Sit down, this may come as a shock, but the internet is being used for evil. Surprized? Didn't think so, but either way its time to abandon the internet. This is incidently the last entry in this blog.
Social networking - an epically awesome way to distract from anything remotely constructive. But isn't all virtual reality farms and 'likes'. Nope, people far too clever and with a warped sense of right, wrong and decency have decided they can tell if your gay or straight from the content you post and the friends you have on facebook and alike, shown here. This dosen't have much of an impact in western states which are hopefully tolerant but say you were entering a country like the one in Africa which just made it punishable by death and it was decided based on your facebook account you were gay - sad times all round.
You can't even protest properly anymore over the internet without being found out and traced over social networking sites and caught. That or countries such as China will block you from them all together. Slactivism - slacker activism. This is another way social netwrks are ruining the protest, using our own lazyness against us - we join groups, feel good and then forget about them. I'm guilty of this like anyone, but have raged against the x-factor, do it! Do it now! An internet wise government is bad news all round, in a internet take on the journalistic process of soft soaking governments hire people to spread the good word about them. Having been employed by a music pr company to do the same maybe I can't really talk but done by governments this has serious implications on freedom of opinion and speech. Something taken to extremes by potential laws such as this.
But wait - take a minute from barn raising and wagon building to hear about the awesomeness of podcasting. Building on the development of RSS feeds this maybe the first and only good thing to come from Apple. Its good for videos, pictures and music so ideal for catching up TV or radio prgrammes you've missed - it also means you don't have to go looking for stuff, it comes straight to you - good times. Its easy enough to make your own as well so everyone can make random podcasts and inflict them on the world with ease. A directory of UK podcasts can be found here.
Right, for now that it for this blog - hope you've enjoyed the content, embeds and everything else. Now back to putting information about myself into social networking sites and buying things from websites. Take care :)
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Lecture 10: Its near the end of the year - time for an overview
Yep, it's getting on for christmas time - that time of year when everybody starts making 'top 10s' of the year, so here's one of sorts. But inbetween all this retrospective thinking get Spotify, theres a sign-up form here so you don't need an invite. Music streaming is blatantly the future.
Lulu, blogging, interactive fiction, P.O.D - they all need things without which they couldn't possibly operate (and thankfully humans are still one of them). If we're getting deep then lets start with words, but I'm not awake enough for that much though so lets fast forward slightly. Lulu and blogging - you may never be able to buy a copy of this blog bound and printed but they're more similar than they first seem. Both need word processors, both need html and xml coding,both need encryption, both require e-commerce (although this is more like a collection of technolgies if you want to be picky) - the list could go on ... and on. They could have practically have been seperated at birth. Having said this their mechanics do work slightly differently, here is someone who probably had too much time on thier hands - but it does show all the magic behind blogs. Blogs also need RSS feeds to build their lists and notify people. And by their very nature depend on hyperlinks - but then again hyperlinks are more a stylistic and referencing tool so are more of a convention. Tricky buisness this for 20 to 12 on a Sunday night. Seperated at birth, maybe, but Lulu clearly went to a different school when it was growing up in internet land because its a whole world of seriousness. In order to function Lulu needs e-commerce, a nice easy term for a collection of technolgies, so websites can stock its books and people can run the website. As importantly as this however Lulu depends on the PDF, this allows it texts lovingly created by someone to be stored in an unchangeabe way and sent off safe in the knowledge that despte the really really obscure font everyone will see it as you intended. Speaking of printers - thats a whole other can of worms that Lulu depends on.
Speaking of printers, printing on demand is another publishing form that depends on them to make its little world go round (its ok you can say it, smooth right?:) ). Like Lulu P.O.D also needs databases to operate, boring but essential like wheetabix. These make sure every text is waiting and ready, and importantly not lost when the vanity press comes calling. PDF's also play a big part in P.O.D, telling the printer what to print out. Lulu, blogging and P.O.D aren't a million miles from eachother in terms of their core technology but interactive fiction stands alone ... you'd think. And to be fair in some respects it does, it depends on programming language to make it work - but in the same way the word processor is development platform needed by Lulu and blogs, Inform or its counterparts are need by interactive fiction writers to even dream of creating things. In the e-publishing class interactive fiction is the kid who turned up in year nine, learnt most of the same things just with a different take in them. Interactive fiction needs the interent (itself a collection if technologies) just like all other forms of e-publishing, and just like all other e-publishing needs a set of distribution technolgies. However blogs like this show the potential for the core technology in interactive fiction to change and evolve - something true in all e-publishing.
Right, essentially all you need to know is that most e-publishing share their core technology with a few variations here and there. But now its sleep time, but as well as that its christmas so heres a festive video - funny stuff :) Nos da, come back soon for podcasting.
