Never the twain shall meet?

After jumping past some other stories and book ideas I came across a good short essay on Mark Twain, but also or more importantly, on writing and self insight

There is a fascination about writing, even for my waste-basket, which is bread & meat & almost whiskey to me—& I know it is the same with all our craft

Mark Twain

Sometimes you just have to do it because it needs to be done, more than for any hope or glimmer of recognition, readership or even impact. And if that drive takes you, then at least you are taking the steps forward, honing the skills, the craft and the willingness to create more and better work over time.

Twain did, even if the The Prince and the Pauper (amz) failed miserably in terms of economics, readership and tech according to the essay


Just do it.

And then do it again
And again

Make it or code it?

Fair overview piece from the Economist, on the webversion / extension of the Intelligent Life Magazine; Whats with Steampunk

A bit shallow on the analysis compared to what I recall from the print side, haven't read lately so it could have changed...
Would have live to read a bit more on the digital vs real angle, linker up to sites like boingboing and the Make direction. Steampunk is cyberpunk brought back to something you can (imagine / visualize) being able to create yourself. While cyberpunk gives you a bit of ressonance if you program, most webusers really don't. So steampunk mixes in the tangible rather than a complex and encompassing digital realm, whilst still retaining the flair of the fantastic.

steampunk is clearly not just a look, but an embrace of a nearly mythical era of mad science and weird contraptions

The visual style and the golden age (1920'ies careless or carefree...) has been used to great effect both for movies like Sherlock Holmes (pre-steam...) and games such as Bioshock.

Is it the feeling that everything was simpler, understandable yet still outside your control?
Sure you could fit together the pieces of a diving suit, but the dark waters were still scary. But now it is close to magic, packages flying at literally the speed of light around the world with thousands of servers, switches and cables involved in the simpelst act of wathcing a video or writing a text.

...and the sun has probably set behind the grey clouds...

Learning by doing?

Along the way, kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they’d unwittingly mastered Ohio’s required fifth-grade curriculum—from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing.

 The Creativity Crisis - Newsweek piece on the downward trend in the scores on the (E. Paul) Torrance test used to measure creativity


So what is the best way for kids to stay kids - in terms of asking questions, finding (their own) answers and running with it?

Do we need school programs that use the mechanics and tools, frameworks for creativity and learning in teams? Or does the problem arise as much in the years leading up to it? Kinder garden or playtime at home - is it the "old" tv and games are bad argument with a twist? 

And if so, can we expect to see a break from the trend (since the 90-ies, downward) now with the digital world rapidly expanding both the access to information and  opportunities for expression? Are we heading into the shallows or expending our surplus of generosity? (Amazon links)




On a small aside - I find it rather annoying that Clay Shirkys book is not available on the Kindle in Europe - the Penguin site has a digital version for £20, while the US hardcover is retailing at $17 and the previous book in paperback is at $10 - guess I'll stick with the Shallows for now thank you very much

News draft

Reflections of a Newsosaur: A tale of two very different journalism start-ups:

Crovitz "late 1990s, one-year WSJ.com sub. cost $49, the incremental cost to serve a new subscriber was $8, By 2006, the price was $99 while the cost had dropped to 85 cents."

Publish2 - Karp, the venture’s CEO:
"Google and others have taken over distribution. And newspapers are at the tail end, which is the least profitable.”
“Collecting links should be a work product, Newsrooms can use and publish those links instead of throwing away that research.”

combine those two views with
"The Next Twitter or Facebook is the Open Web" a blog post from micropersuasion

"Marketers need to really embrace the fact that it's peers and their data, rather than brand, that will become the primary way we make decisions."

Reccomendations first from your friends, then from their network, then from everybody?
circles of trust, weight and degree of match (people like you thought this was a 4.1 - ref. netflix challenge - see older post)

what does that amount to for news?
journalists we trust?
editors as stars?
the return of the personal anchor?
blogs and gateways - and using a cross section to get our overall picture?

???


??

?


Getting Money from Readers Who Won't Pay for Online News

"I'm sorry, but on the Web -- with 15 years of free news already in the bag -- the reality is that it's not worth much coming from most non-niche daily newspapers. So learn to sell something else to support the journalism."

Membership - because it is worth it... think crm, think overall relationship and insight, added value for members and for 'sponsors' (aka advertisers giving something more as member benefits)

Then, to finish off - head over to brogan for some thoughts on 'The Next Media Company' - nothing less... way general, way first draft (at least it was back then), but good list to get the mind moving in new directions and challenge the assumptions we currently hold.

muse

want gives inspiration?
a picture?
a song?
a sound?

the view out the window
a cup of latte
an article

curling up on the sofa with a book

or just a random flash in the back of the mind?





(initially an old draft, not sure why it never made it - but here it is - cleaning out the closets!)

Together alone - westpoint commencement speech

This little musing was triggered by reading the piece called Solitude and Leadership, which according to the page from American Scholar was initially given as a commencement speech at the army academy, Westpoint

By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise. And often even that idea doesn’t turn out to be very good. I need time to think about it, too, to make mistakes and recognize them, to make false starts and correct them, to outlast my impulses, to defeat my desire to declare the job done and move on to the next thing.

(full)

The quotes are out of order, but it semmed fitting to start of with the idea that fits a sort of theme here lately, how do we match inspiration, exploration and development? What is it that triggers those great ideas at times, but leaves us staring blankly into space at others?

