Munroe: People aren't in this for the money.
Elise: There are people in it for the money in my field, and they're not happy.
Doctorow: William Gibson writes about denuding the counter culture landscape. The last scene he saw get co-opted was punk. That took 18 months. Then came grunge. That took three weeks. Staying on the transgressive edge makes it harder to participate in the denuding of the counter culture landscape.
Doctorow: I think people wear Star Trek tunics because they're proud. The signifier of a Star Trek tunic is "I am incredibly proud of being distant from your pop culture. Screw y'all."
Munroe: It's also a matter of not having a clue and not caring. There's nothing secret or attractive about the secret society of Star Trek.
Deckard: A lot of times, people don't care what those other people's opinions are. I've been a big skate punk since I was a little kid. People kind of look at us weird when we come up on our skateboards. I don't care what they think. It's kind of sad to see that lost. Just as grunge got big, you start seeing cheap skateboards in K-Mart and Target. All of a sudden it becomes less us. You do everything you can to make that not happen.
Doctorow: Then some bastard came along and made Tony Hawk Skating. Those bastard video game makers sucked out all the life out of skating.
Karl Deckard, Cory Doctorow, Maitresse Elise, and Jim Munroe: Why I Dig Working in the Cultural Gutter
Deckard is a senior game designer who has worked on Metroid Prime for Nintendo and Half-Life. Doctorow is outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a contributor to Boing Boing, and author of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Elise is an adult actress and writer of erotica. And Munroe was managing editor of Adbusters before writing novels and making video games. Here is a rough transcript of the panel discussion:
Munroe: My name's Jim Munroe. I've written three novels. One of them is about another guy who goes to another planet to teach English. But when I'm at parties, I find myself saying I write novels. And I say it's science fiction-influenced stuff. I'm interested in my own tendency to sidestep that sort of stuff. I'm very interested in people who are involved in things that are not terribly highly regarded by society in terms of the arts.
Doctorow: I'm Cory Doctorow. I'm a blogger, a science-fiction writer, and I work for a nonprofit organziation called the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I write science fiction, and not just science fiction, but science fiction for Slashdot readers that will get published on the Internet. That can be seen as one step below self-publishing. It's considered scraping the bottom of the barrel. But if there's hope, it's in the trolls. Will someone care about the poor Slashdot reader? I write for them. You need to be involved in Internet culture to understand it. I'm fairly unapologetic about using terms and jargon that comes out of that milieu. I get surrounded by people at science-fiction conventions by people who wonder what I'm smoking.
Science-fiction writing doesn’t pay for shit. Roald Dahl sold his short stories one at a time for enough money to feed his family of four for a month. Asimov's pays about enough to feed a family of four for a meal. But occasionally, the New York Times discovers you and what you do. Fuck you gutter, the New York Times thinks I'm cool
Elise: Ive done a lot of things in the adult entertainment. I'm on this panel as a porn actress. I've done four adult videos. Two were bi and two were lesbian. I've done stripping. I write erotica. I've done the modeling. I've done the Internet.
I also have a Ph.D. in romance linguistics. The adult entertainment industry got me through school. When people ask me what I do, I say translation. That is one of my jobs. But that pays nothing. If someone's truly interested, I'll go into detail about what I do, but if it's just anyone, I'll say I'm a writer. If they ask what I'm writing, I'll say true-life adventure stories. I'm not ashamed, but sometimes you do have to protect yourself.
Deckard: I design video games. I worked on the PC game Half-Life and a game for Nintendo's console Metroid Prime. What is this gutter? Who are these people who look down on all of the careers were talking about today? And why do we care?
Munroe: The cultural gutter is just something I made up. I made up this idea of there being gutter genres. I've always been attracted to science fiction, but people generally remember the crappy science-fiction movie that they saw and stigmatize the genre as a whole. I'm drawn to the genre with the interest in defusing that as much as I can.
When I got involved in video games and started talking about video games, talking about them as art, I realized that I'm drawn to these genres because they have a basis that keeps drawing people back to them. Because I like violating these cultural norms, it’s a perfect place for me. For unconventional thinkers like Elise, instead of following a traditional writing career with a smattering of erotica, she did what she did.
When I write a science-fiction novel, I feel free. You get to write about robots, for Christ's sake. There's a fundamental fun element that draws me to it. I have a lot more freedom in terms of what I can do.
Elise: I've really been enjoying the BDS&M I've been seeing in the mass media lately. I don't mind the lesser stigma. My sister understands what I'm doing a little more. My parents appreciate some of the writing I've done, but they don’t know everything I'm doing.
It's a huge fantasy being a porn star. It's fantasy being a stripper or a dominatrix. You get to be a schoolgirl, a teacher, a nurse. My life is not boring.
Doctorow: Who are the people looking down their nose? And why does it matter? It only matters when it matters. I used to work at a science-fiction bookstore, and I used to hang out at the science-fiction library. "Speculative fiction" is one of those shame words. "It's not a comic, it's a graphic novel!"
When I was 12, it was a great place to hang out. But when I was 20 and applying to a writing program at York University, saying I wanted to write science fiction was fairly embarrassing. In Canada, much of the writing is supported by arts grants. And they don't award grants to genre writers. That can mean the difference between a writer having time to finish writing a novel or not having the time.
I like having the freedom to write about the things that excite me. You guys are my tribe, and it's not necessarily the case that this is weird. But in the larger world, there's a bit of disdain for such unbridled technology-related enthusiasm. Not having to be apologetic about being enthusiastic about technology is good and refreshing. The rewards of fiction writing are so slim that if you didn't love it there'd be no reason to do it. I'm glad to be in the gutter to write like I feel like writing.
Deckard: The kind of work I do I don’t necessarily want it to be talked about at dinner parties. I want people in cool smoky lounges and subway stations to talk about my work. That's my tribe. That's who you should be doing your art for: the people like you. There've been a lot of times in my life where I've noticed that there is definitely a "them" spoiling things for me. I don't know who they are.
I've worked in Seattle and in record stores for a lot of my time. When the Nirvana record "Bleach" came out, we all loved it. Then some jerk at Rolling Stone dubbed it the Seattle grunge scene. We were wearing flannel because it's cold and wet in Seattle. It's hard to keep creativity when you have to filter it through so many people.
Doctorow: Working in the gutter is working out of scrutiny. William Gibson got an honorary Ph.D. from the Rhode Island School of Design. William Gibson's start in the genre is actually pretty interesting. He used to draw single-panel comic strips for fanzines. We are all geeks under the sin. It's nice to avoid the scrutiny.
Elise: What we have in common is that we enjoy extreme fantasy. In the leather world, there's a huge crossover between the leather community, science fiction, games, and Ren fair. I consider myself to be a big geek in a big way. Put me in a costume and I'm happy. Is there a bigger stigma being a sci-fi geek or being a porn enthusiast?
