I've been saying for years that one of the most amazing, jaw droppingly revolutionary things about the bloom of the Internet is that for the first time in history anyone can publish. The printing press changed the world by allowing anyone to read. The internet is changing the world by allowing anyone to write.
One result of the all the economic barriers to publishing disappearing in a puff of electronic smoke has been to create a whole new strata of media -- or perhaps just the drastic expansion of a very old strata, that of the newsletter writer. This "new" media can, and often does, spurn the mainstream as their target audience, instead covering one niche, one hobby, one passion -- and covering it well. For perhaps the first time since "TV News" became the predominant form of news, 30 years or more, you can trust that someone in the media will get the story right, really understand the details, and properly convey what's important about an event, rather than just covering what's easy or sexy. Unfortunately, you can't count on anyone actually reading it when they're done. Though anyone can publish, not everyone has an audience.
Indeed, the predominance of personal web-logs or "blogs" without any readers, save perhaps for the author's aunt Mary, is the basis of more than a few jokes. The blog you're staring at could certainly be the butt of some of those jokes. I've even been known to be the one telling them.
And oh, Hi Mom.
So on one hand this new, web based media offers up tremendous ability to transmit both ideas and details to the people in the world who are certain to be really interested in them. On the other, there are countless writers out there -- for grins lets just refer to them as "reporters" -- who may be thunking away at their keyboards but to whom not even the crickets respect with a bit of attention. I suspect that this dichotomy has thrown event organizers everywhere for a bit of a loop. I mean, how do you tell them apart? How do you determine who's really part of this exciting "new media" that you want to have pay attention to you, and who's just part of the Aunt Mary crowd?
For DARPA, at least, the answer appears to be that you don't. And thus so it is that I am now the proud holder of a press pass to the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.
Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Check back again in six months when, if history is any indicator, there's a 50% chance that this "reporter" might have updated. Cheers!
One result of the all the economic barriers to publishing disappearing in a puff of electronic smoke has been to create a whole new strata of media -- or perhaps just the drastic expansion of a very old strata, that of the newsletter writer. This "new" media can, and often does, spurn the mainstream as their target audience, instead covering one niche, one hobby, one passion -- and covering it well. For perhaps the first time since "TV News" became the predominant form of news, 30 years or more, you can trust that someone in the media will get the story right, really understand the details, and properly convey what's important about an event, rather than just covering what's easy or sexy. Unfortunately, you can't count on anyone actually reading it when they're done. Though anyone can publish, not everyone has an audience.
Indeed, the predominance of personal web-logs or "blogs" without any readers, save perhaps for the author's aunt Mary, is the basis of more than a few jokes. The blog you're staring at could certainly be the butt of some of those jokes. I've even been known to be the one telling them.
And oh, Hi Mom.
So on one hand this new, web based media offers up tremendous ability to transmit both ideas and details to the people in the world who are certain to be really interested in them. On the other, there are countless writers out there -- for grins lets just refer to them as "reporters" -- who may be thunking away at their keyboards but to whom not even the crickets respect with a bit of attention. I suspect that this dichotomy has thrown event organizers everywhere for a bit of a loop. I mean, how do you tell them apart? How do you determine who's really part of this exciting "new media" that you want to have pay attention to you, and who's just part of the Aunt Mary crowd?
For DARPA, at least, the answer appears to be that you don't. And thus so it is that I am now the proud holder of a press pass to the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.
Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Check back again in six months when, if history is any indicator, there's a 50% chance that this "reporter" might have updated. Cheers!
posted by Dan at 2:30 PM
1 Comments:
I'll have you know that my Aunt Mary has never read my blog.
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