The future of writing in a readerless world: two takes

Change in language is, however, inevitable, just as it is in all other aspects of reality.

John Algeo, Do You Speak American? Language Myth #21 (PBS)

Technology is just evolution by non-biological means.

Dan Conover, Axioms for 21st Century Media

Before I wrote "Writing Well for Social Media" (a chapter for the Cleveland Social Media Club's ebook) I began been tracking the jokes about, polemics against, and advice for writing online.

Let's leave aside the cranks who claim that "Generation Text" is "ruining English" by (wittingly or unwittingly) using texting shorthand in their term papers. (The term paper written entirely in "txt spk" and posted to the internet turned out to be a hoax.) The research shows that in fact better writers than those in the past ("using far more complex sentence structures, a wider vocabulary and a more accurate use of capital letters, punctuation and spelling").

Yes, Virginia, the world still does need writers, although the nature of the writing they produce continues to change to meet the needs of the people formerly known as "readers" and now known as "scanners," "followers" (twitter), "recipients" (email), "connections" (LinkedIn) or "friends (Facebook)."

Whether the redefined future of the online writer excites or horrifies you depends entirely on your faith in the potential of links, interrelated data sets, mashups and other nonlinguistic tools to provide the depth that bullet points and 140-characters sound bites obviously cannot.

Two recent blogs posts depict the future of writing in a world of scanners. In "Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era, Robert Lanham mocks new developments, while in "Axioms for 21st Century Media," Dan Conover embraces them. But their visions of the written word's future are remarkably similar. In the future, the word will be referential, decentralized, truncated, and yoked to other media, other ways of conveying information.

From McSweeney's Internet Tendency (all emphases are mine):

INTERNET-AGE WRITING SYLLABUS AND COURSE OVERVIEW.
BY ROBERT LANHAM

ENG 371WR:
Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era
Instructor: Robert Lanham

Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t! Throughout the course, a further paring down of the Hemingway/Stein school of minimalism will be emphasized, limiting the superfluous use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, and other literary pitfalls.

Among the prerequisites:

ENG: 232WR—Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll
LIT: 223—Early-21st-Century Literature: 140 Characters or Less
ENG: 231WR—Facebook Wall Alliteration and Assonance
LIT: 202—The Literary Merits of Lolcats
LIT: 209—Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption

Required Reading: "Literary works, including the online table of contents of the Huffington Post's Complete Guide to Blogging, will serve as models to be skimmed for thorough analysis. Also, Perez Hilton's Twitter feed." A typical unit:

Week 6: 140 Characters or Less

Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets come alive with shallow wit. They'll learn how to construct Facebook status updates that glitter with irony, absurdity, and dramatic glibness.

Attendance: Unnecessary, but students should be signed onto IM and/or have their phones turned on.

Dan Conover's insights in "Xark! Axioms for 21st Century Media" is very Web 2.0, boiled down to pithy axioms presented in a numbered list:

1. The present is functionally obsolete.
2. For planning purposes, the short-term future IS the present.
3. Planning for the short-term is not a strategy. It's like navigating solely by what you can see.
4. There is no map, and the future is not predictable. Consequently, shoot for standard formats (XML, RDF, etc.) and build products and systems to be adaptable and inter-operable.
5. Don't build your future on a rock. Build your future on a surfboard. We're not on dry land anymore.
6. Proprietary systems are rocks. Open Source systems are surfboards.
7. Own your data.
8. Think databases, not documents.
9. Unstructured data has a value that approaches zero as it ages.
10. Structured data is too formal to describe the messy world around us.
11. Semi-structured data looks like the Goldilocks Zone for news media.
12. The One With The Best Tools Wins.
13. Web 1.0 is to the Web as rotary phones are to telecommunication: Rotary phones still work, but they're irrelevant to what comes next.
14. The challenge is: Build tools that give humans superhuman abilities.
15. Technology is just evolution by non-biological means.

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Parody: "Flutter" is like Twitter, bt shrtr.

A short parody of precocious attention-disabled geeks explaining their new social media company, Flutter.



h/t to Jack Humphrey at Friday Traffic Report.

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The #motrinmom meme revisited: pity the poor advertising agencies

Over on Write Like She Talks, Jill Zimon questions the argument of "Social Media And The Motrin Controversy: Or, Will Social Media Kill Advertising Creativity?" Author Catharine P. Taylor worries that reactions like that of "outraged 'Motrin Moms'" will crush creative advertising (such as it is):

Can we expect Johnson & Johnson to be skittish the next time a well-meaning creative director presents something somewhat edgy to the client? Yes. Can we expect said idea, even if it makes it out of the conference room, to be focus-grouped to death before it is unleashed to the vocal masses?
...
[Clients may make] the decision to run increasingly conservative advertising, until fully addressable, trackable TV advertising gives marketers enough insight into their ROI to realize those kinds of ads are ineffective. Until that time, the conclusion I draw is that much advertising will go plain vanilla, and that's too bad for all of us.

