The last two posts were pretty heavy ones on the nature of creativity. So I'd like to go back to the idea that spawned them all – the idea that people use media to socialize and that's why originality is not always a factor in their choice of media. With that conclusion, I want to close up this not-quite series with a look of ways people can make their media more "socializable."
Keeping Originality In Perspective
Last post I explored why people are obsessed with originality to dysfunctional degrees. I noted that there were factors of individuality, a desire to be industrious, a sense of property, a desire for notoriety, and a focus on making a contribution. All these factors lead to an emphasis on originality in media work in my opinion. Let me also note that I think all too often originality gets over emphasized.
Yes, in short I am saying that people and groups and cultures can take an emphasis on originality too far. That may sound strange, but an obsession with something good does not mean one puts it into practice properly. I feel fear of unoriginality crushes people's creativity, destroying the very thing they're seeking.
News Of The Day 1/24/2011
Wizard is gone, legal challenges get weird, and many media changes about. It's an odd day geek news wise so let's dive in!
Career:
Here's 15 musicians that found fame through you tube. So take that as a bit of inspiration.
Good news, some of the best companies are hiring
Economics/Geekonomics:
Interesting thoughts on provincialism today and why it's bogus in the interconnected world. Or, don't diss Chicago.
Texas' budget problems are also entrenched in politics and use of stimulus money.
Geek Law:
Zynga accuses Blingville of violating trademark The battle over "ville" begins . . .
Comics:
Wizard magazine closes. Wow, there goes a part of my life. They're going online, obviously, and it has a whiff of "new-startup-venture" to it. Hmmm . . . you folks might want to network a bit and see if this could lead to opportunities . . . or if friends of yours there need help.
Media:
BBC cuts its online budget by 25%.
Mobile:
Speculation on the next wave of children's mobile apps. Something for programmers to think about.
Publishing:
I'm not even sure how to think of this, but a company has software to Make books into social apps on iPad.
Social Media:
Facebook's Facebook credits are rolling out today. They're going to become THE Facebook currency, so look out programmers.
Foursquare had insane growth in 2010 – 3400%. Who knew giving away your position was so popular. I smell a future purchase.
Filmster wants to be the Foursquare of films. Not too sure on this, but they're going for a broad application footprint. Might be interesting to see how it goes.
Technology:
The Apple App Store hits Ten Billion Downloads. No one is surprised because they're too busy playing Angry Birds.
Street Fighter via Kinect. Another glimpse of the future I'm sure.
Video:
Vid.ly hopes to make uploading in various video formats easier. Interesting venture. I hope the make an equivalent for publishing sometime. These guys might be worth keeping track of, its a nice concise venture.
Video Games:
Wizard 101 continues to do insanely well. On that note DCU is doing pretty decent too – but we'll see how things go past the free month.
A Dose Of Awesome:
A wiki for Golden Age Women in comics.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Can books make it as a form of social media?