My attitude towards Keen's Cult of the Amateur is this: If you don't want it stolen, don't put it online. In "today's democratized Internet culture," it is just common knowledge that once something is posted online, it's fair game. That's just the way it is, and the way it will be.
There are plenty of ways to protect your content, if you just know where to look. You can post your writing in a certain way that people will not be able to copy and paste, without going through the arduous task of taking a screen shot and re-writing it verbatim. Also, in addition to having your work copyrighted, you can now redefine those copyright rules by using an online service called Creative Commons. CC copyrights the works you put online and lets people know what they can and cannot take for personal use.
Get on with it
Keen make some very good points, but he's fighting an uphill battle. I agree with him that there needs to be gatekeepers, people with a long list of credentials who are recognized as experts and authority figures within their given field. But complaining about Web 2.0 is nothing more than white noise. The Internet is here and it's not going anywhere. We can change some of the ways we do business within the online community, but other things he will just have to get used to. People are going to post videos of their cat and their baby, and they may even post a video they stole from CNN. People are going to steal someone else's photos from Flickr and use them in their blog. And in that blog, they may even steal, copy and paste some excerpts from a book of his. That's just the way it is, and the sooner he accepts it, the sooner he can move on to real solutions.
Cutting and pasting, of course, is child's play on Web 2.0, enabling a younger generation of intellectual kleptomaniacs, who think their ability to cut and paste a well-phrased thought or opinion makes it their own.
Original file-sharing technologies like Napster and Kazaa, which gained so much attention during the first web boom, pale in comparison to the latest Web 2.0 "remixing" of content and "mashing up" of software and music.
In a twisted kind of Alice In Wonderland, down-the-rabbit-hole logic, Silicon Valley visionaries...laud the appropriation of intellectual property.
Cut Copy is an indie synth pop band from Australia (wikipedia.org) (Ha! Eat it, Keen!) With last year's breakthrough album, In Ghost Colours, they've been pasted into the clubs and the consciouses of every indie hipster in Chicago. Like a lot of popular dance acts today, they welcome remixes of their music. In fact, it may even be fair to say that they make music to be remixed.
This is a user-made video that won a contest sponsored by Nokia. Its actually better than the official video.
Club culture was Napster before Napster, and believe it or not, Chicago was the catalyst. Its a community built around a commons, otherwise known as the dance floor. People come together there to share each other's music and to experience that music. The DJ chooses songs he likes and mixes them together to create an experience that is truly unique for every person, every time. For beginning and established artists alike, it is among their highest priorities to have their songs played in the clubs. If a smaller group like Cut Copy hear their song being mixed in a club, its a hit; instant gratification.
Before long those songs are being talked about, googled, downloaded, and eventually sold on iTunes. Major stations take notice of the increasing sales of the song(s) and put it on the airwaves. The song explodes and the artist is catapulted into the mainstream, almost overnight. (see Santogold, MGMT, M.I.A.) Once the song hits its peak, it has already been remixed a thousand times, whether by a DJ, another artist, or just a fan at home on his laptop. This is the music industry in Web 2.0, and I don't see anything wrong with it. It not only multiplies the number of times an artist's song is played or heard, but it enhances the user's experience by letting them participate in the process!
Should this process be applied to other areas of the arts, such as literature? Absolutely not. And I think it is unfair for Keen to compare the two. Its apples to oranges. The remix was born from music and has become an integral part of the hip-hop and club cultures. As a music business major, I especially believe in the remix. However, I don't think there is a place for that in the literary world, mostly because I just have a hard time imagining it. How and why would you re-edit a novel? Now a poem, I might understand, because it is closer to song lyrics, which are borrowed and shared all the time. But an entire book of text? How would you even go about doing that?
My only explanation would be this "liquid library," comparable to Wikipedia. So you post a book to a website, and then users who read it can go in and edit it. What is the point of that?? What does anyone stand to gain from that? A song is a moment. It is not a book. A book is usually a complete work, consisting of several phrases and chapters, and much more. It is an entire package to be sold as a single item, like a movie. It can't be broken down into bpm's or scenes or chapters to be sold individually on iTunes--you need every piece of the puzzle to get the whole picture. Whereas songs are little pictures all their own.
