Broadcasting Brain

A couple of months later than planned, I finally have sent out my first issue of my E-Mail newsletter to my mailing list.  It’s a very simple format, no graphics, etc. newsletter talking about past, present and future of my content creation work.

The newsletter is called Thought Radiation and it will probably come out once per month.  You’ll get to hear about things before they’ll happen on blog or otherwise.

If you had already signed up for my mailing list, then don’t worry, a copy of the newsletter is on the way.

If you’d like to be included on the mailing list, just drop me a line at contact@broadcasting-brain.com and I’ll gladly include you on this list so you can receive the first issue plus all upcoming newsletters and stuff.

Cheers!

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the topics of yesterday’s blog post, where I fretted about actions and reactions, and a whole bunch of other dichotemies. In the end, however, the thing that bothered me the most was from one of tech blogger Corvida’s recent posts:

Disappointments

To the people who agree with this bulls*** that [Loren Feldman's] doing, I feel sorry for you. However, I feel even worse for those that won’t take a stand against him. I’m disappointed with some parts of the tech community that have let him get this far [by publishing potentially offensive videos] let alone this popular without saying something intelligent to this moron to stop his progress thus far. It’s making me feel some sort of way about the tech community that sits in silence rather than speaking out because of fear. It’s saddening and disappointing on so many levels.

The thing I don’t like about this paragraph is that it creates a dichotomy (or trichotomy, I suppose):

1. The people who chose to speak out against things that they find offensive
2. The people who don’t find these things offensive, whether or not they chose to speak up
3. The people who find these things offensive but are afraid to speak up.

Are these the only scenarios? Or is there a fourth:

4. The people who find these things offensive, but are practical or pragmatic enough to realize that best way to quiet some people is to ignore them.

Is group 4 brave? Afraid? Insensitive? Pragmatic? Callous? Smart? Ignorant? I guess that’s open to interpretation. Maybe 3 and 4 can coexist.

But here’s another thought to consider: where does it end? Are we now obligated to call out every person who makes objectionable material? Do we just focus on those people who criticize our own religion, ethnic groups, orientation, economic class, gender, or nationality? Do we take on the battles for those groups who are disadvantaged but that we don’t belong to? Do we take on some or all?

Personally, I’m just not geared up for that. I would not know where to draw the lines.

I will settle for trying to be civil and respectful towards the people that I encounter. Even that can be a challenge on some days. But it’s something within my power and sphere of influence. Otherwise, I can only handle those situations of which I have a good, detailed knowledge of the facts on all sides. It’s just too easy to make a mistake.

Sorry, readers, but that’s the way I see it. I mean no offense to anyone, especially Corvida, who followed her heart and logic and did what she thought was right in a given situation. But, again, where do we draw the lines?

EDIT:  post title changed to make more sense….

I’ve been reading some stuff during the past day that, while disturbing me, is provoking some thought.

I’m thinking a lot about poles, extremes, dichotomies, and dilemmas.

Things like:

• Digital (yes/no, 0/1, on/off) vs. analog
• Freedom of speech vs. communication within defined boundaries
• Prejudice vs. respect
• Anger vs. empathy
• Talking vs. listening
• Humor/satire vs. cruelty
• Love vs. hate
• Principles vs. situations
• Groups vs. individuals
• Trolls vs. patriots
• Laws vs. mores
• Inclusion vs. exclusion
• Logic vs. emotion
• Reality vs. illusion
• Surface vs. inside
• Taste vs. bluntness
• And, somewhere, common sense vs. human nature

Do all of the big questions only have two answers? Or are there other solutions?

There is one world and one main public Web that binds it. We all live, work, and play here.

Is there one right, appropriate solution when people publish content that other people find offensive?

I don’t know. But if we judge people solely by what we see, then some might think that I really do have blue skin and a green glowing, exposed brain. My avatar does, I don’t. But that’s what most people see.

I’m not the most community oriented person, but I worry when strong feelings work to separate its members.

Note: these are the writings that have prompted these thoughts:

Adding Fuel To The Fire of Racism

A FriendFeed thread related to the above

Loren Feldman, The New Yorker, and Social Media Evil

FriendFeed thread related to the above

Thinking About The Negatives

Another FriendFeed thread about learning about real life society

Rob Diana has been picking up the blog ranking riff at Regular Geek in this post.  He’s got some very good points, you should check out his post.

BTW, in case you didn’t notice in yesterday’s blog comments, there is now a website called Rookiememe.com (I notice that someone bought and registered the domain name yesterday so… you’re welcome.)

There’s a team of people who were working on something similar to what I described in my semi-satirical post about a fictional Rookiememe, so they’re on to something and more power to them.

I tell ya, is this Broadcasting Brain blog full of good ideas or what?