Like Zimon, I don't have much sympathy with the sad fate of creatively stymied ad agencies. "Why," Zimon asks, "is advertising that goes 'plain vanilla…too bad for all of us'?"

And I'm stunned by Taylor's naive assertion that the #motrinmoms were upset not by "the message of the ad so much as its cataclysm of tone and language."

Anyone who studies social media as Taylor does should

understand that that form IS content every bit as much as the medium is the message. The ad's intended message may be "take Motrin for back pain," but its tone and language clear sent other unintended messages as well.

The truth is that the creators of this ad made a tactical error. They bet on the assumption that most mainstream moms consider babywearing fringe behavior.

That may once have been true. But babywearing moms are no longer a fringe group, at least not among the women who are active Internet users.

Better educated and wealthier women are both more likely to breastfeed their babies for longer, and more likely to use the internet as a way to find out information and find a community. If they're stay at home moms, they also have more time & greater opportunity to share reactions online to content they find offensive. Twitter made that communication happen even faster than email and blogging has.

(There's abbreviation on discussion boards and in chatrooms and IM for "nursing at keyboard" [NAK]. Wearing your baby while you nurse them allows you to have your hands free for typing -- although your attention is not always free, hence "NAK," used to explain why you're not paying full attention to an online dialogue.)

Babywearing, internet savvy women naturally resented being depicted as the practitioners of a mothering habit which "common-sense" women like the ad's narrator secretly resents or find to be of dubious value.

Advertising that ridicules is risky. In this case, J&J underestimated the size, power and commitment of the group they chose to ridicule.

And while the ad may have been visually fresh and well-executed, its approach was definitely NOT "edgy" or daring.

In fact, its underlying tactic -- encouraging self-doubt in women -- was around long before the first Clairol commercial appeared in a fashion magazine.

Technorati tags: Motrin, twitter, #motrinmoms, advertising, babywearing, breastfeeding, women on the internet

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NE Ohio Cubicle Dwellers: 3 ways to track what's happening at the polls from your desk

1. Your browser. Keep a browser tab open to WKYC.com's election blog. Refresh the page periodically. (If you know of a LOCAL news site that is updating more frequently, please let us know!) For national news: ProPublica's Vote Watch, Video the Vote, the Election Protection Coalition's Our Vote Live

2. twitter:

• First, sign up for twitter and download a desktop twitter client (many are listed here. My favorite right now is twhirl: it's small, light & works on Win & Mac OS).
• Second, once you're twittering, follow one or all of these twitter feeds for real-time voting news:

cdotcompolitics


866OURVOTE


VideoTheVote

votesuppression

nprpolitics

3. RSS feed. (I use Google Reader). Sign up for the RSS feeds at these websites:

• RealNEO
• Election Law @Moritz
• Buckeye State Blog
• The Brad Blog
• Pro Republica

(You can also visit these sites via browser).

Technorati tags: Election 2008, voting rights, new media

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Facting-checking the debate & "that one": more favorite moments

Some post-debate fact checks:

After suggesting that Meg Whitman, CEO of ebay.com, would make a good Treasury Secretary, McCain said: "1.3-million people in America make their living off eBay."
Politifacts says: That's way off. We hate to nitpick apparent misstatements, but this one's a doozy — 1.3-million is the number of people worldwide who make some money off eBay, according to a 2006 A.C. Nielsen study. As of 2003, some 20,000 Americans made their living off eBay, company executive Jim Griffith told a Colorado newspaper at the time.



John McCain: "Senator Obama has voted 94 times to either increase your taxes or against tax cuts."
Politicifacts says: "94? Not even close"


From Time's live-blogging of the debate: Tonight, John McCain said: “There is too much special interests and too many lobbyists working there.“ According to the Center for Responsive Politics, McCain’s presidential campaign has accepted $841,716 from federal lobbyists, and $1,346,385 from PACs. [Center for Responsive Politics website, accessed 10/1/08]

"That one"



@Daily Kos: Even Wolf Blitzer pointing out that McCain could not mask his disdain for Senator Obama. Must be his bipartisan nature shining through. Not.

@Jillmz: so - was "That one" McCain's macaca moment? When someone talks to me that way, they do not get silence I can tell you that

@collisonbend: @Jillmz That was an insult to everyone, and I thought it quite disrespectful, almost to the point of racism.