Lulu, blogging, interactive fiction, P.O.D - they all need things without which they couldn't possibly operate (and thankfully humans are still one of them). If we're getting deep then lets start with words, but I'm not awake enough for that much though so lets fast forward slightly. Lulu and blogging - you may never be able to buy a copy of this blog bound and printed but they're more similar than they first seem. Both need word processors, both need html and xml coding,both need encryption, both require e-commerce (although this is more like a collection of technolgies if you want to be picky) - the list could go on ... and on. They could have practically have been seperated at birth. Having said this their mechanics do work slightly differently, here is someone who probably had too much time on thier hands - but it does show all the magic behind blogs. Blogs also need RSS feeds to build their lists and notify people. And by their very nature depend on hyperlinks - but then again hyperlinks are more a stylistic and referencing tool so are more of a convention. Tricky buisness this for 20 to 12 on a Sunday night. Seperated at birth, maybe, but Lulu clearly went to a different school when it was growing up in internet land because its a whole world of seriousness. In order to function Lulu needs e-commerce, a nice easy term for a collection of technolgies, so websites can stock its books and people can run the website. As importantly as this however Lulu depends on the PDF, this allows it texts lovingly created by someone to be stored in an unchangeabe way and sent off safe in the knowledge that despte the really really obscure font everyone will see it as you intended. Speaking of printers - thats a whole other can of worms that Lulu depends on.
Speaking of printers, printing on demand is another publishing form that depends on them to make its little world go round (its ok you can say it, smooth right?:) ). Like Lulu P.O.D also needs databases to operate, boring but essential like wheetabix. These make sure every text is waiting and ready, and importantly not lost when the vanity press comes calling. PDF's also play a big part in P.O.D, telling the printer what to print out. Lulu, blogging and P.O.D aren't a million miles from eachother in terms of their core technology but interactive fiction stands alone ... you'd think. And to be fair in some respects it does, it depends on programming language to make it work - but in the same way the word processor is development platform needed by Lulu and blogs, Inform or its counterparts are need by interactive fiction writers to even dream of creating things. In the e-publishing class interactive fiction is the kid who turned up in year nine, learnt most of the same things just with a different take in them. Interactive fiction needs the interent (itself a collection if technologies) just like all other forms of e-publishing, and just like all other e-publishing needs a set of distribution technolgies. However blogs like this show the potential for the core technology in interactive fiction to change and evolve - something true in all e-publishing.
Right, essentially all you need to know is that most e-publishing share their core technology with a few variations here and there. But now its sleep time, but as well as that its christmas so heres a festive video - funny stuff :) Nos da, come back soon for podcasting.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Lecture 9: Fiction for the 5 second generation
Do you like interactive fiction but need pictures? The Japanese have the just the thing, Ren'Py. Words, colours, music and even a couple of choices here and there, what more could you want?
Right Ren'Py, essentially its a nice little programme. You write in characters, add sound and music, and for the win from a first time point of view the programming language actually seems far simpler than interactive fiction. Intrigued, try this. This a random game I found on the internet, but one of the biggest successes of the medium has to be Inanimate Alice. A great strengh of Ren'Py is that it can be put in an exe. format, so everyone can get it and stare inanely at it on there touch screen phones and other fashion statements. Sites like this show the potential for Ren'Py and visual novels to be distributed on mobile technology, but blogs such as this also highlights the issues it can face. When Apple owns your soul and everything else in world, Ren'Py will be the last thing standing - showing a few querks with the distribution still.
This will be nice, apart from the fact that for all the easy programming language and pretty colours Ren'pys are very limited. You won't be able to pick up the screw driver or put on the dressing gown - you'll be able to choose whether to ask the girl out - or not, and be irritated out of your mind by the music. In this respect its a little like hyper-fiction (sad times) and those adventure books where you could go to page 77 to fight the dragon. To be fair visual novels like Inanimate Alice do have little games and alike which can be quite fun. Fiction such as Ren'py and Interactive Fiction are still individual occupations such as actual reading from actual books but at the same time require a new sense of literacy - helping identify them as new and deveoping disruptive technolgy arguably. So don't blink or soon they'll be beaming stories into your head soon.
That is all for this week, come back next week for more e-publishing related rants :). If you want to make a Ren'Py, download this and this might help. Nos da :)
Friday, 27 November 2009
Lecture 8: No news
Nope, thats not some kind of dig at the rumour spreading nature of the blogospheare. The lecture turned into a lie-in (good times :) ), so theres actually no news.
But theres as interesting article in this weeks Media Guardian(23/11/09)which shows China blocking more social networking sites such as Twitter, a full list can be see here. The government believes social networking sites
Although several sites where blocked not long after a clash which resulted in 197 dead, hmmmm.
