Culture

Turning Hated Expertise Around

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You ever get a call from a family member to help you with a computer problem that they could have figured out with some research?

You ever have a friend doing an interview who called you to ask you what the person he was interviewing was talking about?

You ever find yourself cornered at a party or get-together to explain something about your job or industry to someone, and wondered how they didn't know something that simple?

Yeah.  Me too.  When we do something for a living, when we're truly into it – in short, when we're progeeks or would-be-progeeks – everyone uses us as a source of information.  It gets annoying.

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Go Farther: Procedural Media

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(Last week I suggested spontaneity and surprise were elements that people making media could use to add value and increase interest.  I wanted to explore that more.)

As I've suggested before, spontaneity and unpredictability is an element of a media product (a story, a game, etc.) that can get, maintain, and expand people's interest in the product.  Spontaneity, combined with relatively fast access to the spontaneous content, is a unique way to add value to a media product as its un duplicateable and plays on our love of the unknown and novel.  Getting that spontaneity is thus important – but varies from media to media.

Every kind of media has its different advantages and disadvantages in adding spontaneity to it.  Changing technology has also altered how this can be done, and changing expectations have altered what people expect.  I'm going to take a look at the different kinds of media and how spontaneity can be added to them.

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How Internet Access Changes Failure

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Being a geek, I assume you remember the time you discovered Mystery Science Theater 3000.  If you're one of the poor souls that doesn't know what it is, it's a show where characters mock old movies, and at times obscure movies.  These films get a new lease on life – and the show, in my opinion, increased interest in cheesy old films.

Of course before that there was the Golden Turkey Awards, which awarded various bad films awards for their "achievements."  This book is one I credit with giving Plan 9 From Outer Space more prominence, though it certainly called attention to other films.

Many films in the above media, and in similar media like Late Night Movies and the like, are films that are at best weird, and at most very bad.  Many would be considered outright failures, yet because of their very flaws, they get a kind of new life.

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