Doctorow: Do we really need to measure? My pain is like… [He gestures with his hands.]
Elise: This isn’t about pain.
Munroe: If you're at a rock concert, it's cooler to know a lot about porn than it is about science fiction. Fantasy is an interesting thing. It's assumed that they're immature. A lot of people's enthusiasm for it and dismissed. Everyone has that inside them. We go on a binge/purge thing. We watch a couple of Hollywood movies and then we read a very important novel. You know how there are writers who are light, but filling? I like to think of myself as the falafel of science fiction readers. I enjoy it when someone says, "I don’t like science fiction, but I like your books."
Doctorow: I thought you were science fiction influenced!
Munroe: I'm over that. I've come to terms with that. The fantasy of it is its strength. The media is heaping attention on, say, Grand Theft Auto. But I feel like it's like it was with comics 10 years ago when Watchmen came out. 10 years later, people don't really think about comics the same way. The stigma remains. Because these genres are fantasy based, they slip towards the gutter. They may have a moment in the spotlight, but then they fade away. I think that's a good thing.
Deckard: It's not interesting to me that these people are pushing these things back into the gutter. That’s being driven by people who might not understand any of these genres. If you've never seen this film that you say is so bad, how do you know it's so bad?
Question: When you got into what it is you do now, did you have a community there to begin with that you felt supported by?
Elise: you know how they say if you're going to smoke pot, then you start heroin? If you become a stripper, the next step is porn. I didn't have any stripper friends, but being in the leather community, I was very comfortable. And I didn't start stripping under I was 31. My leather friends thought it was great. When I started doing movies, I had huge support. I don’t know if I'd want to move to Southern California and just do them with anyone.
Doctorow: Science-fiction writers in Toronto are really lucky. When I was 12, I was hanging out at the Spaced Out Library. By the time I was 16 and got to alternative school, I was in a writing workshop.
Munroe: I just met Cory a few years ago. I didn’t really have any contacts with the science-fiction community. I grew up making zines in the punk-rock community. I started self-publishing and ended up with a full-length novel. I published my first novel with Harper Collins, and it didn't work out that great, so I decided to self-publish my second novel. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if it weren't for zines. Self-publishing is OK.
Deckard: I basically grew up my whole life playing video games. I knew it was something I wanted to get into. In college I studied graphic design. It was a natural step to get into game design. I moved out to Seattle to work for Nintendo and did graphic design for their magazine and players guides. And then I got a job in game design.
Question: There's a good deal of economic force behind what you do. Yet you perceive it as being in the gutter?
Munroe: The economics are just an indicator for the appetites that exists for these things. The guilt that I'm performing is just a mirror of how socially as a society we aren't comfortable acting out these fantasies. We cordon it off.
Doctorow: If the gutter is just right, you have no scrutiny, and there's vibrant economic activity.
Elise: The money is a driving factor in the adult entertainment industry. But a lot of people go into it just out of curiosity.
Deckard: When my wife and I were talking about this, she said, "Haven't you already stepped up onto the curb?" Because video games do sell well.
Doctorow: The urge to transgress is the urge to step back into the gutter. They've mainstreamed Grand Theft Auto, but can they mainstream Journey Through the Cancerous Colon?
Deckard: Games are a much more family thing in Japan. It's not just little Timmy buying games. It's mom. And it's a bunch of games. It's the same for comics and porn. One section of the gutter that's not included here today is board games. Board games are huge in Germany. I end up having to import games and translate them so I can play them.
Question: I would argue that you're doing this to indulge yourselves. If you make money, great. But if you didn't make money, would you still be doing it?
Elise: I would still do it, but less often.
Doctorow: I started submitting science-fiction stories when I was 16, and I didn’t get accepted until I was 26. When I got my advance for the novel, I got a check for a three-paragraph piece in Wired. The check from Wired was $100 less than my advance.
Munroe: People aren't in this for the money.
Elise: There are people in it for the money in my field, and they're not happy.
Question: What do you guys think is the difference between the cultural gutter and the cultural leading edge? Historically, it's always been such. Bright interesting people find bright interesting things and then the broader culture caught on.
Doctorow: William Gibson writes about denuding the counter culture landscape. The last scene he saw get co-opted was punk. That took 18 months. Then came grunge. That took three weeks. Staying on the transgressive edge makes it harder to participate in the denuding of the counter culture landscape.
Question: Why are some things, like being a fantasy football player, accepted, while other things are scary?
Doctorow: I think people wear Star Trek tunics because they're proud. The signifier of a Star Trek tunic is "I am incredibly proud of being distant from your pop culture. Screw y'all."
Munroe: It's also a matter of not having a clue and not caring. There's nothing secret or attractive about the secret society of Star Trek.
Deckard: A lot of times, people don't care what those other people's opinions are. I've been a big skate punk since I was a little kid. People kind of look at us weird when we come up on our skateboards. I don't care what they think. It's kind of sad to see that lost. Just as grunge got big, you start seeing cheap skateboards in K-Mart and Target. All of a sudden it becomes less us. You do everything you can to make that not happen.
Doctorow: Then some bastard came along and made Tony Hawk Skating. Those bastard video game makers sucked out all the life out of skating.
Interlude: South by Southwest 2003 XIV
After last night's Fray Cafe and the last two days of active transcribing, I'm feeling a little burnt out. While I went to the "Computers vs. Blackboards: Net Learning or Not Learning?" panel discussion this morning after meeting Scott Heiferman for breakfast, I did email for work instead of taking notes. Then, after lunch with Don Jarrell, the coordinator of the Austin Company of Friends group, I skipped Joshua Davis' keynote entirely in order to meet deadline for the May CoF events calendar. If anyone comes across any notes or transcripts for these two events, let me know. I'll at least link to them. Sorry I couldn't keep this up the whole conference.
After last night's Fray Cafe and the last two days of active transcribing, I'm feeling a little burnt out. While I went to the "Computers vs. Blackboards: Net Learning or Not Learning?" panel discussion this morning after meeting Scott Heiferman for breakfast, I did email for work instead of taking notes. Then, after lunch with Don Jarrell, the coordinator of the Austin Company of Friends group, I skipped Joshua Davis' keynote entirely in order to meet deadline for the May CoF events calendar. If anyone comes across any notes or transcripts for these two events, let me know. I'll at least link to them. Sorry I couldn't keep this up the whole conference.
South by Southwest 2003 XIII
Carrie Bickner, Ben Brown, and Kevin Smokler: Book Culture
Smokler: Please address all publishing questions to the publishing panel at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Thank you.
Brown: Bling bling.
Bickner: Happy happy.
Smokler: Joy joy. Good morning, everybody. My name's Kevin Smokler, and I'll be your moderator this morning. We'll be talking about books and the Web. Are they friends or enemies? Friends or lovers? Friends with benefits?