On that obvious note, tis time to go back so sleep. But watch the BBCs Never Mind the Buzzcoks season 23, episode 8. The funiest bit of tele I've seen all week I think. Also remember sharks can only attack you when your wet.
But theres as interesting article in this weeks Media Guardian(23/11/09)which shows China blocking more social networking sites such as Twitter, a full list can be see here. The government believes social networking sites
spread misinformation
Although several sites where blocked not long after a clash which resulted in 197 dead, hmmmm.
On that obvious note, tis time to go back so sleep. But watch the BBCs Never Mind the Buzzcoks season 23, episode 8. The funiest bit of tele I've seen all week I think. Also remember sharks can only attack you when your wet.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Lecture 7: How many ways can you tell a story? (read on to find a few :) )
This week, the blog looks at the ways the internet and new media has been used for story telling. There are loads - some are dire and seem highly pointless, but some are actually pretty good.
The first way is the good old fashioned blog. Some good old fashioned text and a persons imagination being all the tools required. Examples of this can be seen here and here. Apart from maybe the odd picture these require readers to think and treat the entry as if it were a book, be it an electronic glowing one prone to frequent 'are you single' pop-ups. Blogging can also be concidered a story at a basic level - any blog recounting a series of events through a persona.
As the lecture 6 entry shows, interactive fiction is also a great way to tell a story. Its engaging and potentially addictive - so a little like pokemon without the shiny colours. Unlike pokemon this has staying power, concieved in the 80s and still going. Its even appearing profitable with a call for stories from publishers. Modern examples include Tears May Fall and I don't remember why this game is called "Onion". These are well and good - but the second cousin, twice burried by common sense but still regretably somehow here is Hyperfiction. Think I'm being overly harsh? Play this. This example shows all the flaws hyperfiction has - a very vague and circular narrative, which struggles to convey ideas of plot or character - the essence of stories. This could only really appeal to the intensely introspective or bored. This seems like a better example of the medium, but based on the whole two seconds I spent playing it I can tell that will be three hours your not getting back.
Twitter fiction, such as this is a refreshing method of story telling. Blog such as this describe it as,
There we go, a couple of internet based storytelling technqiues :) Not all good it's safe to say but interesting. Jedward are gone from tnhe Xfactor incidently I just heard so all is good in the world of money making music based talent shows. Laters :)
p.s its been a whole entry without an embed :s so check this out, funny stuff :)
The first way is the good old fashioned blog. Some good old fashioned text and a persons imagination being all the tools required. Examples of this can be seen here and here. Apart from maybe the odd picture these require readers to think and treat the entry as if it were a book, be it an electronic glowing one prone to frequent 'are you single' pop-ups. Blogging can also be concidered a story at a basic level - any blog recounting a series of events through a persona.
As the lecture 6 entry shows, interactive fiction is also a great way to tell a story. Its engaging and potentially addictive - so a little like pokemon without the shiny colours. Unlike pokemon this has staying power, concieved in the 80s and still going. Its even appearing profitable with a call for stories from publishers. Modern examples include Tears May Fall and I don't remember why this game is called "Onion". These are well and good - but the second cousin, twice burried by common sense but still regretably somehow here is Hyperfiction. Think I'm being overly harsh? Play this. This example shows all the flaws hyperfiction has - a very vague and circular narrative, which struggles to convey ideas of plot or character - the essence of stories. This could only really appeal to the intensely introspective or bored. This seems like a better example of the medium, but based on the whole two seconds I spent playing it I can tell that will be three hours your not getting back.
Twitter fiction, such as this is a refreshing method of story telling. Blog such as this describe it as,
"Twitter is a rolling real-time format and this contrasts greatly with the typical editing process"I can't say I fully understand the process but it seems enaging and interactive, made interesting by a 140 character limit on posts. This storytelling depends on crowdsourcing, getting users to generate content - which is an essentially genius plan for the lazy would-be entrepreneur. This method of storytelling is further exploited by sites such as Story Mash and Flight Paths. These demonstrate the fincial ability of collabrative fiction through sponsorship and sign up fees. They require users to write and submit material in a variety of media. This is great, the readers' entertained and is also telling people to check it out the site to see their name in lights. Everyones a winner - except there not as the submissions aren't neccessarily anthology standard and the skills needed by editors, especially regarding multi-media may not be amazing. The end result being a crowded but low quality affair.
There we go, a couple of internet based storytelling technqiues :) Not all good it's safe to say but interesting. Jedward are gone from tnhe Xfactor incidently I just heard so all is good in the world of money making music based talent shows. Laters :)
p.s its been a whole entry without an embed :s so check this out, funny stuff :)
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Blogging and citizen journalism
It's reading week so hoipefully your all not reading, and enjoying Family Guy season 8. Unfortunately I am, its even e-publishing related (helpfully).
