The university I attended required all incoming freshman in the College of Communications to take a gut course, COM 101.
Memorable mostly for its 8 a.m. starting time, the class supposedly cut across all mass communications disciplines.
I spent many of the sessions sitting in the back of the room - a movie theater, actually - doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, recklessly, in ink.
The theories floated by our professors had ridiculous names like "The Cool Hand Luke Theory" and the "Hypodermic Needle Theory."
However, one morning I happened to be paying attention when it was stated that the future of communications would be based on one intangible commodity: information.
A marketplace of ideas, the professors said, would come to exist with the help of miles and miles of fiber-optic cable, connecting the entire "global village."
Ha! Can you imagine? This was waaaay back in 1989. We didn't have email and I saved all my papers on a floppy disc inserted into my Mac Classic.
But lo and behold, this theory, which seemed so laughable to me, has come to exist and nowhere is that more evident than in the explosion of blogs.
My Google homepage has a widget that gives me access to The New York Times online, and lately no less than three of the headlines splashed across my screen are links to blogs published by the nation's newspaper.
Incredible! Here, side by side with me, is The New York Times.
Self-publishing via blogs revolutionized how I read. Never before have I had access to so many voices, experiences, races, ethnicities and geographies. My site statistics file shows flickers of interest from Hong Kong, Australia and Europe.
Where my point of view was once limited to my local newspaper, television and nationally published periodicals, I can now access information, news and analysis from all over the globe, with little effort.
This revolution allows writers who would previously go unread the ability to reach out and promote their work, in some cases - like mine - driving some revenue, however small, from words they drafted on a lark.
While I won't get into the debate on the relationship between marketing and bloggers, I do believe that bloggers are, indeed, major influencers in the marketplace. Never before have we had the opportunity to harness the power of so many visions and voices to make changes not only in the world of capitalism, but in the world at large.
We must act fast, before the horse runs away without the rider. We must look, learn, read, discern and recognize the power laid out before us.
Now is our time.
Friday, August 31, 2007
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16 comments:
It is truly amazing, isn't it? I marvel at all the information we have at our fingertips now, although sometimes I wonder if it is too much information.
I also wonder if this information explosion will continue at its current rate. If so, we can't even imagine the world in which our children will be adults!
This is a key and very clear statement of something that I have been struggling with for a long time. Yes.
But what will we do with this power? And who is 'we'? Historically, the bigger the power base, the more easily decisionmaking gravitates to lcd -- the 'bread and circuses' syndrome.
It is going to be more than interesting to see what the decision process turns out to be. Lawyer mama is wondering about the 'too much info'; you can also have 'too detailed', as in 'can't see the forest for the trees'.
Just in passing, when I took marketing I loved the ridiculous names. Kept me awake. Sometimes.
What I think is so incredible is the strength of community and the collaborations that are springing forth, from Parent Bloggers, to the site Izzy Mom has planned to Blogher and the ladies up in Canada. Finally, working together, not afraid to think or rail against things publicly. I am so proud to belong.
This is kinda off track, but I remember back in 1995 when my first assignment in my first business class was to set up an email account and turn in the homework via email attachment. Oh my god. You would have thought the sky had fallen. We were freaking out. How do you send an attachment? Seems so silly now.
There was a professor at this same business college (the business program is now ranked 7th in the nation mind you) who actually said e-commerce would never happen. That no one would ever purchase things "online". Um, I'm guessing he doesn't teach there anymore.
I agree. I didn't even know what a blog was a year ago, and bumped into them by pure chance.
Many of my pals are completely unaware of this development even now.
Best wishes
Great declaration, we have power, and it can land squarely where we send it. Also the amount of self-education available online is invigorating. Moms from every economic sphere can culture themselves, can have endless practice polishing their communication skills. We can understand mega-structures, find our assigned place in it, and break the hell out of it. There is virtually no limit to who we can become within the bounds of the cybersphere, so long as we do the work.
We do have power. Knowing how to use it, I mean really use it -- that's still in our future, I think.
my worry is the misuse of information or more specifically the dissemination of wrong, partial, or falsified info. bloggers can spout and talk about anything. how can we "check" that?
I recently read an article that asked if we become desensitized due to the "overexposure" we have to current events.
Personally, my answer is no.
It is the opposite for me.
But am I unique?
I also recently turned down an opportunity that six months ago I would have jumped at...all because it wanted my goods and services for no tangible compensation. At this point, the negligible exposure it provides doesn't seem fair compensation for the talent I provide.
So how do we take what so many are willing to offer for free and capitalize it?
And why are so many so scathing about that element?
Julie
Ravin' Picture Maven
Christine, IMHO, I consider everything a blogger writes to be opinion, and if they cite or link to sources, I check those. Then I form my own opinion.
Julie
Ravin' Picture Maven
This is a powerful place isn't it?
I can totally relate to your thoughts sitting in that Com 101 class (I think I took a very similar one AND I saved my work on a Brother Word Processor!) . . . this global marketplace. It's daunting!
Write on!
julie--yes, i feel the same way. but i do think there are those that do not check sources or take everything they read ans fact or at face value. but you are going to get that anywhere with any type of media, i suppose. great discussion!
Did anyone watch the McLaughlin Group this past Friday? It was a theme show about new media, and blogging. Very fascinating. The question came up whether or not bloggers can be considered journalists, and if they should be protected by a new federal shield law being floated in Congress.
My thoughts on that, as a former working journalist, are "no way." Rarely, if ever, to Julie's point, do I see bloggers actively checking sources.
I see bloggers as news aggregators, not news gatherers. There is a drastic difference.
I recommend watching it, if you can. It was fascinating.
Amen, Mrs. Chicken. As a newspaper journalist, I can profess that the news business as we know it is rapidly changing, and leaving decrepit, out-of-work journalists in its wake. The Web affords us so many more venues and up to the second updates. It's the catch of the century.
Mrs. Chicken, sorry to have missed that! Sounds really intersting!
I will say though---as a crusty old journalism person from the 80s when you got rolls to cut into columns and had to be able to count headlines---I find today's journalism sadly lacking in, well just lacking. I think sometimes columnists are more bloggers than bloggers themselves (wrt to not checking). Not to be too down on it---there are some good examples---but only this morning I said: can the newspaper and television news in this town report ANYTHING worthy, ANYTHING other than car crashes and gun fights? Is that ALL that happens?
UGH news in H-town SUCKS ROCKS.
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