When I came to South by Southwest in 2000, I was a failed writer and looking for something literary. I was looking for something book related, and they had an e-books panel. That was three years ago. The e-book issue has largely been put to rest. It's more or less considered a failure in publishing circles.
We never think now about publishing and the Web in terms of the Web supplanting books. We're looking at how the two relate rather than will one dominate the other.
Bickner: I am with the New Your Public Library digital library program as the assistant director for digital information and system design.
Smokler: Ben Brown is a Web rock star, personality, and all-around good guy. But for our purposes today, he's the co-publisher of So New Media, an exciting, interesting new model of publishing. The very definition of being published has changed thanks to the Web.
Bickner: I am by training a librarian, but I'm also a writer. How I got into librarianship, initially I thought I'd be a special collections librarian, an archivist. It turned out that I actually knew a lot about technology. Now that I'm in the digital library program, my job is almost what I started out to do. It's preservation. How do we preserve our digital cultural heritage? 50 years from now, how are we going to be able to find these objects?
Brown: I'm a Perl programmer by trade, but I have a creative writing degree. When I started doing a lot of writing and looking for places to publish, it's not a great market for the kind of stuff I write. I was living in New Zealand at the time and I pitched a lot of articles about book culture. Magazines there just weren't interested. So I started a magazine. I did it myself. I did it punk-rock style, and we sold several hundreds of copies. When I got back, my partner and I started So New Media to primarily focus on writers who mostly publish online.
Smokler: I'm a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and until last week was working on Central Booking. We also used that forum format and software interface to have authors come visit. Our readers would post questions and the authors would answer them.
Where should we start? The four main areas we've brought up in terms of where books and the Web intersect in interesting ways are promotion, dissemination, preservation, and selection vs. publishing. Three years ago, there was a lot of talk about print on demand. Before we could do that, seeing your book was some mark of quality, some mark that you had in fact made it as a writer. Your book had passed through some sort of selection process no matter how good or bad it was.
The Web has turned that entirely on its head. What does that mean? Now that everybody can be published, what does it mean to be published? Now the question isn't who can get published and is that worth reading, but, as a reader, how do we select what's worth reading?
Brown: We have a pretty rigorous selection process. We get hundreds and hundreds -- OK, many many -- submissions every week. We've done 12 books or something. We can't read all of the submissions that we get already. One of the major things we evaluate is: Does this author already have somewhat of an online following? Beyond that, it is very much my personal tastes in books. My hope is that the people in our audience will have tastes similar to what I have and just buy everything we put out. We've done everything from personal narrative to science fiction. But they all fall in moderny categories.
Another thing is dealing with the authors and how enthusiastic about the book. Some people are like, "Yeah, yeah, I'll put out a book." And other people are like, "Yeah! I'll go on a world tour, I'll visit 200 cities and put on a circus act in every city." Those are the people we publish.
The first people we published were members of the high-click personal Web site community. They had a decent audience. Our goal was not to sell books to viewers of the Web sites. The goal was to get writing on the Web already into the hands of people who buy books at the bookstore.
It's not new, but there are thousands and thousands of books being released every week into the bookstores. There's no distinguishing between your book and another. You've got to get out there and do a little song and dance for people.
One of the first people we did was Greg Knauss. He did a 40 Web log tour. Every day he'd do a virtual reading and write a piece for all these different sites. He got a lot of press because nobody had ever done that before. It was a tremendous promotional vehicle, and Greg could stay at home with his kids.
Smokler: that’s a more creative promotional effort than 90% of New York publishers have thought of. Until the last year and a half, very few publishers' Web sites had anything other than the season's catalog. If you've ever been to a reading, you know that readers just salivate over any information about the writing process. The Web is able to hone in on that in ways that other media cannot.
Neil Gaiman did a blog while he was writing American Gods. Robert Olen Butler wrote a short story live on a Web cam. The science fiction community has embraced that first for obvious reasons, but it's only the beginning.
We know how the Web has changed how books are made. Let's talk about the reverse.
Bickner: One of the most exciting things that happened in my career took place at the New York Public Library. We took in a box of papers from Malcolm X after his trip to Mecca when he rethought a lot of his ideas. These ideas have been unexplored because of a lack of material. This box was found in a storage locker in Florida. The storage owner sold the stuff, and it eventually ended up on Ebay. Through a lot of negotiation and other work, the New York Public Library acquired the collection.
That the box survived was an accident of the stuff the material was written on. Once we got the collection, we started getting calls from people who also had boxes of Malcolm X materials. I began looking for the analogous accidents and the analogous materials in the Web world and it's not there.
Let's say Josh Davis has a flood in his basement. Does someone save his CPU? We're not taking steps now to preserve digital materials. 20 years from now, how are we going to understand Cory Doctorow's editorial process?
Smokler: The way authors compose their books is changing. The number of authors who compose their books with pencil and paper is shrinking. There's a group of people called the Pencil and Paper Society, but those writers are rare.
Bickner: This is something that we just photographed at the New York Public Library to digitize. It's Walt Whitman's copy of Leaves of Grass. The pencil marks you see are his editing comments for the second edition. This physical object shows you what his process was like.
My own manuscript shows tracked changes in Microsoft Word. The Walt Whitman book is physical. With this, it's not just about saving the Microsoft Word file, it's about having the technology to read these tracked changes. 20 years from now, is someone going to want to see the email that I sent Tanya, a friend who helped me with the book? What do you save? What part do you save? Do you really want to save it for later? What is the digital object?
Smokler: In the future, will a rare books library be a collection of G4's? What if its format isn't compatible? What if Microsoft Word doesn't exist? Pens and pencils doesn't get evolved out of existence.
Brown: You're going to kill me. We do one print proof of our books. We delete all the changes and then we use that file to publish the book. That's all there is.
Smokler: Do people like Ben, Carrie, have the resources to do this sort of thing?
Bickner: Some of the resources are less expensive than you might think. Publishers do have a responsibility to preserve a part of their cultural heritage. Publishers print books on acid-free paper. Open standards are a pretty good bet. It's difficult. If you have to exchange with people working in proprietary software like Microsoft Word, it can be difficult to collaborate.
Brown: We just have to start saving everything instead of emptying our trash every morning
Bickner: Or find someone to save it for you. The collectors are the people who are going to have this stuff. Josh Davis puts out a CD-ROM every year. You know someone is collecting those.
Smokler: History is an incomplete story. We save what is most illuminating and most helpful. Ben, 20 years from now you may not want the first few books published by So New MMedia.
Brown: This is one of our first books. It was done by my partner James, who co-founded the company. It's a collection of short stories, and it's bound by a used envelope that he found at the office he worked at. He made photocopies at work and stapled them at his desk. That one's wrapped in plastic.
This one is one of the later ones we did. We upgraded to having our own expensive laser printer in our house. We bought a fancy-pants German saddle stapler. The most recent books, we've finally upgraded and are doing perfect bound real books. We just send them off to printers.