@collisionbend: agreed - it's that subtle stuff "disrespectful" - NYT had an interesting column by Brent Staples about that a week or two ago

@collisionbend: Jeffery Toobin at CNN just singled out the "that one" moment as the point where McCain lost his audience, & a moment he will regret.

@ScottPiepho: Retweeting @jdickerson: CNN poll: Who won the debate? Obama: 24% McCain: 30% That One 34%

Technorati tags: elections, politics, social media, writing: blogging: journalism

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Debate tweets: These are a few of my favorites

Who says we can't multi-task?

While watching the debate tonight, thousands of people were simultaneously live-blogging, tweeting, and fact-checking what they heard. Tuning into the music of the cybersphere really enriches the debates for me. Tonight I followed various Twitter feeds, including @nprpolitics@dailykos, @ScottPiepho, @collisionbend, @politifact, @knitgrrl, @wendyhoke, @dsearls, @acarvin, @Scobleizer, @fivehusbands, @Jillmz

These are a few of my favorites:

9:00-ish @wendyhoke: #nashdebate Can't help thinking that McCain reminds me of Lord Farquaad.
9:09 @wendyhoke: "my friends." Everybody drink. (for those playing debate bingo)
9:10 @knitgrrl: Don't say "my friends." I'm not your friend, you dimwitted mofo.

9:12 @politifact: McCain: 1.3 million who make their living on eBay. Numbers murky and not that high: http://tinyurl.com/4otuth
9:14 @politifact: McCain overplaying his role in Freddie/Fannie warnings - http://tinyurl.com/5u4hbe
9:14 @politifact: But he's right on Obama getting Fannie/Freddie money: http://tinyurl.com/3s6spn
9:15 @fivehusbands: Retweeting @Marti_L All I've seen in the audience is white people. What's up with that?
9:24 @Scobleizer: CNN's focus group reaction line ... Mostly flat line when McCain talks. He needed to hit it out of the park and isn't.
9:36 @nprpolitics: McCain: the last prez to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover. Anyone wanna #factcheck that one?
9:36 @knitgrrl: OMG McCain just made a joke about jell-o, for heaven's sake. What's next? A crack about those newfangled victrolas?
9: 44 @fivehusbands: McCain is dithering
9:47 @wendyhoke: Brokaw sounds wheezy. Does he have asthma?
9:48 @knitgrrl: Tom Brokaw tries sarcasm; fails. Poor pooky.
9:50 @acarvin: #factcheck: Obama, Fannie, Freddie. Hat tip @paulboccaccio. http://tinyurl.com/48pomz
9:50 @nprpolitics: #debate08 McC using the ridged format to his advantage. He's launched more attacks. Many of which O has left unanswered.
9:51 @dailykos: every single time John McCain speaks, the focus group dial on CNN flatlines. My friends, it seems that "uncommitted" voters are not buying McCain's schtick http://tinyurl.com/4r5zzt
9:51 @dailykos: McCain rips his 9th "My friends" comment -- which caused him to flatline again. McCain continues acting condescending and he tanks even further.
9:52 @howardowens: My friend, my friend, my friend ... John McCain, you are not my friend, nor am I yours.
10:03 @Jillmz: wow audience dial people are loving Obama's foreign policy
10:07 @politifact: Obama: No nation has ever had its economy falter and maintained its military might. Ask the Greeks in the Peloponnesian War.
10:07 @dsearls: Every time McCain says "my friend," I cringe
10:10 @wendyhoke: When did McCain win a war? Palin said same thing in veep debate.
10:13 @politifact: Obama wants to attack Pakistan? McCain got our worst rating on that one before: Pants on Fire! http://tinyurl.com/3qex5l
10:14 @dsearls: CIA guy on Terry Gross the other day: Bin Laden is dead.
10:14 @c_johnson: Someone should tell these guys that most CIA experts incl. Robert Baer believe Bin Laden is dead #nashdebate
10:14 @wonderwillow: I am NOT that man's friend and he needs to stop calling me that
10:18 @agahran: @dsearls Is this the Fresh Air episode you mentioned re: CIA/ Bin Laden? http://snurl.com/460v3
10:21 @c_johnson: McCain & Brokaw are BFF :) They called each other last night to make sure their ties matched #nashdebate
10:27 p.m. - MG - I repeat: This format sucks. It's just side-by-side stump speeches with human props.
10:28 @nprpolitics: Obama: but we have to use all the tools at our disposal, including diplomatically.
10:30 @nprpolitics Q from Peggy in NH: What don't you know, and how will you learn it?
10:30 @wendyhoke: Zen question: What don't you know and how would you learn it?