I'm the wrong side of lots of research and 10,000 words of new media's effects on citizen journalism. But if your interested in the impplications of blogs, tweets and what ever next months craze will be on citizen journalism will be then this book will help you no end. Written by Dan Gilmour,whom I'm lead to believe is some kind of blogging god, the book is titled We The Media. It explores the effects of new media on journalism, and on current journalistic out-put. Good stuff.
The second piece of dissertation proposal filler that has turned up is a two part documentary on citizien journalism by the BBC. It explores the strenghs and weaknesses of new media and its benefits to citizen journalism. It also has some interesting case-studies, such as plight of Egyption bloggers.
That was a fun distraction, only 120 pages left... Laters.
I'm the wrong side of lots of research and 10,000 words of new media's effects on citizen journalism. But if your interested in the impplications of blogs, tweets and what ever next months craze will be on citizen journalism will be then this book will help you no end. Written by Dan Gilmour,whom I'm lead to believe is some kind of blogging god, the book is titled We The Media. It explores the effects of new media on journalism, and on current journalistic out-put. Good stuff.
The second piece of dissertation proposal filler that has turned up is a two part documentary on citizien journalism by the BBC. It explores the strenghs and weaknesses of new media and its benefits to citizen journalism. It also has some interesting case-studies, such as plight of Egyption bloggers.
That was a fun distraction, only 120 pages left... Laters.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Lecture 6: The 80s return?
You read right this week something 80s has come back - but don't run and hide, unlike bad musical throw-backs this is actually good, frustratingly!
Going by the name of interactive fiction this form of story-telling/entertainment was big during the 80's with companies such as Infocom. Despite this loss of popularity sites such as http://www.ifiction.org/ still produce new material. Its hard to tell if this is a game or a story, but either way it can become quite addictive. The idea, like in the picture is to progress the narrative by interacting with story. Originally this 'limited' form couldn't keep up with the advent of pictures and lost popularity. But in the same way that the book never translates to the film, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. No pictures arguably reduces interactive fiction's limitations, and if anything makes it closer to an actual book, and besides hopefully the average attention span hasn't decreased that much.
Today's technological developments also give this form of storytelling a new boost through the mobile nature of technology. There is potential for interactive fiction to download to mobiles or e-readers. No longer would people need to pretend to text in awkward situations. Mobile technology would increase its potential target audience and popularity massively. Some efforts have already been made to bring interactive fiction into the 21st century with sites such as http://code.google.com/p/iphonefrotz/ which brings interactive fiction to the iPhone. However interactive fiction isn't all good; whilst it is frustratingly addictive, it is ultimately frustrating. In a modern capitalist age it would also be hard to monetise interactive fiction considering the large amount of free games and software, having implications on its success and the amount Jamster will be able to convice you to waste on downloading it to your phone. Having said this, combining the principles of interactive fiction with new media developments could make the form viable and popular again to a mass market, although arguably slighlty more limited.
Forums such as rec.arts.int-fiction show that the interactive fiction community is still thriving. And this end this is what I've chosen to do make my artifact. Interactive fiction is new to me, and a challenge (writing in interactive fiction code maybe the least enjoyable thing I've done since watching Nick Griffin on question time) but seems like an interesting and un-developed area of e-publishing.
Intrigued about interactive fiction, try playing this Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy.
The next blog could be in two weeks time, so I recommend filling your time with Family Guy Season 8. Laters.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Number 5 - The internets gift to publishing
Its Sunday, and no one likes Sundays - so before the e-publishing begins heres a little audio nugget. If you like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, electro or free stuff then give it a play.
But back to e-publishing, the entry this week looks at how the internet has benefited publishing, or not as the case may be.
Love or hate the internet, and lets be honest only the over 60's probably hate it, it has revolutionised how news is delivered. News sites such as the BBC's (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) or CNN's (http://www.cnn.com/)extend the coverage they are able to dleiver massively. They allow news stories to be viewed long after events have occurred and in this way can add background to current stories. They also make the organisations much for interative, giving users videos or other media and the ability to filter stories through 'most popular' lists. Everyone loves a filter, it makes life easy. But in the case of news sites one based on popularity isn't always good. It can result in serious stories being over-looked whilst 'that really funny one with the dog and the firework' sits pretty at number one. Interactivity isn't all bad - in an age of Twitter and Facebook the interactive elements of news sites give massive potential exposure through stories being posted to social networking sites. Not to mention the presence these sites offer organistions in current social circles. Although the internet has arguably had a role in contributing to a highly negative news development. As part of the instant and constant culture that has developed, in part due to the internet, televised news has become 24 hour. This has its advantages to be sure, but also means stories are less researched and fact checked - resulting in news event such as the balloon and the boy hoax.