Smokler: That’s Neal Pollackl
Brown: his first book was put out by McSweeney's, and he's got a novel coming out at Harper Collins.
Bickner: It's interesting to me that someone who's on both sides of the publishing world thinks that putting something in print is a way of exalting the work.
Brown: I have been publishing my work online for many, many years. It doesn't compare to holding the book in your hands or selling your book to someone. The micropayment future never showed up. We sell a book for $6, and we send the author $2 or $3. I don't make any money at all. I just sent Adam Rakunas several hundred dollars so he could pay his rent.
Smokler: We still have a bias that things printed on paper are more worthy than publishing online. We don't have the New York Times Book Review for people who publish online. It's seen as a haven for people who can't cut it in the real world.
Brown: Most of the people we publish will probably get book deals in the future. The fact that I'm willing to put the money up indicates that I at least think the writing is quality.
Smokler: I hope we're nearing a day where writers see the Web as a viable way to promote their work. Publishers just now are starting to clue into that. Publicists at most publishing houses are young, terribly ambitious, horribly overworked people. They've got 30-40 books under their tutelage, and a lot of books get swept away by the tide.
Brown: And promotional budgets are about 10% of the overall budget. Let's say your advance is $12,000. That means your promotional budget is $1,000.
Smokler: The attention to promotion needs to come from you. The Web allows writers to promote themselves.
Brown: Neal Pollack's first book was promoted exclusively online. He did online promotion and went on tour. The tour was promoted only online. He did a tour diary on his Web site, and he sold a zillion copies of the book. This book is very much the same. The power of the Web as a promotional tool for books is underestimated by people even like myself.
Bickner: I have a non-literary example of how this might play out. There was a health information publisher who specialized in AIDS and HIV information to be distributed in African countries. The publisher's question was: How do we create the content, print it, and then get it where it needs to be? They decided to create the content in PDF's, send them where they needed to be, and then print them.
Smokler: We want to do Q&A, but does anyone have anything else to say?
Brown: I have a project I'd like to talk about. You don't write and you don't do Web logs because you're a socially adept person. You also don't spend years and years of your life writing a novel because you're partying every night. We're doing these events now where they force authors into the punk-rock or indie-rock musician role. We have a monthly series now in which writers perform with bands. It changes the way people think of our company. We don't just publish books. We entertain people. You're not just interacting with the author, you might even dance.
Smokler: We used to say that the production of literature happens in private and the celebration of literature happens in public.
Bickner: I haven't heard that term in such a long time now. It's not as costly. These alternate delivery mechanisms are getting more and more respect. We don't have those easy distinctions to make anymore. My worry about which of this stuff do we save is a confusing one.
Smokler: Most bookstores have a policy with publishers that whatever they can't sell they can return.
Brown: Or destroy.
Smokler: You have no such agreement with self-published authors.
Brown: We have run into a little about that. People say, "You publish your own books?" I say, "No, I publish other people's books." It's changing because there are a lot more independent presses. There is still a stigma. If someone comes up to me and says, "I published my own book. Will you look at it?" I'm sorry, I don't have enough time.
Also, I can't call up the newspaper and say, "Hey, I published this book by another guy." They won't talk to me. That's why I have a publicist. There's a stigma against promoting yourself in the literature world. The Onion gave us an insanely good review of Neal's new book, and it was available on Amazon yet. It is now on Amazon and in bookstores, but it was a panic.
Smokler: I get asked a lot by aspiring authors how do I get my book reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle. Book reviews are at best a questionable method for promoting your book. What if it's lousy?
There's still a place for experts on books. The space for those experts is underutilized. We have maybe a dozen book reviewers that a publisher would run out and slap for a jacket blurb. That is too few. Who is book blogging? The Amazon thing is a diffuse way of doing that.
Bickner: You might have one or two of your friends review your book on Amazon.
Brown: That's not an unusual thing. Log out as Michael Crichton, log back in as Joe.
Smokler: Where do you find out what to read next?
Bickner: I have to have a couple of people suggest something before I read it. It's gotta be, "Here, you really must read this." If I had more time I would probably read book reviews.
Brown: I have a pretty healthy network of people to recommend stuff. I also go to the Amazon recommendations. I do that "I have this book, and I like it," thing, so my recommendation list is a finely tuned machine. I also buy anything anyone recommends on their blog. I read Boing Boing. I read Heath Row's Media Diet. Shout out to Heath.
Kevin's already blogged about his panel experience. Carrie's posted her notes online.
Carrie Bickner, Ben Brown, and Kevin Smokler: Book Culture
Bickner works as assistant director for digital information and system design at the New York Public Library and runs Rogue Librarian. Brown co-founded So New Media. Smokler works as a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and runs Where There's Smoke. Here is a rough transcript of the panel discussion:
Smokler: Please address all publishing questions to the publishing panel at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Thank you.
Brown: Bling bling.
Bickner: Happy happy.
Smokler: Joy joy. Good morning, everybody. My name's Kevin Smokler, and I'll be your moderator this morning. We'll be talking about books and the Web. Are they friends or enemies? Friends or lovers? Friends with benefits?
When I came to South by Southwest in 2000, I was a failed writer and looking for something literary. I was looking for something book related, and they had an e-books panel. That was three years ago. The e-book issue has largely been put to rest. It's more or less considered a failure in publishing circles.
We never think now about publishing and the Web in terms of the Web supplanting books. We're looking at how the two relate rather than will one dominate the other.
Bickner: I am with the New Your Public Library digital library program as the assistant director for digital information and system design.
Smokler: Ben Brown is a Web rock star, personality, and all-around good guy. But for our purposes today, he's the co-publisher of So New Media, an exciting, interesting new model of publishing. The very definition of being published has changed thanks to the Web.
Bickner: I am by training a librarian, but I'm also a writer. How I got into librarianship, initially I thought I'd be a special collections librarian, an archivist. It turned out that I actually knew a lot about technology. Now that I'm in the digital library program, my job is almost what I started out to do. It's preservation. How do we preserve our digital cultural heritage? 50 years from now, how are we going to be able to find these objects?
Brown: I'm a Perl programmer by trade, but I have a creative writing degree. When I started doing a lot of writing and looking for places to publish, it's not a great market for the kind of stuff I write. I was living in New Zealand at the time and I pitched a lot of articles about book culture. Magazines there just weren't interested. So I started a magazine. I did it myself. I did it punk-rock style, and we sold several hundreds of copies. When I got back, my partner and I started So New Media to primarily focus on writers who mostly publish online.
Smokler: I'm a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and until last week was working on Central Booking. We also used that forum format and software interface to have authors come visit. Our readers would post questions and the authors would answer them.