10:30 @nprpolitics: Obama: It's never the challenges you expect, it's the ones you don't, that consume most of your time.
10:32 @nprpolitics: McCain: I think what I don't know is what all of us don't know - what's gonna happen here and abroad. We face unprecedented challenges.
10:34 @wendyhoke: McCain gave the same answer as O. But viewers not buying his daddy at sea, mommy raised me narrative.
10:34 p.m. - MG - And so they finish up: Change vs. Experience. Are campaigns really necessary?
10:34 @nprpolitics: McCain: when times are tough, you need a steady hand at the tiller.
10:34 @knitgrrl: Is it the same steady hand you used to crash your plane in Vietnam? If so, thanks but no thanks.
10:35 p.m. - JP - Tom tells the candidates they are in the way of his prompter, "In addition to everything else"! Ouch! You do not do over the time limit on Mr. Brokaw!
10:40 p.m. - KT - Summing up? I'm not sure this was a good night for Barack Obama, but I think it was a bad night for John McCain. And these last two debates were supposed to be his best ones.
12:03 pm @acarvin: CNN instapoll of users who watched debate: 54% said Obama did the better job; 30% McCain. Obama's favorables up by 4 pts; McCain unchanged.

Technorati tags: elections, politics, social media, writing: blogging: journalism

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For more fun, search #suspend on twitter

Just for fun, go to www.summize.com and enter "suspend" or #suspend in the search box to see what fun the twitterverse is having with McCain's proposal. A new "meme" has been born, thanks to Letterman.


A sampling:

• crcarleton: after seeing palin in nyc this week i'd suspend things too :)
• ProfessorTracey: Did somebody suspend Palin's brain and not tell her?
  
• juliehamwood: McCain, you didn't #suspend your birthday cake with George Bush when Katrina hit http://tinyurl.com/bzcuj (expand) Face the debate.
  
• poggibonsi99: McCain can suspend his campaign permanently and I wouldn't be sad at all.
• poswald: Can someone please #suspend alternate side parking so I can focus on the economy?

(Hattip to Jillmz for suggesting the summize.com search).
 

Technorati tags: absurdity, social media, writing: blogging: journalism, elections, politics

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@fratboyz plz bring more beer: social media on the college party circuit

The earliest college-style party I know of appears in "Mostellaria" (The Ghost), a farce by Plautus ca. 200 BCE, in which a young Athenian hosts a party for his buddies while his father is out of town on business. Dad comes home unexpectedly, guests are hurriedly hidden, and son spends the rest of the play trying to keep dad in the dark.

A college party is, by definition, designed to drive grown-ups crazy. It's the sine qua non of the term "impaired judgment."

Wow, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic here. Or not. Anyway, here's a new wrinkle.

At Loyola Marymount University in the Los Angeles suburb of Westchester, residents are blaming Twitter for a new wave of wild partying that disturbs neighbors' sleep and brings down their property values.

"Microblogging services like Twitter are not only allowing students to find out where their classmates are partying, but also when the gatherings are about to be shut down by the police,"reports Caitlin Moran in The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus.

A local news station quoted a Los Angeles police officer describing “100 or 150 kids” filing out of a house with “all the things lighting up in their hands” — presumably in response to a microblogged warning."

Watch out for those spooky hordes of fleeing students armed with "all the things lighting up in their hands!" Technology is evil! And here's why, according to the blog WestchesterParent:

Instant messaging means instant party, and they can start quickly at any time of the day or evening. Just as quickly they can end abruptly and restart hours later as students move from party to party fed by today’s technology and making it more difficult for police to respond. [lilatovcocktail's note: emphasis is mine]

The ability to spontaneously generate parties was well-documented in the 16-24 year old population long before social media came along.

Word-of-mouth raves were held in abandoned warehouses in the mid-80s. Prohibition-era speakeasies used code words or had the band play a certain song to alert patrons to police raids.

Blaming twitter for the increase in spontaneous partying is kind of like blaming beer kegs for the increase in student inebriation.

If they were smart, townies and law enforcment would get behind the technology, rather than getting bowled over by it. That's what the administration at Seattle University did last spring.

The Seattle Times reported that when SU officials discovered invitations to an off-campus student party on Facebook, Glen Butterworth, assistant to the dean of students, showed up on the students' doorstep and told them he knew of their plans and that city police and state liquor authorities would be enforcing any code violations.

The students grudgingly cancelled the party. "I was really mad, actually," said party co-host Gina Corsiglia.. "I thought it was pretty outrageous that he came physically to our doorstep ... It's none of [SU's] business ... It's a private residence."

On occasion, someone I know will send out word on twitter that the band they're listening at the Beachland Ballroom is terrific and we should come down. I appreciate that.

And I would go, too, if I wasn't so busy keeping my super-green lawn neatly cropped so that my property values don't go down.

Technorati tags: education, family, writing: blogging: journalism

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