I chose my current template, Rounders 3, because I felt it was most practical. It matches the criteria for what I believe a good blog should look like. Its easy on the eyes. I especially like the color scheme used in the template. Something about it just makes me feel at home in Writing for New Media in the fall of 2009. The page feels like a comfortable, more cerebral place to congregate.
I had two other templates before settling on this one however. The first was Scribe. I thought maybe this would make the blog feel more academic. I was wrong. It might look academic for Aristotle, but not WFNM. It's just wrong.
I quickly changed it to something else that looked more up to date: a template called TicTac. TicTac looks great with my blog, but I ended up changing it because for some reason, I could not get word wrap to work. Rather than continue sifting through Blogger for answers, switching to Rounders 3 was the fastest, easiest solution. And it turned out, I feel, for the better. Perhaps if this were the spring semester, I would go back to TicTac. The design at the top just reminds me of sunshine trickling through the leaves after a cool spring rain.
So far in this blog, I've talked about how the medium directly affects the message and how the definition of literacy is constantly changing, especially now that we have so many new forms of media and communication. I have also listed my criteria for what I consider to be a good blog, and even put that list to work by showing examples. Piggy-backing off of those criteria, I have devised another list for my Top 5 Blog Tips for new bloggers:
5. Write, Read, Revise, Repeat A blogger's work is never finished. Whether you write free-hand or systematically, it's always good to double-check your work. This should be a no-brainer. If you're writing something that anyone online can see, the last thing you want (other than incriminating photos) are embarrassing misspellings and typos. Also, if you change your mind about something, or decide you don't want to keep a certain post, guess what...you can delete it! Its ok to go back and make changes--that's why they're blogs--they're not written in stone. In fact, I will probably edit this very post three times by the end of the week. As you progress in your writing, so shall your blog. Like a pokemon, it wants to evolve. So help it grow.
4. Design It Like You Mean It The design of your blog should directly reflect the subject you are writing about. Period. Now I know not everyone's a graphic or interior designer, but most everyone has an idea of what looks good and what looks bad to them. You don't have to please everyone, just your readers. So try to find something that connects with the focus of your blog and advances your message. Tell the reader what you're all about before they even begin reading. Lastly, the design should be bearable. You might blog about abstract art or the "ugliest designs ever," but even in those cases, you still want your writing to be legible and your audience to stick around long enough to read it.
...unless of course you are blogging for the blind
3. Know Your Audience and Use Your Web Voice This tip could have been split into two, but they are too closely related and equally important. Depending on who you are talking to, you are going to think and speak differently. You should speak to your audience with the appropriate tone. Don't talk down to them, and certainly don't ignore them. You want to see eye to eye with your reader. If you don't know exactly who your readers are, just simply ask yourself this question: Am I writing what they want, or am I writing what I want? Once you can answer that question, you'll have a much better idea of what voice to use. Generally, that voice should be something likable. It should read like it would sound if we were having a face to face conversation. Picture your audience, and let them know what's on your mind :)
2. The Title Is Half The Battle The title should be something short and catchy. It doesn't have to be, it just seems to work better. How come? Because the title of your blog should match the url. So if your blog is called "Half the Battle," the url should read: http://halfthebattle.blogspot.com. A good example of what NOT to do is the myspace page for one of my favorite local bands, Ten-Speed. Sure, you could just go on MySpace and search "Ten-Speed." But there are other bands with that name and some of them are more established, and therefore are ranked higher in the search. If you didn't already know the band, you would be lost. But rather than come up with anything even remotley reminicsent of "Ten-Speed," the url for their myspace is: www.myspace.com/theblockofwoodcollective. Yes, The Block of Wood Collective. Now what if you had gone to their show and asked what their myspace page was? Would they tell you Block of Wood Collective? And if they did, would you remember that? My only explanation for this one is that they might have been called that at one time and then later changed their name to Ten-Speed. The point is, name your blog according to the subject matter, and make the url as close to that title as possible. Or in otherwords, don't call it October In The 80's. Especially if you're not going to talk about the 80's.
