Text and Hubris

There are serious problems with Flash. It is a closed platform. It is owned and controlled by a single company and they produce the only toolset for it. That said, their toolset is powerful, solid, and it has given artists the capacity to create their own content without worrying about complex code manipulation. It has made content production easy.

This part of the argument always seems to be left out of the Flash s. HTML5 debate. You can have the superior technology. It can perform better, be more open, and even run safer than its competition; and yet, if it doesn’t come with a rich set of tools that make content creation relatively easy and fun, your technology isn’t going to see the penetration you would like. Let’s remember what technology really is: technology is knowledge and application. A television is not technology nor is a computer technology. They are the products of technology. They are, at best, tools. HTML5 may indeed be a better way of doing things. This is knowledge side of the equation. Application, though, requires tools. Without tools the knowledge lies impotent, unrealized, and is, eventually, forgotten. As far as the tools go, Flash wins. There is nothing to compete in the HTML5 camp and as far as I have seen there are no plans to create something to compete.

I hope this isn’t case. I love the products Adobe makes but competition is a good thing here and they have held the space for a long time. New ideas and new tools might actually open up content creation even more. I hope to see some competing products developed that really push the envelope. To be fair, some of the Javascript libraries out there are doing that but they are still very early in their development. Of course, so is HTML5 which isn’t even finalized as of yet.

On the plus side, this is an exciting time to be in the content business. The models have changed and it really is anyone’s game. There is something really exciting about that.

If I have missed HTML5 tools or are ignorant of some (scary but possible) please let me know below. I would love to check them out!

I read the rationale Wikipedia used to justify its inclusion into Facebook and I have to admit it makes sense. If Wikipedia is licensed as a Creative Commons product it can be included in both commercial and noncommercial sites as long as it is properly attributed and shared. The content remains freely accessible to all and the edits, though filtered through Facebook remain part of the Commons licensed text.

This rational is solid and there really isn’t much ground on which to argue. Everyone who submits an edit to Wikipedia should be aware of this license and accept that what they produce may end up somewhere else. What this does do is break my vision of Facebook as the new AOL. AOL was never able to capitalize on existing content the way that Facebook has done. By embracing openness, which really means becoming ubiquitous, Facebook has moved beyond its walls and into the larger web space. Frankly, I’m not so sure that is a good thing. The data warehouses that Facebook has amassed on the back of its users through policies that skirt and abuse their privacy tend to dissuade me from believing that a larger, more pervasive Facebook is a good thing.

Facebook has placed an interesting specter into the commons and it has done so in a way that could be just as dangerous as content that remains locked up. It is quite fair to say that Facebook has not limited access, indeed they have made accessing content even easier for its users. It has also created an observer who knows and tracks where those users go within the commons. Every word searched, every link clicked, and every topic explored is saved, collated, compared and provided to the right buyers for the right price. Indeed, Facebook has already become a major source of information for employers. The content is there and its readily available. Just remember that what you do is now being watched a lot more closely. Free content, freely accessible, but with a costly downside.

My advice: if you have to use Facebook, make up name, don’t add friends, and don’t post anything there that you wouldn’t post in the public space. This is a good rule of thumb for all websites, actually.

This is a personal note to those who care. I post it to share a part of my life that I feel is going to be important somewhere in the future. There is no other reason than that.

School:
I am a good student. I am almost a great student, but I am not a twenty year old kid who is more concerned about accolades than I am the actual work. I have the opportunity to work on an Honors thesis next year. I am proud of that. I am glad to have such an opportunity. Even better, I have the opportunity to make this thesis a creative thesis. This means I can walk out of this degree with a solid portfolio of work which is precisely what I would like to do.

The hitch in the whole lovely deal is that my advisor, the professor who I have worked with for a year already and who I feel will be the best suited to help me accomplish this task, is not allowed to be my advisor purely because he isn’t a part of the right list on the faculty door. This pisses me off. My only option was to walk in blind with an advisor who doesn’t know me or my topic. As you might guess, this does not bode well when I want to build something great. Luckily, this isn’t a new issue and thanks to my advisor a solution is available. I sent a rather impassioned letter to the Honors director yesterday, and we’ll see how he replies. I expect to be turned down, but now that there is another solution in hand, I can breathe a bit better.

I was actually ready to drop Honors. I believe in the work over the accolades and frankly a solid portfolio filled with incredible work will say more than any Honors designation. That said, I am glad that a solution is available. I have worked hard for this and I am glad I will get to see it through.

Work:
I am a bit stunned and more than a little excited. I was recently presented with a potential option that would really work for me. If it goes through, I may be able to continue working and finish out school. If I am able to crack the MFA program here as well, I could, theoretically, continue working throughout my MFA program. This is, simply put, the best of all possible scenarios. I want to say a lot more but I’ll wait till I have more of a solid confirmation. There will be some sacrifices but frankly it would be nice to be able to have a schedule that works and stays rather steady. I’ll update more as soon as I have additional information.

This was sent to me by my New Media professor and is probably one of the most cogent and well put together talks on modern publishing I have seen. Everyone knows that we are in the midst of a drastic change in regard to how long-form narrative fiction is being produced and marketed. The real question is how do content creators and publishers remain competitive in the midst of this shift. Nash’s commentary directly addresses these issues and I think that a lot of what he suggests will bear out. This is especially true in regard to his comments on content versus culture and the importance of connection for both authors and readers. I used to argue that musicians should make money by performing. While this need not be their only revenue stream, it is their key connection to their audiences and should be one of primary importance. In the same way, writers need to think of themselves as more than creators of text. They are the creators, in Nash’s term, of cultural capital and that means being out in the culture. With that in mind, I think this goes beyond narrative fiction and music. I think it covers a huge swatch of the publishing and media industry in general. It is no longer enough just to create a work and put it out there. As Nash notes, there has to be a connection between reader and the writer, the producer and the consumer. It is in that connection that real value can be found.

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First the great news. I was accepted into the Undergraduate Writing Track. It was in the poetry but I am beginning to think that I might belong there. I am primarily interested in words as both structure and meaning and poetry does that more than any other style of writing. The fact that I am also interested in digital media and design and the poetic style already seems at home in the genre is just more proof.

Of course, my acceptance into the program has now opened a frightening new can of worms. I will be in my final year before I pursue my MFA. I have an Honors thesis to write, a series of seminars to attend, and a couple more required classes. I also have a job that is steadily losing patience with my erratic schedule. I’m not entirely sure how to manage this. My fall schedule is rough. I need to find a way to fit work into my schedule so that it all balances out. My best bet is to merge my thesis and my creative track. If I do that, I may actually survive the year. I just have to convince teachers who never met me that I am worth the risk. Joy.

I need to start looking job-wise as well. My current position is great and tries to be flexible which, for all the other issues, I really do appreciate. I need something where I can work from my home office though. I’ve proven that even with school, I can put in the hours. I just need flexible, preferably project based work and that is not what I am doing right now. Ah well, who knows if I can even find that. I guess we will have to see.