The internet has had a more clear cut effect in magazine publishing. Reading, it's awesome if your reading something your enjoying (such as this blog? :p) - but if your not then watching paint dry becomes a real alternative. And this is where the printed magazine isn't so good, people read the bites they want and put it down. The internet solves this problem by helping the delivery of content to be more targeted, and through the inclusion of various media attention holding. Magazine sites have clear and user-friendly structures, and more potential space for content. Whislt these are all benefits offered by the internet 'digital guru' Tom Teodorczuk belives that the magazine on paper is safe. Speaking in the Media Guardian (05/01/09) he says
One key thing the internet brings to publishing is the abilty for commenting. This can be seen at its best in arcticles such as the Washington Post's article on the sniper shootings several years ago, but at its worst in arcticles such as this http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/oct/24/tvandradio.theguide by Charlie Brooker which provoked massive un-constructive comments. The article has been removed but he talks about it in hindsight here The Worlds First Satire War. This brings up the next problem with commenting, just like with blogs the identities and credentials of commenters are unknown. In some kind of blog uber-smoothness this leads to the role of gatekeepers, these are organisations or individuals that control what information is released and its fair to say commenting gives them issues. The majority of gatekeepers are large conglomerates. Whilst the the ability to delete comments they still can't control them and this reduces their gatekeeping abilities. Personally I think this a good thing.
This blog is long. Still not much left, and its all terribly interesting :). E-publishing gives a place to literature such as poetry, though sites such as that old faverote Lulu and projects such as Archipelago. These work using the publishing system, the online equilant of the publishing value chain and I belive ultimately publishing's future. It cuts out warehousing and other expensive things, so everyones a winner ... except warehouse owners. As awesome as the publishing system maybe it still has the same weakness - finacial capital.
Right, that ends it. For more information, read this blog, http://thirdyear-cou632.blogspot.com/ who's author kindly lent me her notes with which to write this blog. If you've read this far thanks - heres another song to say thanks :) see you next week.
But back to e-publishing, the entry this week looks at how the internet has benefited publishing, or not as the case may be.
Love or hate the internet, and lets be honest only the over 60's probably hate it, it has revolutionised how news is delivered. News sites such as the BBC's (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) or CNN's (http://www.cnn.com/)extend the coverage they are able to dleiver massively. They allow news stories to be viewed long after events have occurred and in this way can add background to current stories. They also make the organisations much for interative, giving users videos or other media and the ability to filter stories through 'most popular' lists. Everyone loves a filter, it makes life easy. But in the case of news sites one based on popularity isn't always good. It can result in serious stories being over-looked whilst 'that really funny one with the dog and the firework' sits pretty at number one. Interactivity isn't all bad - in an age of Twitter and Facebook the interactive elements of news sites give massive potential exposure through stories being posted to social networking sites. Not to mention the presence these sites offer organistions in current social circles. Although the internet has arguably had a role in contributing to a highly negative news development. As part of the instant and constant culture that has developed, in part due to the internet, televised news has become 24 hour. This has its advantages to be sure, but also means stories are less researched and fact checked - resulting in news event such as the balloon and the boy hoax.
The internet has had a more clear cut effect in magazine publishing. Reading, it's awesome if your reading something your enjoying (such as this blog? :p) - but if your not then watching paint dry becomes a real alternative. And this is where the printed magazine isn't so good, people read the bites they want and put it down. The internet solves this problem by helping the delivery of content to be more targeted, and through the inclusion of various media attention holding. Magazine sites have clear and user-friendly structures, and more potential space for content. Whislt these are all benefits offered by the internet 'digital guru' Tom Teodorczuk belives that the magazine on paper is safe. Speaking in the Media Guardian (05/01/09) he says
The great adavantage magazines have is glossy pictures, going to explain how its better to read and view pictures on paper. He does however believes news papers are going to much more web-based in the future.
One key thing the internet brings to publishing is the abilty for commenting. This can be seen at its best in arcticles such as the Washington Post's article on the sniper shootings several years ago, but at its worst in arcticles such as this http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/oct/24/tvandradio.theguide by Charlie Brooker which provoked massive un-constructive comments. The article has been removed but he talks about it in hindsight here The Worlds First Satire War. This brings up the next problem with commenting, just like with blogs the identities and credentials of commenters are unknown. In some kind of blog uber-smoothness this leads to the role of gatekeepers, these are organisations or individuals that control what information is released and its fair to say commenting gives them issues. The majority of gatekeepers are large conglomerates. Whilst the the ability to delete comments they still can't control them and this reduces their gatekeeping abilities. Personally I think this a good thing.