1. Write About Something You Love Ok, I'll admit, I stole this one from the Diigo, but that's because it makes perfect sense. If you're not writing about something you love, then you are far less likely to continue writing about it. And if you do continue writing about it, you are not going to be very happy about it. Of course this does not apply to work or school, where you might be writing for a job or assignment. In this/that case, you have no choice. But if its a personal blog, write about something you love. It will only make things better for everyone.
An excellent example of this is showcased in the recent film Julie and Julia. Its about a woman named Julie Powell who discovered blogging when it was still in its infancy (pre-web 2.0), and because she loved food so much, she decided to blog about cooking. The only problem was that she wasn't a very good cook. So in order to challenge herself, she decided to cook Julia Child's entire cook book in a year....and blog about it. That's 524 recipes in just 365 days. She called it the Julie/Julia Project, and it was a huge success.
Straying away from the theme of content as king, I've chosen two more blog sites to evaluate. This time they are slightly less related to my own personal blog, but they are slightly more in tune with my criteria than those in the previous post.
Now I understand that this blog is primarily for women, but I can't help but read it every once in a while. The content is very hit or miss for me: I love Marie's taste in music and movies, and I think she has a fantastic sense of humor, but when she gets on her rants about fashion or "ladyboning" Julian Casablancas, I skip ahead to the next post. What I'd like to focus on here is the design.
Design: 5
Right from the start you recognize that Marie's site has a signature look and feel. She created a photo for her header and accompanied it with a font that is very complementary. She then uses that font for all of her titles throughout the blog. She even designed a custom signature to sign each of her posts with. There is a bit of clutter at the top of the page with buttons and banners, but even they seem to coincide with the overall look and feel of the site.
Marie uses a template with two columns that are discernable and easy to navigate. And she uses lots of "white space," which tends to make the images and titles jump out more. Its very easy on the eyes. And again, she maintains the color scheme of black, white and red all throughout. If I had any problem with the design at all, it would be the font size for the body of text. However, it seems that this blog is more geared towards photography, and since you don't want the text to take too much away from that, I feel she made the appropriate choice here.
I found this blog while doing research on Detroit last semester and I've been hooked ever since. You would never imagine that there could be so much going on in a city so desolate. Its absolutely and infinitely intriguing to me. To watch one of our great American cities just collapse from the inside out like this is just astonishing. The best way I can describe it is a beautiful disaster.
The blog is written by a local journalist who goes by the pen name Detroitblogger John. He has such a compassion for the local residents and he does a fantastic job of bringing a positive light to many areas that have known nothing but darkness for many years. He is a great voice not just for the city, but for the human spirit.
Design: 5
As my history teacher used to pound into our heads: keep it simple stupid. And it doesn't get any more simple than this. Its must be the most user-friendly blog I've seen to date. Like furniture ought to be, this blog is extremely functional and stylish. It has a beautiful picture of downtown Detroit for the header with the name blended in. Underneath are four simple buttons, and then it gets right down to business. The template is centered, with absolutely no ads or banners to be seen. Its just smooooth sailing. Start reading and put it down when you're content, just like a book. There are no distractions: no sounds or movies or unnecessary titles. Just well-placed pictures to accompany the article and to help you become more involved with the content. He's not selling you anything or bashing your eyeballs with flashing lights; he just opens the door slowly and says, "Welcome. Come on in." Therefore I believe the design for this blog fits perfectly. He really considered his reader when putting together the site.
And just because I always have to mention the text, I will say that white text on a black background can make your eyes a little more exhausted than the opposite, because its simply not what they are accustomed to. However, black backgrounds, minus the white text, can actually help more than just your eyes: they reduce the amount of energy needed for your screen, and therefore can reduce your energy bill, and on some microscopic level, help the environment.
Based on these criteria, I will attempt to grade a few blogs I've been following recently. These first two will show similarities to my own personal blog, October In The 80's.
1. DVD Panache I stumbled across this site while searching for the photo that now resides on the front page of my personal blog. He talks about movies and things he relates to them, kind of like I do.
Content: 4 For content, It's a little too involved and sometimes cryptic for me. But otherwise, he meets all my requirements.
Design: 2 For design, I give it 2 stars out of 5, but only because I like the header and feel sorry for the blogger. The blog design is atrocious with a dull, grey background and tiny, unwelcoming text.
