Online Publishing - A Short Comment

[kneeshooter]

It always cheers me up when I see young people with a lot to learn - makes my background in education, and indeed my work in helping people taste at the elixir of self-development, worthwhile.

Today I have been failing to educate a PR drone in the exactly where the web will, and indeed will not, replace more traditional media.

The web seems really to be pulling in two directions. On one hand it is "vanity publishing gone mad", and provides an international soapbox for the mad, the illiterate and people with much worse social problems. One the other it is a medium that does has a massive, media-literate audience who devour information at a huge rate of knots and in many cases develop a sense of community irrespective of location or "size of niche".

The potential audience for online content is huge, but shares a number of unique traits such as the responsibility of the consumer for the quality of delivery of a product - rather than accessing a "complete product". This then links with file sharing, and debates about how downloadable music can be paid for.

Of course, the net result of this is my amusement that online media isn't taken seriously even if accompanied by the reach and profile of the BBC logo and my lack of a pass for Slipknot/Slayer next week. Still, onwards and upwards.

What do you think about online publications? Do you prefer TV, radio, print or online?

Comments

[kingandy]

I think I file myself under "the mad". I'm certainly not the illiterate, and I wouldn't want to have any worse social afflictions.

ps. How can you share a unique trait?

[kneeshooter]

"Possessing a number (multiple) of traits that are unique to this medium when compared to others".

It's not an argument that stands up well mind - but let's gloss over that until someone else spots it.

[ex-john-hat807.livejournal.com]

the mad, the illiterate and people with much worse social problems

You called?

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

What do you think about online publications? Do you prefer TV, radio, print or online?

The only thing that stops me hailing online publications as a gift from the gods is the fact I lack an internet-capable computer that I can take to the toilet/in the bath with me. I get all my "news" these days through the internet, mainly from the BBC website - something I can thank assorted LJ-jockeys for if truth be told.

About the only printed-text reading I do these days are reading-for-pleasure and tabletop rulebooks (and I have most of the ones I use regularly in a .pdf format, ssssh don't tell anyone).

I doubt that the online publication stuff will ever completely replace the book - there are too many things that make a book "special" that the internet lacks - but apart from "reading for pleasure" I think it's likely that the online stuff will continue to grow.

Heck, I even like to read the odd bit of fan-fiction, and there's a lot of very funny people out there who write for me and me alone (or so it seems) who wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting published.

Plus porn of course

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

What do you think about online publications? Do you prefer TV, radio, print or online?

I still prefer print for reading, (I hate pdfs, they are a strain on the eye), TV for entertainment (I would never consider downloading Stargate and watching it on my PC, screen is too small and sound is not good enough), Radio for the morning drive to school/farm, but I do prefer online news, because I can regulate it. News 24 has to be one of the worst ideas in TV History and without a doubt contributes the most to the mass paranoia and hysteria surrounding media-hyped events of terrorism etc.

Online is really good for forums and technical support, banking, shopping and communication.

[purplewizard.livejournal.com]

You could of course always attach your PC to a TV and Hi-fi system...

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

Why bother? And my hi-fi system isn't surround.

[littleonions.livejournal.com]

Personally, I like to read an actual book/magazine etc

Verifiable research material online is useful, rather than having to go to the library which is generally inconvenient, although; I do love libraries and still spend time in them.

'Creative stuff' hmm...

[purplewizard.livejournal.com]

Hmm - online In-Character invites just aren't the same as bits of scroll paper in the post IMO...

[snow-cvrd-heart.livejournal.com]

the mad, the illiterate and people with much worse social problems....

Just gonna chime in and say hi for that one as well..

I have to agree that I will always prefer a book for nice quite reading for pleasure, siting against a tree or on a baech with a laptop doesnt really have the same sense of Romatisim to me.

However, a book cant be bluescreened (something that makes my life easier) or search facilities linked in to the text... so for work(and some *cough* play) projects, the net is a far better research tool.

I dont listen to the radio or watch much tv so I cant comment on the replacements there as the net already is that replacement. I do see how the net provides a better (all be it sometimes smaller) target for marketing although this is not very forward thinking in terms of outside catchment development.

[ruana1.livejournal.com]

Online news is good - more frequently-updated than newspapers, easier to avoid the boring stories than with TV or radio. Search engines are wonderful things, too.

But would I give up my books and magazines for electronic format? All else being equal, would I prefer to have a paper issue of Prospect in my bag, or a PDA with it downloaded?

I suspect the former, partly out of habit, but also practicality. Two major considerations:
1. Page turning is less likely to result in RSI than scrolling.
2. I've never heard of anyone getting mugged at a bus stop because some creep thought he could make a bob or two from their reading material. As I do most of my reading whilst commuting, this is a fairly major consideration.

Given a perfectly ergonomic scrolling mechanism and a crime-free society, I suspect I'd go digital if only for the ability to have the equivalent of a few hundred books with me wherever I was. And to save trees. And so that I could perform a text-based search to look up that elusive quote rather than digging through piles of dusty paper.

[everild.livejournal.com]

my lack of a pass for Slipknot/Slayer next week

Which gig is this for? Are they playing the NEC? Graeme, Damo and I are off to see them at Hammersmith :-) Hope you get a pass anyway!

[kneeshooter]

NIA. I hope I do too.

Talking to the Slipknot people seems no-go; but I can try the Slayer people tomorrow...

[uberredfraggle.livejournal.com]

I have my ticket. Yay. b00mer is likely to see them(at least slipknot if not both) as they often turn up where she works(Madhouse studios) when they tour here. Really looking forward to it. I'm gonna have mad hair for it too. Rar. Look out for me if you can as my hair will only be like that for a day or so. In fact I'd love it if you could take a picture for me.

Mad, illiterate and socially dangerous

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

News - online.
Music - bit of both, I prefer to have an actual cd most of the time.
Books - real books, they smell like books and don't hurt my eyes.
Job applications etc. - online, I can't write by hand neatly but I can type.

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

I generally prefer paper media because they aren't also a light source. I tend to automatically scan-read anything on a monitor.

Online news is useful for looking through archives, at least, if you don't have to pay. TV news is lazy and therefore handy, but I prefer the non-24 hour variety. Newspapers are best for decent information. I don't think I would ever read a book online, it would drive me insane, but I have used it for finding poems and other shorter stuff (essays and journal articles for example).

[mimeticgel.livejournal.com]

I think that web publishing offers one more channel for information.

For work related things I insist on electronic media as paper gets ignored and is too heavy to lug about. I have the last 9 years of my activities on my laptop.

For recreation you can’t beat paper, be that a good book, magazines in the loo or poring over a paper (which I found myself doing this weekend for the first time in many many years).

I have also have a wireless PDA so could surf the web from the loo, armchair etc.. but I find the format a little constraining. I did use it on holiday once for MSN email etc.., as the boarding house I was in had an open wireless network :)

I think as far as the web goes then the search engine if probably the make or break aspect, being able to filter the good, the bad and the absurd!