Where should we start? The four main areas we've brought up in terms of where books and the Web intersect in interesting ways are promotion, dissemination, preservation, and selection vs. publishing. Three years ago, there was a lot of talk about print on demand. Before we could do that, seeing your book was some mark of quality, some mark that you had in fact made it as a writer. Your book had passed through some sort of selection process no matter how good or bad it was.
The Web has turned that entirely on its head. What does that mean? Now that everybody can be published, what does it mean to be published? Now the question isn't who can get published and is that worth reading, but, as a reader, how do we select what's worth reading?
Brown: We have a pretty rigorous selection process. We get hundreds and hundreds -- OK, many many -- submissions every week. We've done 12 books or something. We can't read all of the submissions that we get already. One of the major things we evaluate is: Does this author already have somewhat of an online following? Beyond that, it is very much my personal tastes in books. My hope is that the people in our audience will have tastes similar to what I have and just buy everything we put out. We've done everything from personal narrative to science fiction. But they all fall in moderny categories.
Another thing is dealing with the authors and how enthusiastic about the book. Some people are like, "Yeah, yeah, I'll put out a book." And other people are like, "Yeah! I'll go on a world tour, I'll visit 200 cities and put on a circus act in every city." Those are the people we publish.
The first people we published were members of the high-click personal Web site community. They had a decent audience. Our goal was not to sell books to viewers of the Web sites. The goal was to get writing on the Web already into the hands of people who buy books at the bookstore.
It's not new, but there are thousands and thousands of books being released every week into the bookstores. There's no distinguishing between your book and another. You've got to get out there and do a little song and dance for people.
One of the first people we did was Greg Knauss. He did a 40 Web log tour. Every day he'd do a virtual reading and write a piece for all these different sites. He got a lot of press because nobody had ever done that before. It was a tremendous promotional vehicle, and Greg could stay at home with his kids.
Smokler: that’s a more creative promotional effort than 90% of New York publishers have thought of. Until the last year and a half, very few publishers' Web sites had anything other than the season's catalog. If you've ever been to a reading, you know that readers just salivate over any information about the writing process. The Web is able to hone in on that in ways that other media cannot.
Neil Gaiman did a blog while he was writing American Gods. Robert Olen Butler wrote a short story live on a Web cam. The science fiction community has embraced that first for obvious reasons, but it's only the beginning.
We know how the Web has changed how books are made. Let's talk about the reverse.
Bickner: One of the most exciting things that happened in my career took place at the New York Public Library. We took in a box of papers from Malcolm X after his trip to Mecca when he rethought a lot of his ideas. These ideas have been unexplored because of a lack of material. This box was found in a storage locker in Florida. The storage owner sold the stuff, and it eventually ended up on Ebay. Through a lot of negotiation and other work, the New York Public Library acquired the collection.
That the box survived was an accident of the stuff the material was written on. Once we got the collection, we started getting calls from people who also had boxes of Malcolm X materials. I began looking for the analogous accidents and the analogous materials in the Web world and it's not there.
Let's say Josh Davis has a flood in his basement. Does someone save his CPU? We're not taking steps now to preserve digital materials. 20 years from now, how are we going to understand Cory Doctorow's editorial process?
Smokler: The way authors compose their books is changing. The number of authors who compose their books with pencil and paper is shrinking. There's a group of people called the Pencil and Paper Society, but those writers are rare.
Bickner: This is something that we just photographed at the New York Public Library to digitize. It's Walt Whitman's copy of Leaves of Grass. The pencil marks you see are his editing comments for the second edition. This physical object shows you what his process was like.
My own manuscript shows tracked changes in Microsoft Word. The Walt Whitman book is physical. With this, it's not just about saving the Microsoft Word file, it's about having the technology to read these tracked changes. 20 years from now, is someone going to want to see the email that I sent Tanya, a friend who helped me with the book? What do you save? What part do you save? Do you really want to save it for later? What is the digital object?
Smokler: In the future, will a rare books library be a collection of G4's? What if its format isn't compatible? What if Microsoft Word doesn't exist? Pens and pencils doesn't get evolved out of existence.
Brown: You're going to kill me. We do one print proof of our books. We delete all the changes and then we use that file to publish the book. That's all there is.
Smokler: Do people like Ben, Carrie, have the resources to do this sort of thing?
Bickner: Some of the resources are less expensive than you might think. Publishers do have a responsibility to preserve a part of their cultural heritage. Publishers print books on acid-free paper. Open standards are a pretty good bet. It's difficult. If you have to exchange with people working in proprietary software like Microsoft Word, it can be difficult to collaborate.
Brown: We just have to start saving everything instead of emptying our trash every morning
Bickner: Or find someone to save it for you. The collectors are the people who are going to have this stuff. Josh Davis puts out a CD-ROM every year. You know someone is collecting those.
Smokler: History is an incomplete story. We save what is most illuminating and most helpful. Ben, 20 years from now you may not want the first few books published by So New MMedia.
Brown: This is one of our first books. It was done by my partner James, who co-founded the company. It's a collection of short stories, and it's bound by a used envelope that he found at the office he worked at. He made photocopies at work and stapled them at his desk. That one's wrapped in plastic.
This one is one of the later ones we did. We upgraded to having our own expensive laser printer in our house. We bought a fancy-pants German saddle stapler. The most recent books, we've finally upgraded and are doing perfect bound real books. We just send them off to printers.
Smokler: That’s Neal Pollackl
Brown: his first book was put out by McSweeney's, and he's got a novel coming out at Harper Collins.
Bickner: It's interesting to me that someone who's on both sides of the publishing world thinks that putting something in print is a way of exalting the work.
Brown: I have been publishing my work online for many, many years. It doesn't compare to holding the book in your hands or selling your book to someone. The micropayment future never showed up. We sell a book for $6, and we send the author $2 or $3. I don't make any money at all. I just sent Adam Rakunas several hundred dollars so he could pay his rent.
Smokler: We still have a bias that things printed on paper are more worthy than publishing online. We don't have the New York Times Book Review for people who publish online. It's seen as a haven for people who can't cut it in the real world.
Brown: Most of the people we publish will probably get book deals in the future. The fact that I'm willing to put the money up indicates that I at least think the writing is quality.
Smokler: I hope we're nearing a day where writers see the Web as a viable way to promote their work. Publishers just now are starting to clue into that. Publicists at most publishing houses are young, terribly ambitious, horribly overworked people. They've got 30-40 books under their tutelage, and a lot of books get swept away by the tide.
Brown: And promotional budgets are about 10% of the overall budget. Let's say your advance is $12,000. That means your promotional budget is $1,000.
Smokler: The attention to promotion needs to come from you. The Web allows writers to promote themselves.
Brown: Neal Pollack's first book was promoted exclusively online. He did online promotion and went on tour. The tour was promoted only online. He did a tour diary on his Web site, and he sold a zillion copies of the book. This book is very much the same. The power of the Web as a promotional tool for books is underestimated by people even like myself.