DVD Panache: 6/10
2. J-TWO-O I realize I may risk failing the class for saying this, but I LOVE J-TWO-O. I am on the verge of being obsessed and utterly involved with J-TWO-O. In fact, J-TWO-O may even be accredited with having the most amount of influence on my personal blog.
Content: 5 Everything she writes I want to read and wish I would have written myself....and would have if my personal blog didnt have to be so focused (so the 80's, politics, sex, sports...cats!) If there was any question of whether or not I really cared to read about George Egg or an article on anxiety, it was quickly overshadowed by the fact that SHE BLOGS ABOUT FOOTBALL. Not only that, its good! She actually knows WTF she's talking about. Aaaand...SHE LIKES TO TALK ABOUT FOOTBALL!
Design: 3 The text is really small, the layout is very thin and vertical, and the overall design is just plain boring. Again, the only saving grace is the header, followed by the fact that every now and then I like a nice white background. That, and she does a decent job of inserting pics and videos.
Literacy is defined as having the ability to read and write, possessing an education, or just having knowledge of a particular subject or field. Meeting any or all of those requirements qualifies you for being literate. However, in this fast-paced, technological information age we now inhabit, being literate doesn't automatically mean you are smart or that you qualify for a job. The definition of literacy is currently changing as our means of communication are rapidly being converted from analog to digital. Teachers and students alike may argue that it is more important to know how to type than to write in cursive. To consider that typing may even become a priority over either writing or spelling is no longer unfathomable. Paper is wasteful, takes up a lot of space, and pens may be thought of as not only messy or tiresome, but downright primitive. Computers are cleaner, faster, and in some cases easier to use.
The most important distinguishing factor of computer literacy is that the medium on which you now write is responsive and interactive. Imagine, your notebook has suddenly sprung to life (yeah, kinda like that annoying paper clip with eyes) and warned you of all your grammatical errors and misspellings! Not only that, its cleaned up your writing so that no matter what, it will always be legible. No more white out, no more erasers sharpeners or big blotches of scribbles and dark matter (Oh no! What ever will become of the pocket protector?!). Not only that, but with the click of a button, you don't even need the envelope for the letter you were writing, let alone the stamp.
So what's wrong with phasing out cursive for typing? I don't know, you tell me. What's wrong with forgetting how to cook, or to catch a fish or plant a tree? Why should we even have to chew our food anymore? Why not just consume it intravenously or just genetically alter our digestive system for perpetual regeneration? In fact, why learn anything anymore? The elections are all rigged and the country is owned by corporations anyway, so we might as well do away with the Constitution and just ignore history altogether.
My point is that by doing away with something even as seemingly insignificant as cursive, we're neglecting a very important part of the learning process which is necessary for growth and progress. Consider the calculator: can you solve those complex math problems on paper? In high school our mantra was, "When will I ever need to know this??" Only now we're finding ourselves in situations where we wish we could remember it or had even learned it in the first place. Imagine, if we still taught Latin in grade school...every American could theoretically be fluent in any number of romance languages, including Spanish and Italian. If nothing else, we could at least recite the origin of the words and symbols we use to communicate with. But no; somewhere along the line someone decided this knowledge was unimportant. So now when we go to Europe we look like bumbling idiots and leave a horrible impression for the rest of us back home. Just as comparable to the scenario of being lost in the woods or caught behind enemy lines. By neglecting those simple and traditional survival tactics passed down from generation to generation, we've left ourselves vulnerable to failure and defeat at the hands of our own ignorance and incompetence.
Will the world stop spinning without cursive? Will our hearts explode? No. But those little things we call "signatures" will become a glorified remnant of the golden age of penmanship; a skill only bestowed upon a select well-to-do and educated few. Jokers, we'll call them, yuppies. The only reason they know how to write is because their parents are rich and they don't have to work for a living--they can spend more time learning useless trades. Hell, their parents probably paid their way through an Art History degree from Columbia College. Pssshh, artists. Who needs 'em? I know who I am. And everyone else knows me too. They know my fingerprint, and my retina, and the IP address linked to the microchip in my hand.