Sometimes the very act of getting started triggers more ideas, in a stream of consciousness kind of way, rambling along on slight tangents in the vicinity of the issue or the solution. This is actually one of the main points in Art of War (yes, finished it, will re-read in a month or so, it was that good, quick and inspirational) - the muse comes when you actually do work, not when you sit around thinking about it or complaining about all that has to be done.

We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them

(full)


And the second points brings us right into the world and ideas of Linchpin - and also one of my personal regular quotes; "life is to good in Norway, we don'thave to make tough choices". The main point being that it is adversity that shows us our true limits, that expands the horizons and makes us thinking the really new thoughts. And most of all, it is the same list for something more that makes a few of us go the extra mile, put in the effort and push forwards.

One of the most rewarding learning experiences from basic officers training was (in hindsight, then and there it really sucked) the all night patrol, in the winter, with set snow, snowshoes, a heavy Pulk to be pulled up and over a ridge. Going in there was no way I would have belived we could get it done.half way up there was no way I could see that we would make it to the top, never mind carrying on along and back down. But we did it, because when you really have to, there is so much more energy and determination driving you onwards than when you are sitting quite comfortably on the couch considering headong out for a walk. Yes we can, as someone said a short while ago.

If you never face true challenges, you go a bit soft, and if you are constantly rewarded for staying within the lines you forget how to explore. Does it mean the end of the world? Probably not, but it might mean the end of the improvements we are acustomed to, and most certainly it will mean a shift in where ideas come to life (which might over time also change the economic powerbase)

- ...and the sun wants to come out after a rainy night...

Kindled bookshelf

Seriously impressed with the latest update for the kindle.amazon page - now it offers not only a full collection of amazon books you have bought (pr added to the cart or wishlist), but also flashcards for reviewing books or quotes on a regular and decreasing schedule

This is the 1220th most highlighted book on Kindle - links to lists for comparison, taking interaction a few steps beyond just buying and rating - can just imagime the next few iterations of the reccomendation engine, "people who highlighted this also bought this, and they especially likes the third chapter on....

Now to block off some time to go over the 511 books suddenly in my collection!

Remember that book, the feeling, the ideas?

n Defense of the Memory Theater, Solid and interesting piece thanks to arts and lettere daily, in itself a great break from the normal rss streamlined focus or cluttered pages.

Books are more than just the content, they are an experience, reflecting both the writer and most importantly the reader and the corcumstances.
That is one of the things that Impersonally found quite good about iBooks, the bookshelf interface with the ability to trigger ideas and memories just from the covers. The latest kindle update (on the actual kindle) with collections goes a long way towards the same increased value of the books over time. And the online annotation site for kindle is also quite nifty - almost a hidden secret... And it also seems to be taking a fe w steps in terms of ease of use and design.

As I look over my own shelf, I see my life pass before my eyes. The memories grafted onto each volume become stirred and awakened by a glance at the spine, which presents itself to be touched, opened, and explored. Without the bookshelf’s landscape to turn to, that manifest remainder from a lifetime of reading, how would one think? What would one write?

So keep the improvements coming, and maybe i'll even get around to "digitizimg" my offline library, care of services like goodreads - might be fun to contrast and compare

iMagazine, iVideo or iPaper?

Playing around with the iPad it is fun to read and see a lot of different experiments and approaches to presenting content, both in terms of packages, user interaction models and of course payment models ranging from totally free, via ad supported to direct paid or subscription.

The Wired app was a break-out hit in its first incarnation - and judging from the Adobe promo video, there is still a ways to go within their planned scope. And while it has taken a bit of flack for being mainly an early 90-ies style interacitve cd-rom style solution it is a good read. My major gripe is the lack of clear indication of reading direction (ie is there more content down below, or should I swipe sideways to move forward - can't be to hard to add in a couple of options for this; 1. default - as now, 2. full - swipe sideways takes next page no matter what, 3. fallback - swipe down takes next if no content, sideways still skips)

Naturally as a long time reader of Wired I'm a bit biased, but the idea that magazines in general might be better suited for taking advantage of the tablet style solutions is interesting none the less. They already have a modest to long cycle with their readers. They have a lot of focus on flexible fullpage and multi page layouts. And the content generally is intended to stand on its own.

At least that seems true in terms of dedicated apps - while the "webapps" space seems ideally suited to more normal news-oriented organizations, where having direct access, instant updates and pretty much full control over both content and technology is an asset. Especially with frameworks like Sencha Touch (or iUI) taking a bit of the "grunt work", the road to an extended experience seems feasible.

- ...and the sun might break through the clouds any moment ...

Dont just do it, own it

Great post by seth a few days ago, on taking things to the next level in terms of projects

Committing to not simply managing the process, but actually owning the results, running instead of reporting from the sidelines.

There is something to be said for taking the metaphorical bull bythe horns, wrest control of something that just seems to thunder along on its own and actively shape it info a usefull outcome. And this afternoon just before leaving the office I finally git around to preparing for just that - wirting up two project overviews in terms of how I'd like to see them go - which probably means that I will in fact have to actively run them to a certain degree... But come xmas time that will probably make me more content overall

I'm "blaming" parts of this on inchpin, it is an inspirational read, and i'm now spending a bit of time with War of Art as mentioned. Just finished part two, so onwards and upwards. Seems like the summertime is a good time for reading this year, with a bit of a lower speed at work there is energy left over for reflection aswell.
- ...and the sun beta a short break as well today, showers in the afternon...