Bickner: I have a non-literary example of how this might play out. There was a health information publisher who specialized in AIDS and HIV information to be distributed in African countries. The publisher's question was: How do we create the content, print it, and then get it where it needs to be? They decided to create the content in PDF's, send them where they needed to be, and then print them.
Smokler: We want to do Q&A, but does anyone have anything else to say?
Brown: I have a project I'd like to talk about. You don't write and you don't do Web logs because you're a socially adept person. You also don't spend years and years of your life writing a novel because you're partying every night. We're doing these events now where they force authors into the punk-rock or indie-rock musician role. We have a monthly series now in which writers perform with bands. It changes the way people think of our company. We don't just publish books. We entertain people. You're not just interacting with the author, you might even dance.
Smokler: We used to say that the production of literature happens in private and the celebration of literature happens in public.
Question: How would you distinguish vanity publishing from what we're talking about?
Bickner: I haven't heard that term in such a long time now. It's not as costly. These alternate delivery mechanisms are getting more and more respect. We don't have those easy distinctions to make anymore. My worry about which of this stuff do we save is a confusing one.
Smokler: Most bookstores have a policy with publishers that whatever they can't sell they can return.
Brown: Or destroy.
Smokler: You have no such agreement with self-published authors.
Brown: We have run into a little about that. People say, "You publish your own books?" I say, "No, I publish other people's books." It's changing because there are a lot more independent presses. There is still a stigma. If someone comes up to me and says, "I published my own book. Will you look at it?" I'm sorry, I don't have enough time.
Also, I can't call up the newspaper and say, "Hey, I published this book by another guy." They won't talk to me. That's why I have a publicist. There's a stigma against promoting yourself in the literature world. The Onion gave us an insanely good review of Neal's new book, and it was available on Amazon yet. It is now on Amazon and in bookstores, but it was a panic.
Question: What is the place of the book critic?
Smokler: I get asked a lot by aspiring authors how do I get my book reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle. Book reviews are at best a questionable method for promoting your book. What if it's lousy?
There's still a place for experts on books. The space for those experts is underutilized. We have maybe a dozen book reviewers that a publisher would run out and slap for a jacket blurb. That is too few. Who is book blogging? The Amazon thing is a diffuse way of doing that.
Bickner: You might have one or two of your friends review your book on Amazon.
Brown: That's not an unusual thing. Log out as Michael Crichton, log back in as Joe.
Smokler: Where do you find out what to read next?
Bickner: I have to have a couple of people suggest something before I read it. It's gotta be, "Here, you really must read this." If I had more time I would probably read book reviews.
Brown: I have a pretty healthy network of people to recommend stuff. I also go to the Amazon recommendations. I do that "I have this book, and I like it," thing, so my recommendation list is a finely tuned machine. I also buy anything anyone recommends on their blog. I read Boing Boing. I read Heath Row's Media Diet. Shout out to Heath.
Kevin's already blogged about his panel experience. Carrie's posted her notes online.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
South by Southwest 2003 XII
Heather Champ, Jason Nolan, Katharine Parrish, and Ana Sisnett: Conceptual Firewalls
Parrish: We're going to limit our concerns today to blogs. Blogs are such a powerful symbol. Today we'll consider blog technologies, cultures, and communities to address these questions: Can anyone publish anything at any time? What aspects of accessibility might we be overlooking? Does anyone publish anything at any time? If we removed any limitations, would people blog anything? How much do we really know about the breadth and depth of experience communicated by blogs? What do we do with this information?
If we make the claim that everyone has access, it becomes our problem. Some of it is beyond our direct control. It's still incumbent to ask, are there things that we do that maintain inequities? If the revolution will be bloggerized, what will its impact be? We must be careful when we say "we." This is a very particular "we." Do we want to see everyone blogging? Do we want everyone to have access to some vehicle for voicing dissent? Is there something inherent in blogs or blog cultures that don't translate well to other cultures?
One of our panelists, Cameron Marlowe can't be with us today. But he sent us his comments, so I'm going to keep talking. If you're familiar with Blogdex, you're familiar with Cameron. I can't find it on my laptop. Maybe I won't deliver Cameron's comments.
Champ: My name is Heather Champ. My Web log is is Harrumph.
Nolan: I will just talk in teacher voice. This is a picture that you have in handout. What I'm talking about is the Null and Hidden Curriculum. I've written about the Null and Hidden Curriculum of the Internet. Curriculum speaks to how we learn in any environment. Most of my work is around the types of learning that go on in non-school environments, such as online communities.
The hidden curriculum looks at what goes on beyond what is explicit. You have to be acculturated. You have to know how to participate in that environment. The Nolan Curriculum is a little more insidious. It's based on the idea that learning involves opportunitites as well as lost opportunities. The Null curriculum is what you did or did not choose.
The tools that we use to create limit what is said as well as offer opportunities for new forms of expression. The tools we use and the language we use influences the way we think. We can express ourselves in a varity of different ways.
As big a fan of blogs as I am, blogs are also tools for silencing and othering. How can tehre be democracy without access and representation? Are blogs reporducing dominant cultural norms as well as taking steps to challenge them? Blogs, from my experience, don't always expand cultural horizons. There's a natural difficulty dealing with foreign languages and the immediacy of online communications. I can't set up Moveable Type in Japanese because the instructions are in Japanese.
There are usually multilingual plug-ins, but they always start with English. The Internet can do two languages at once: English and another language. I want to create technology-based environment that do not privelege first.
How do we overcome the English-ness that's built into the Internet itself? I don't think we can. If you send an email message in Russian, the message gets sent with this HELO from server to server to server. Imagine if you had to greet everyone in a foreign language. The letter "a" in ASCII stands for American.
I don't want everybody to be equal. But I want there to be equal access. I want to foster and ensure communication. Can we overcome bias? No, but we can be conscious of it in the tools we create. My facetious question would be: Why shouldn't everything on the Internet be tied to the American way of life?
We are very much interested in other cultures, and we very much want to interact with them.
Sisnett: Katharine has touched off what has become a big change in my life. Before she contacted me I had only visited one blog consciously. It was Dr. Tom Ferguson's blog, and he's sitting right here in the front of the room. Katharine wrote to me and asked for my participation in this panel basically as a reality check.
What keeps me in the room is the issue of community. There is so much time spent on blogging, I wonder do these people have jobs? As much as I write, I don't spend that much time writing about anything. But for the last few weeks or so, I have been blogging like crazy. What became as a potentially adversial relationship has now become a love affair.
I am someone who is on the other side f the frewall. I am in community technology. I build bridges to people who may may not know how to use computers, know how to type, know English. There's another layer of questioning that has to do with the political implications of putting one's information out there.
If you're considering using Web logs as part of training programs or as a community-building tool, you need to consider whether the people you're serving are interested in using the tools. How do people stay in touch with each other? Is it the ideal form of communications? A lot fo the people we work with would rather have a spaghetti lunch or a face-to-face discussion. Most of the people don't use these tools, don't use them efficiently.
