Items of Interest: Ep. 14
Posted on May 11, 2011 Leave a Comment
Mind the gap.
No, not the warning in the Underground.
I’m talking about the generation gap. That’s right. Here it comes:
Items of Interest: Ep. 14
Generation C, the DIY Generation
Generation C is not your typical generation. It’s not defined by dates, birth year,
decades. The “C” stands for Content.
This phenomenon captures the avalanche of consumer generated ‘content’ that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis. They’re using technical tools to create and publicize their own content. It’s easy. Blogging, social media, self-publishing, YouTube videos, Flickr. There are hundreds of ways for you to spread your content far and wide. You also have the opportunity to focus your content laser on the people who are interested in what you have to give.
The ultimate shouting into the void.
And, it’s not limited to content. The upcoming generation has taken a Do-It-Yourself approach to business. The entrepreneurial spirit has captured the young generation. Look at Google. The founders didn’t even meet each other until 1995 and now it’s one of the most influential companies in the world. Apple has changed from living in Microsoft’s shadow to a leader in technology.
What is bolstering this Do-It-Yourself spirit?
Technology. Need to make a bank deposit? Use a machine. Need to hang a shelf? Go to the hardware store and buy the materials. Need to rewire your house? I’m sure there’s a YouTube video on that somewhere…
But, wait! There’s more!
Most professional content industries (production studios, publishers, news corporations, recording studios) have gatekeepers. And, they have gatekeepers for a reason. There is value in the gatekeeper.
Let’s be honest. I can take a picture of a pier. Doesn’t mean it belongs on a poster or postcard. It’s just something I put up on my blog when I *cough* don’t have anything to write that day.
Just because I can record a song in GarageBand doesn’t mean I can cut an album (nor should I). You can list every successful content creator out there, but for every one success story, there are hundreds of failures. Why?
I’ll tell you.
In Creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihaliyi tells us why being “creative” isn’t enough. You must know your domain and know the rules of it. What’s a domain?
Like Psychology or Literature. The category of “thing” you want to contribute to.
Then, you need to be in a field, a place where people can judge if your innovation is novel and relevant enough to be added to the cultural knowledge base. While the Internet is used by millions of people, how many visitors do you get on your blog?
Think about it. There were nearly 290,000 books traditionally published in the US in 2009.
Which ones did you read? (What Oprah told you?)
I’m proud to be part of Generation C. I love hanging out on social media. I like blogging about things I find interesting.
But if I want to be added to the cultural knowledge base, there are a few gates I need to crash.
Read more about Generation C here.
Shameless Apple Product Gushing
Posted on May 10, 2011 1 Comment
I got an iPad 2.
I am such an Apple nerd. I’m sorry, I know. It’s like the Mark of the Beast.
But, I love this thing so much. I want to make it a little bed to sleep in at night. What do I use it for?
Okay. List time.
1. Media input – Time Warner Cable TV, ABC Player, Netflix, Vevo. Plug me in, I am ready to go. And this whole battery life thing? No joke. I get at least six hours of streaming time. Don’t ask me how I know that. I’m hard at work. Seriously.
2. eReader – There is nothing like this badass screen to read books on. Oh, man. Shoot. I have a nook, which I still use for outside and the bathtub and whatever, but one thing I didn’t realized I missed: colored highlighting. Any color. Pick a color, you can highlight in it. If you think that highlighting is not important, then you have never read good non-fiction. Squee! Blue! Orange! Red! Chocolate! Puce!
3. Mobile RSS – I know a lot of people. I like some of them. And, I subscribed to their blog feeds. Here are some of them:
- A. Lee Martinez – author, juggler, he’s got some fun stuff to say and he doesn’t sling any BS
- Kristen Lamb – author, social media expert…no, social media goddess
- Chuck Wendig – author, screenwriter, oh, man, I love this guy. I have favorited three of his posts. Only three because I haven’t been able to get to the rest because I’m laughing so hard.
- Okay, yes, an obvious trend in who I follow. My point is still valid.
4. Social Media – What’s the deal with Twitter? Why do I twitch like a junkie when I’m away from it for too long? Not that I would know. I was a Twitter junkie on my iPhone long before the iPad, but for some reason, I always have to be plugged in. But Twitter for iPad? That app is so intuitive, it knows what I want to do before I do. You flip through pages, you follow links. Oh, my heart flutters.
And, GetGlue. I keep track of my overwhelming media consumption and earn BADGES! I am so excited about virtual stickers. What am I, eight years old? Yes! Check-in to Game of Thrones with 5,000 other people!
5. News – ABC News, Mashable, Wall Street Journal. Even fake news! The Onion has an app.
6. Productivity – You know, because that’s why I actually bought the thing. Ack, this is the most boring number in my list.
dropbox. yeah. confetti.
PDF Reader/Annotater. hurrah. vuvuzela.
Popplet, okay, now we’re talking. It’s like brainstorming. Paste images, draw pictures, text input, connect things. Like a white board, but digital.
And, of course, I immediately set the screen to this:
Why did I buy it? It may have something to do with hypnotoad, but I love it nonetheless.
Breakdown…of a different variety
Posted on May 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
I wasn’t able to finish reading a book this week. I know. I’m disappointed in myself, too.
But, I’m not going to leave you hanging. See, every day, I have a lunch break, and I’ve started watching movies to take up that sweet hour of not staring at a computer.
Since I have no book to review this week, I offer you a different sort of breakdown.
Movie Breakdown
(like someone watches it for you)
Easy A
I saw this gem nestled in the depths of Netflix Instant Play. I thought I’d give it a whirl. I was mildly interested when it was released, but never got around to viewing it.
Olive (Emma Stone) lets it slip that she lost her V-card. The rumor travels around school, and she suddenly becomes known as the token slut. In order to help out her gay friend, she fakes having sex with him to boost his street cred and make him look straight. Soon, geeks and nerds are paying her to fake erotic entanglements.
It doesn’t work out the way Olive hoped, and she finds she can get hurt, after all.
This movie is solid.
The cast is fantastic.
The plot is clever and quick.
If you have :60, take a look at the second to opening scene.
First Ten:
Everyone knows that one page in the screenplay is one minute in the movie (if you didn’t, hey! you learned something new). That “Pocket Full of Sunshine” scene takes place within the first ten minutes of the movie.
Didn’t that get you hooked?
I mean, that moment when you get an addicting song stuck in your head and it’s…THERE ALL WEEKEND. That moment when you’re about to belt out the lyrics, and the CD skips? Argh! The worst.
There’s a tribute to John Hughes, an interesting family dynamic, teachers who are surprisingly human. Like I said: solid.
Watch this movie. It’s great.
Next week, I promise, I’ll have Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan ready for some breaking down. Unless you think you can beat me to it.
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