Anyway, I think this discussion about how we discover the blogs of the “long tail” of blogging is worthwhile.  What do you think?

In an attempt to lower a potential barrier to communication, I’ve done away with the Contact form on my Contact page.

If you ever want to get in touch with me by E-Mail, just drop me a line at contact@broadcasting-brain.com.

As well, I frequently check out my Twitter account.

It’s the 21st century, why not make it a bit easier to get in touch?

I can even give you some blog ideas.

I think we’ve all been looking in the wrong places for the best and coolest new web app or web service.

Those of us who fear the lingering influence of the Techmeme, RSSMeme, Google Sharing, Digg, Techcrunch, etc. effects are looking for new ideas, fresh content, and wanting to discover the best new content out there.

In the interest of smashing the walls of the virtual echo chamber, I think it’s time for a brand new app. It’s time to throw out the old standards and really, really try something new.

Enter: Rookiememe

Rookiememe will be a simple but effective Web app that is focused on finding new, fresh ideas by looking for… new and fresh blogs.

Rookiememe will have the following general characteristics:

In order to qualify for a spot on Rookiememe, you:

1. Must have a domain less than two months old, preferably buried in the Google “sandbox” (the one that’s not supposed to exist)
2. Must never have been linked to
3. As per the above, it must have a Technorati rating of zero.
4. It must not link out to anything that’s been on Techmeme within the past month
5. It must be written in proper English and not obviously be culled together to sell GoogleAds or other online advertising
6. In fact, it can’t be allowed to have any advertising on it at all

And that’s just the start. Just imagine how new and different this content will be!

OH, and it would not have a leaderboard, because anything that becomes popular will immediately be removed from Rookiememe.

What do you think? Is this a potential goldmine or what?

Is it all smoke and mirrors or is there any substance to it after all? Or are there just a bunch of hucksters out there trying to make a few bucks off naive people who want to get ahead in life? Is social media just next iteration in hucksterism and pyramid style marketing scams? Or is it something more?

Greg Davies, aka CGT2099 of social news fame, wrote a heated, yet insightful post critiquing the use of the phrase “social media”. As you may recall in last week’s Q&A post, Greg basically said that it’s just the Internet; social media is just a buzzword.

Greg aims pretty clearly at a key constituency who he blames for the hype behind social media:

The individuals I am talking about are those who claim they are knowledgeable about Social Media. It is the biggest con of the 21st century, folks: they create a buzz word, convince you that it exists, persuade you that you and/or your business needs it, and then convinces every person that they are so competent in the area that you can afford to pay them lots of cash to be your “Social Media Consultant”.

You know, he’s got a good point, although I do think he’s generalizing a bit. Greg’s not bashing the medium as a whole, though. He acknowledges that there are some people using the new tools smartly and effectively. However, he does spew a fair amount of bile towards people in the “make money online” and blog monetization segments of the world.

Whether or not you agree with his article, I think Greg brings up some excellent points and serves to put a bit of a reality check in place. If you’re new to social media and you have dreams of becoming rich and famous, or you know someone who is, I’d recommend that they read Greg’s article just to get some perspective. You don’t have to agree with him, but you should at least consider what he’s saying.

The Idea Injection Method version of this post:

• I think many people are too busy/too lazy to read any document of 1000 words or more in length that uses words of more than two syllables.
• Instead, we look for extremely simple, direct writing, embellished with striking formatting, to quickly grasp short, simple ideas.
• This is just like being injected with a fast-acting drug to achieve instant results.
• We dismiss complex, detailed writing as unnecessary/too difficult/worthless.
• Critical thinking skills are becoming weaker.
• We risk missing out on important learnings by depending on quick-acting injections of knowledge.
• Take time to read and reflect on what you are reading. You may learn something valuable.

The “old school” version of this post: Read the rest of this entry »

Thirty years ago a multimedia sensation was unleashed on the world. I’m firmly convinced that I was one of the first people in North America to ever hear about The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the first novel in the series of novels, and multimedia sensation, that launched the career of British writer Douglas Adams into the stratosphere. The thing is, I didn’t discover it in book form – I heard it on the radio. That’s also when I discovered my favorite Eagles song. There was a kind of magic in that discovery that you don’t seem to find those days.

Many people have experienced H2G2 (a popular abbreviation for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series) through the novels (a “trilogy in five parts”), album recordings, a BBC TV adaptation, computer games, comic books, and even the 2005 movie adaptation. What a lot of people might not realize, however, is that H2G2 was originally released as a BBC Radio comedy program 30 years ago (yes, 30 years!) Read the rest of this entry »

In the face of all of the navel-gazing drama and headlines from the past few days, how’s a little guy to compete, even if he does have a green glowing brain?

Enter the following:

Jason Calacanis is giving up blogging (or so he says) Read the rest of this entry »