This blog is long. Still not much left, and its all terribly interesting :). E-publishing gives a place to literature such as poetry, though sites such as that old faverote Lulu and projects such as Archipelago. These work using the publishing system, the online equilant of the publishing value chain and I belive ultimately publishing's future. It cuts out warehousing and other expensive things, so everyones a winner ... except warehouse owners. As awesome as the publishing system maybe it still has the same weakness - finacial capital.
Right, that ends it. For more information, read this blog, http://thirdyear-cou632.blogspot.com/ who's author kindly lent me her notes with which to write this blog. If you've read this far thanks - heres another song to say thanks :) see you next week.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Lecture 4 - Blogs: the good, the bad and the corporate injunction dodging powers
Its that time of week again, and this week blogs come under the spot light - also super injunctions....
Blogs. Awesome things they are; easily searchable, debate stimulating and current. But as this weeks lecture revealed, not without their flaws. Largely their flaws relate to trust issues, a blog is not fact checked or reviewed by anyone but its' author - this means that they could say anything with out having used actual sources or facts. Even this and the blogs before it could be a stream of lies, but they're not honest :). This trust issue is not helped by the anominity blog authors have, taking further credibilty away. The second flaw of blogs is the amount of control, techincally, legally and informationally organisations such as governments can have over this suposedly free form of communication. This can be seen in China, where sites and services are blocked by the government restricting users ability to comment freely, http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/internet-control/ . This can also be seen in Iran during the recent elections, when the government there clamped down on its citizens abilty to communicate with eachother nad the rest of the world technologically. Blogs are also being targeted legally, recently Italy tried to pass a law that would make bloggers forced to register on a national database, and libelous for anything they write - further reducing the freedom the blog embues users with, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/italy_blog_law_outrage/. Due to the nature of the blogisphere news travels fast, both true and false - organisations have the potential to plant blogs and spread their own threads and ideas.
All that is very negative regarding the blog, lets not forget bloggings recent defeat of that strange, dark and essential wrong creature the super injunction. A super injunction on toxic waste dumping by oil company Trafigura was violated by bloggers, exposing the practice when conventional media couldn't. In Charlie Brooker's words this was a 'significant victory for freedom of speech' but what else has been hidden by a super injunction?! Its worrying that something like this can exist. Whats equally worrying is the development of 'injunction pr', this can be seen in the Media Guardian (19/10/09) with the recent case of the new Danone yoghurt flavour launch which put an injunction on the story ending up with it getting signicantly more attention. The practice is to be fair genius, but just like the boy who cried wolf abuse of this could result in actually important stories covered by injunctions being over-looked in the future. Anyway enough with the rant, RSS feeds were also mentioned in the lecture,and imporve the blog through the navigation and notification they provide users.
Desite the negative comments about blogs I do believe they are a highly effective amd beneficial tool in todays culture. After all that I think its time to go, come back next week for random e-publishing related blogging :).
Blogs. Awesome things they are; easily searchable, debate stimulating and current. But as this weeks lecture revealed, not without their flaws. Largely their flaws relate to trust issues, a blog is not fact checked or reviewed by anyone but its' author - this means that they could say anything with out having used actual sources or facts. Even this and the blogs before it could be a stream of lies, but they're not honest :). This trust issue is not helped by the anominity blog authors have, taking further credibilty away. The second flaw of blogs is the amount of control, techincally, legally and informationally organisations such as governments can have over this suposedly free form of communication. This can be seen in China, where sites and services are blocked by the government restricting users ability to comment freely, http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/internet-control/ . This can also be seen in Iran during the recent elections, when the government there clamped down on its citizens abilty to communicate with eachother nad the rest of the world technologically. Blogs are also being targeted legally, recently Italy tried to pass a law that would make bloggers forced to register on a national database, and libelous for anything they write - further reducing the freedom the blog embues users with, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/italy_blog_law_outrage/. Due to the nature of the blogisphere news travels fast, both true and false - organisations have the potential to plant blogs and spread their own threads and ideas.
All that is very negative regarding the blog, lets not forget bloggings recent defeat of that strange, dark and essential wrong creature the super injunction. A super injunction on toxic waste dumping by oil company Trafigura was violated by bloggers, exposing the practice when conventional media couldn't. In Charlie Brooker's words this was a 'significant victory for freedom of speech' but what else has been hidden by a super injunction?! Its worrying that something like this can exist. Whats equally worrying is the development of 'injunction pr', this can be seen in the Media Guardian (19/10/09) with the recent case of the new Danone yoghurt flavour launch which put an injunction on the story ending up with it getting signicantly more attention. The practice is to be fair genius, but just like the boy who cried wolf abuse of this could result in actually important stories covered by injunctions being over-looked in the future. Anyway enough with the rant, RSS feeds were also mentioned in the lecture,and imporve the blog through the navigation and notification they provide users.
Desite the negative comments about blogs I do believe they are a highly effective amd beneficial tool in todays culture. After all that I think its time to go, come back next week for random e-publishing related blogging :).