Access becomes an issue. Access to information. Access to technology and training in the use of those tools isn't available. The Mirror Project was a great alternative because it's about photographs. Then the question becomes "Who's going to pay for the camera? Who's going to develop the film?"
There's also a fear factor. If someone's an immigrant, they're going to be concerned with what they say and how they say it online. Some other questions that were raised include: Do I have to sign up to see blogs? What about privacy? What tools do I have to know how to use? I haven't used HTML since Java came around. What's interesting is that it's come back around to a text-based tool like what I first used: Telnet and Pine. Who gets to access my blog? Can I password-protect my blog? What if somebody wants to hack my blog? Can I protect it? The last question is the reliability of the information. How do you know how to trust the information? How do you know the blog wasn't set up for another sinister reason?
The work that Jason and Katharine have done is very relevant to a friend of mine. She works for a black college with scant resources. It takes three weeks to set up an email. There aren't enough accounts for students. They're all setting Yahoo accounts. The letters are taped to the keyboards. Imagine going to a college without enough computers?
The level of critical thinking I've found on the Net is something I don't always have in my day to day. Even if I disagree with it, at least it's something I can bounce off of. But ultimately, is it useful? What am I going to do with it?
Parrish: I'm just going to briefly outline some of Cameron's thoughts. One of the reasons I was interested in having Cameron on this panel is that Blogdex is an index to blog content and communities. There doesn't really exist any scientific statistical information on the content of Web logs.
I validate each and every blog that's added to and indexed by the system. This past year was the year of the oppressed, with the largest increases in Iranian, Chinese, and American conservative populations. It might be interesting to unpack how new communities online can be quellef by the larger existing groups or become central to the online world.
We're dealing with a monster here when we start asking these questions. I hope you can see that these are interrelated questions. Please bear with us. We're eating away into time to respond. These questions are best answered over beer.
I would like to ask Heather. I never became conscious of myself as a gendered individual. I knew I was a girl. I knew I was performed as a girl. But I never really considered my gender until I began working with technology, when I realized that I behaved as culturally female. How conscious are you of your gender?
Champ: I want to back it up a step to conferences. In 1995 I went to Internet World and Mac World. The most strongly I feel the division is at conferences and in the materials that are handed out to me. Last year, when I came to SXSW, I felt like it was predominately a white male conference. It's so terrible. Look, it's Joshua Davis, but where are the women? This year, SXSW has made more of an effort to find a balance.
I'm concerned about women who are coming after me, who look at these materials, and who feel whether these events speak to them. Anil recently posted a photo of Dave Winer's recent panel at Harvard, and it struck me that it's white, it's male, and they have beards. There were two women there? Those people don't speak to me. Is this the face of blogging?
Sisnett: I think it's two different things, though. There needs to be energy put into diversifying the attendance of conferences. Advertising dollars have not gone to newspapers owned by people of color for SXSW. Is it assumed that people of color don't care about SXSW? There aren't a lot of women who look like me in this entire building. It's about racism. It's about sexism. We need to say that and deal with it if we want it to change.
Nolan: For educators, the goal is just to get people online and blogging. I ask my students, "Why is this useful to you?" I have a freat student who's going to eclipse me in 30 seconds, and she never touched technology before. She was very hostile to working with technology. She was very hostile to blogging. Now she wants to work with women to blog to each other in a network segregated from the Internet. These are women who might live 50 meters away from each other, but they may never see each other. And the men don't want them to get online, because they know what the Web is for: porn. We've got a lot of great opportunities when we engage people who don't think it's important to be blogging.
Nolan: I teach mostly grad students, engineers and technology people. They're afraid of expressing themselves. I think they need to experience using technology before they can develop and design tools for others to use.
Nolan: You could say the same thing about Moveable Type. I can't speak to whether the genesis of a given tool based on gender has a role in their success.
Parrish: Teachers, particularly English teachers, are always forcing their students to journal and then interrogate them. There haven't been enough good thinking behind that. Most of my lack of sleep I've experienced in my teaching practice stems from forcing my students to journal. With blogging in the classroom, you're forcing people to bring something that is private into the public.
The way that we culturally think about out private thoughts and what happens when they're brought into the public space has a tremendous effect on how people perceive blogging. My students see blogging as a threat. The very concept was not enjoyable at all.
Nolan: You kept bringing up the notion of journal writing as being a specifically female-centered form of writing. In English and Japanese cultur
Heather Champ, Jason Nolan, Katharine Parrish, and Ana Sisnett: Conceptual Firewalls
Champ is creator of the Mirror Project. Nolan co-edited the forthcoming International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments. Parrish researches the use of multimedia environments as spaces for non-narrative literary expression. Sisnett is executive director for Austin Free-Net. Here is a rough transcript of the panel discussion:
Parrish: We're going to limit our concerns today to blogs. Blogs are such a powerful symbol. Today we'll consider blog technologies, cultures, and communities to address these questions: Can anyone publish anything at any time? What aspects of accessibility might we be overlooking? Does anyone publish anything at any time? If we removed any limitations, would people blog anything? How much do we really know about the breadth and depth of experience communicated by blogs? What do we do with this information?
If we make the claim that everyone has access, it becomes our problem. Some of it is beyond our direct control. It's still incumbent to ask, are there things that we do that maintain inequities? If the revolution will be bloggerized, what will its impact be? We must be careful when we say "we." This is a very particular "we." Do we want to see everyone blogging? Do we want everyone to have access to some vehicle for voicing dissent? Is there something inherent in blogs or blog cultures that don't translate well to other cultures?
One of our panelists, Cameron Marlowe can't be with us today. But he sent us his comments, so I'm going to keep talking. If you're familiar with Blogdex, you're familiar with Cameron. I can't find it on my laptop. Maybe I won't deliver Cameron's comments.
Champ: My name is Heather Champ. My Web log is is Harrumph.
Nolan: I will just talk in teacher voice. This is a picture that you have in handout. What I'm talking about is the Null and Hidden Curriculum. I've written about the Null and Hidden Curriculum of the Internet. Curriculum speaks to how we learn in any environment. Most of my work is around the types of learning that go on in non-school environments, such as online communities.
The hidden curriculum looks at what goes on beyond what is explicit. You have to be acculturated. You have to know how to participate in that environment. The Nolan Curriculum is a little more insidious. It's based on the idea that learning involves opportunitites as well as lost opportunities. The Null curriculum is what you did or did not choose.
The tools that we use to create limit what is said as well as offer opportunities for new forms of expression. The tools we use and the language we use influences the way we think. We can express ourselves in a varity of different ways.