Sunday, 18 October 2009
The Third Lecture: lulu and the wonders of self publication
Its late, I'm sleepy and both of these are my own fault - but Marcus Brigstocke on in the background so its all good
Good stuff check it out, anyway here's some thoughts on self publication via lulu (http://www.lulu.com) and how it can be turned into a successful project.
Lulu.com is a site that allows any user to create and publish a text ready for sale, similar to Author House (http://www.authorhouse.com/). Services such as this add a new element to publishing, although this can be seen as vanity publishing which has traditonally not been looked on favourably by the publishing industry. What Lulu offers adds a new aspect to publishing and combined with archive projects such as Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)offer literature a second chance. It also offers another advantages for publishing, last weeks blog mentioned how 10% of companies publish 70% of the worlds books, and this is something self publishing can challenge providing a sense of potential. It could add a greater degree of creativity and orginality to the publishing industry, and also a greater degree of freedom. However in the words of Dylan Moran a little potential can be a bad thing, the publishing value chain adds important skills and processes to the production of the artefact. The value chain adds key aspects like proofing and type setting which are key in quality control.
And this is where skills will need to be learned to turn this service into a successful project for the module's assignment. In order to use Lulu to make a success students such as myself will need to learn the skills the publishing value chain adds. During the first attempt I neglected proper formatting and sizing of the orginal word document, which has a big effect on the end project. This is just one example of how self pubishing can result in a poorer quality end product and highlights how important learning the correct skills is. In order for this project to be successful students will need to type set and format the documents, design covers, price and then make preparations for marketing amongst other things. The combination of these skills would result in a proffesional looking artefact which could rival the produce of big publishers. The application of these skills will also highlight the importance or otherwise of publishers, giving a deeper understanding into the publishing process. The report based on the creation of this artefact will be an effective account of how well these skills have been aquired and applied, and so how successful the project has been. Through the reports accounts of self publishing conclusions on its practicality and effective will be able to be drawn, as well as insights into its positive and negative impacts on literature as a whole.
Thats all now, come back next week for more e-publishing related talk :).
Good stuff check it out, anyway here's some thoughts on self publication via lulu (http://www.lulu.com) and how it can be turned into a successful project.
Lulu.com is a site that allows any user to create and publish a text ready for sale, similar to Author House (http://www.authorhouse.com/). Services such as this add a new element to publishing, although this can be seen as vanity publishing which has traditonally not been looked on favourably by the publishing industry. What Lulu offers adds a new aspect to publishing and combined with archive projects such as Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)offer literature a second chance. It also offers another advantages for publishing, last weeks blog mentioned how 10% of companies publish 70% of the worlds books, and this is something self publishing can challenge providing a sense of potential. It could add a greater degree of creativity and orginality to the publishing industry, and also a greater degree of freedom. However in the words of Dylan Moran a little potential can be a bad thing, the publishing value chain adds important skills and processes to the production of the artefact. The value chain adds key aspects like proofing and type setting which are key in quality control.
And this is where skills will need to be learned to turn this service into a successful project for the module's assignment. In order to use Lulu to make a success students such as myself will need to learn the skills the publishing value chain adds. During the first attempt I neglected proper formatting and sizing of the orginal word document, which has a big effect on the end project. This is just one example of how self pubishing can result in a poorer quality end product and highlights how important learning the correct skills is. In order for this project to be successful students will need to type set and format the documents, design covers, price and then make preparations for marketing amongst other things. The combination of these skills would result in a proffesional looking artefact which could rival the produce of big publishers. The application of these skills will also highlight the importance or otherwise of publishers, giving a deeper understanding into the publishing process. The report based on the creation of this artefact will be an effective account of how well these skills have been aquired and applied, and so how successful the project has been. Through the reports accounts of self publishing conclusions on its practicality and effective will be able to be drawn, as well as insights into its positive and negative impacts on literature as a whole.
Thats all now, come back next week for more e-publishing related talk :).
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Lecture Number Two: Publishing and the issue of rights
In light of the lecture, this weeks entry is gonig to maybe a little more formal with all kinds of interesting links an facts - good times i think you'll agree :)
In the lecture the idea of rights, who owns what and how uncertain these two things are in todays digital age really caught my attention. It seems wrong that someone can pay for and download a book to a Kindle and then have their rights to read that book removed. This abilty and the general state of flux the issue of rights seems to be in is arguably a negative impact of technology. This also represents a new power available to publishers allowing them even after selling/distributing the content to have control on it. Although this would seem like a pointless power as if the other processes such as aquiring rights and processing he finished article shouldn't need recalling.
Having said this the internet and digital technologies are also improving publishing. the fact that 10 companies control 70% of publishing is entirely wrong so cases such as that of Robin Sloane (http://robinsloan.com/)are very refreshing! This is a man who funds himself and publishs himslef, destroying the idea of the publishing value chain. To this end I disagree with comments made in the lecture that publishers are still key, Robin Sloane proves that they are not a key requirement. Digital developments will make it easier for people such as Robin Sloane to self publish - whilst this will cause quality concerns due to the lack of input achived by a publisher it will foster a system which encourages stronger and more creative/progressive literary output. This also reduces influence from the big ten publishing companies allowing for a greater amount of opinions and voices to be heard.
The progess in digital technology i believe (based on my 2 whole lectures experience....) will lead to a reverse where publishing will return to something more similar to the 'cottage industry' described by J. Epstein in 'The Rattle of Pebbles'(http://tlrg.bangor.ac.uk/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=1321). The issue of rights will become more important as time goes on, and this is an area I definantly want to look in to in more detail. One way forward has been spelled out by blogger Cory Doctorow is creative commons - already used on music and picture files. This is a system which already works and has the potential to please both corporations and creative indivuals. He also speaks of small monthly charges in return for file sharing in fields such as music. You can read the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4112004.stm.
I think this will end the most factual and lengthy blog I've ever written. Random big word: synthesesing - confused me greatly lol. Nos da.
In the lecture the idea of rights, who owns what and how uncertain these two things are in todays digital age really caught my attention. It seems wrong that someone can pay for and download a book to a Kindle and then have their rights to read that book removed. This abilty and the general state of flux the issue of rights seems to be in is arguably a negative impact of technology. This also represents a new power available to publishers allowing them even after selling/distributing the content to have control on it. Although this would seem like a pointless power as if the other processes such as aquiring rights and processing he finished article shouldn't need recalling.
Having said this the internet and digital technologies are also improving publishing. the fact that 10 companies control 70% of publishing is entirely wrong so cases such as that of Robin Sloane (http://robinsloan.com/)are very refreshing! This is a man who funds himself and publishs himslef, destroying the idea of the publishing value chain. To this end I disagree with comments made in the lecture that publishers are still key, Robin Sloane proves that they are not a key requirement. Digital developments will make it easier for people such as Robin Sloane to self publish - whilst this will cause quality concerns due to the lack of input achived by a publisher it will foster a system which encourages stronger and more creative/progressive literary output. This also reduces influence from the big ten publishing companies allowing for a greater amount of opinions and voices to be heard.
The progess in digital technology i believe (based on my 2 whole lectures experience....) will lead to a reverse where publishing will return to something more similar to the 'cottage industry' described by J. Epstein in 'The Rattle of Pebbles'(http://tlrg.bangor.ac.uk/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=1321). The issue of rights will become more important as time goes on, and this is an area I definantly want to look in to in more detail. One way forward has been spelled out by blogger Cory Doctorow is creative commons - already used on music and picture files. This is a system which already works and has the potential to please both corporations and creative indivuals. He also speaks of small monthly charges in return for file sharing in fields such as music. You can read the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4112004.stm.
I think this will end the most factual and lengthy blog I've ever written. Random big word: synthesesing - confused me greatly lol. Nos da.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
1st Lecture
This is the first blog of the semester for E-Publishing. Starting at 11 the lecture jarred slightly with the freshers schedule but least it leaves time for a small lie in :).
The lecture was interesting to be fair, and full of random new terms like 'disruptive technology' and 'POD', which always help to drag your attention back from the window. If anything the lecture has proved how complicated publishing is how uncertain its future is. The lecture also highlighed how vague and numerous definitions of E-Publishing are, something which will hopefully change as the course develops. Although this said this vagueness probably helps the mediums involved in E-Publishing to be more free harder for corporate control which is no bad thing in a world of Rupert Murdoch.
All I need now is the book and it looks like E-Publishing is going to be good interesting times ahead. This ends the most purposeful blog I think I've ever written, and i hadn't even got to the fact that I'm the only boy yet (giggidy?). Although clearly my attendance of the lecture is driven by a love of E-Publishing...
Laters
The lecture was interesting to be fair, and full of random new terms like 'disruptive technology' and 'POD', which always help to drag your attention back from the window. If anything the lecture has proved how complicated publishing is how uncertain its future is. The lecture also highlighed how vague and numerous definitions of E-Publishing are, something which will hopefully change as the course develops. Although this said this vagueness probably helps the mediums involved in E-Publishing to be more free harder for corporate control which is no bad thing in a world of Rupert Murdoch.
All I need now is the book and it looks like E-Publishing is going to be good interesting times ahead. This ends the most purposeful blog I think I've ever written, and i hadn't even got to the fact that I'm the only boy yet (giggidy?). Although clearly my attendance of the lecture is driven by a love of E-Publishing...
Laters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