As big a fan of blogs as I am, blogs are also tools for silencing and othering. How can tehre be democracy without access and representation? Are blogs reporducing dominant cultural norms as well as taking steps to challenge them? Blogs, from my experience, don't always expand cultural horizons. There's a natural difficulty dealing with foreign languages and the immediacy of online communications. I can't set up Moveable Type in Japanese because the instructions are in Japanese.
There are usually multilingual plug-ins, but they always start with English. The Internet can do two languages at once: English and another language. I want to create technology-based environment that do not privelege first.
How do we overcome the English-ness that's built into the Internet itself? I don't think we can. If you send an email message in Russian, the message gets sent with this HELO from server to server to server. Imagine if you had to greet everyone in a foreign language. The letter "a" in ASCII stands for American.
I don't want everybody to be equal. But I want there to be equal access. I want to foster and ensure communication. Can we overcome bias? No, but we can be conscious of it in the tools we create. My facetious question would be: Why shouldn't everything on the Internet be tied to the American way of life?
We are very much interested in other cultures, and we very much want to interact with them.
Sisnett: Katharine has touched off what has become a big change in my life. Before she contacted me I had only visited one blog consciously. It was Dr. Tom Ferguson's blog, and he's sitting right here in the front of the room. Katharine wrote to me and asked for my participation in this panel basically as a reality check.
What keeps me in the room is the issue of community. There is so much time spent on blogging, I wonder do these people have jobs? As much as I write, I don't spend that much time writing about anything. But for the last few weeks or so, I have been blogging like crazy. What became as a potentially adversial relationship has now become a love affair.
I am someone who is on the other side f the frewall. I am in community technology. I build bridges to people who may may not know how to use computers, know how to type, know English. There's another layer of questioning that has to do with the political implications of putting one's information out there.
If you're considering using Web logs as part of training programs or as a community-building tool, you need to consider whether the people you're serving are interested in using the tools. How do people stay in touch with each other? Is it the ideal form of communications? A lot fo the people we work with would rather have a spaghetti lunch or a face-to-face discussion. Most of the people don't use these tools, don't use them efficiently.
Access becomes an issue. Access to information. Access to technology and training in the use of those tools isn't available. The Mirror Project was a great alternative because it's about photographs. Then the question becomes "Who's going to pay for the camera? Who's going to develop the film?"
There's also a fear factor. If someone's an immigrant, they're going to be concerned with what they say and how they say it online. Some other questions that were raised include: Do I have to sign up to see blogs? What about privacy? What tools do I have to know how to use? I haven't used HTML since Java came around. What's interesting is that it's come back around to a text-based tool like what I first used: Telnet and Pine. Who gets to access my blog? Can I password-protect my blog? What if somebody wants to hack my blog? Can I protect it? The last question is the reliability of the information. How do you know how to trust the information? How do you know the blog wasn't set up for another sinister reason?
The work that Jason and Katharine have done is very relevant to a friend of mine. She works for a black college with scant resources. It takes three weeks to set up an email. There aren't enough accounts for students. They're all setting Yahoo accounts. The letters are taped to the keyboards. Imagine going to a college without enough computers?
The level of critical thinking I've found on the Net is something I don't always have in my day to day. Even if I disagree with it, at least it's something I can bounce off of. But ultimately, is it useful? What am I going to do with it?
Parrish: I'm just going to briefly outline some of Cameron's thoughts. One of the reasons I was interested in having Cameron on this panel is that Blogdex is an index to blog content and communities. There doesn't really exist any scientific statistical information on the content of Web logs.
I validate each and every blog that's added to and indexed by the system. This past year was the year of the oppressed, with the largest increases in Iranian, Chinese, and American conservative populations. It might be interesting to unpack how new communities online can be quellef by the larger existing groups or become central to the online world.
We're dealing with a monster here when we start asking these questions. I hope you can see that these are interrelated questions. Please bear with us. We're eating away into time to respond. These questions are best answered over beer.
I would like to ask Heather. I never became conscious of myself as a gendered individual. I knew I was a girl. I knew I was performed as a girl. But I never really considered my gender until I began working with technology, when I realized that I behaved as culturally female. How conscious are you of your gender?
Champ: I want to back it up a step to conferences. In 1995 I went to Internet World and Mac World. The most strongly I feel the division is at conferences and in the materials that are handed out to me. Last year, when I came to SXSW, I felt like it was predominately a white male conference. It's so terrible. Look, it's Joshua Davis, but where are the women? This year, SXSW has made more of an effort to find a balance.
I'm concerned about women who are coming after me, who look at these materials, and who feel whether these events speak to them. Anil recently posted a photo of Dave Winer's recent panel at Harvard, and it struck me that it's white, it's male, and they have beards. There were two women there? Those people don't speak to me. Is this the face of blogging?
Nancy White: It's about exposure. I work with young women in high school in Seattle to think about themselves in technology work. Do blogs give us this opportuntiy to try out if we imagined ourselves to be in another way? Is this a safe place, an incubator? When we offer new technologis, can there be a safe place to see what the ramifications are? If we don't give them a chance to try it, we'll never see their faces. Is there a space in between public and private?
Sisnett: I think it's two different things, though. There needs to be energy put into diversifying the attendance of conferences. Advertising dollars have not gone to newspapers owned by people of color for SXSW. Is it assumed that people of color don't care about SXSW? There aren't a lot of women who look like me in this entire building. It's about racism. It's about sexism. We need to say that and deal with it if we want it to change.
Nolan: For educators, the goal is just to get people online and blogging. I ask my students, "Why is this useful to you?" I have a freat student who's going to eclipse me in 30 seconds, and she never touched technology before. She was very hostile to working with technology. She was very hostile to blogging. Now she wants to work with women to blog to each other in a network segregated from the Internet. These are women who might live 50 meters away from each other, but they may never see each other. And the men don't want them to get online, because they know what the Web is for: porn. We've got a lot of great opportunities when we engage people who don't think it's important to be blogging.
Question: You made a comment about dragging your students kicking and screaming into blogging. Why? Only a minority people find it worthwhile writing in the first place.
Nolan: I teach mostly grad students, engineers and technology people. They're afraid of expressing themselves. I think they need to experience using technology before they can develop and design tools for others to use.
Question: Blogger was originally created by a man and a woman. Do you think that attributes to its success?
Nolan: You could say the same thing about Moveable Type. I can't speak to whether the genesis of a given tool based on gender has a role in their success.
Parrish: Teachers, particularly English teachers, are always forcing their students to journal and then interrogate them. There haven't been enough good thinking behind that. Most of my lack of sleep I've experienced in my teaching practice stems from forcing my students to journal. With blogging in the classroom, you're forcing people to bring something that is private into the public.
The way that we culturally think about out private thoughts and what happens when they're brought into the public space has a tremendous effect on how people perceive blogging. My students see blogging as a threat. The very concept was not enjoyable at all.
Nolan: You kept bringing up the notion of journal writing as being a specifically female-centered form of writing. In English and Japanese cultur