Brian Lewis-Jones: March 2008 Archives

What am I going to do with all of these writing skills if I can't find a friggin' job?

With all this talk about stifled convergence, let's take a moment and examine the future journalistic career path:

Option A: news companies train journalists how to program innovative web features.
Option B: news companies train computer programmers how to read and write in plain English.

With a quick glance at craigslist, it's easy to see that writers aren't the preferred hire at news organizations anymore. Well, only if they know Flash, Ajax, Java, CSS, XML, MySQL and PHP.

So, where does that leave us in our education? Us journalists never had it this rough. We're hated, underpaid and overworked - but only when we can find a job opening.

I guess my college education has been a bit like the Iraq war; even after five years of fighting the system, the quagmire looms.

(A side note: although us writers have it rough, programmers totally have to work harder to stay with the game):

Where does that leave our copy-editing, story-finding, proof-checking, blog-wielding literary minds? Well, we have things that those computer jocks often don't: creativity, perspective and the innovation of old ideas.

So, here's an epiphany: use the Internet and combine other talents with clear thinking and concise writing. What would that mean for me? I think musicvideoblogging would do the trick.

Piano + guitar + trombone + a lyrical news topic + some funky video editing + the lonesome naner (for continuity).

If that dream job in journalism doesn't come along, this might be my only salvation to my journalism and music skills while I work full-time at the coffee shop. And what's more, it would utilize some spare time, good tunes, viral video and maybe - just maybe - a bit of news.

This blog post is a stub that requires the attention of experienced monkeys.

Editor's note: nerd-o-rific links displayed on this page are not endorsed by Brianpedia.

Mama told me never to talk to strangers with candy (caution: nerd alert #1). Still, these bizarros approach me every day: "Hey kid, want some knowledge?"

I'm all-ears for a tall tale, but I'd rather not take the moldy peanut butter and spread it all over the Intertoast. So when a whacked article ends up on Wikipedia, one of the site's editors marks it as such. While editors can be total nutjobs, they can also be keen professionals with first-hand experience.

Consider this reverie: In fifty years, I'll be a retired millionaire. When I travel to remote locations, I won't throw my money at a travel agent who tells me where to take my holiday.

Nope! I'll stick with Wikitravel, the Internet locale filled with strangers giving travel advice. I'd rather throw my money away at a dude or dudette who has visited my destination of choice rather than a travel agent who hasn't left the office since the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event (caution: nerd alert #2).

(Caution: nerd alerts #3, #4 and #5):

This travel wiki is one of several new Wikipedia variants. (Other honorable mentions: Wookieepedia, worst album covers and the Knight Rider wiki. And like lots ‘o wikis, experts (and nerds) contribute a good bulk of the info. (Citation needed.)

Editor's whammy: holy shit! That last link aims to RID of citations? Oi vei.

As with anything – yes, even news publications – people should be looking to the original sources for the most reliable facts. And if the original source adds to a wiki, hell, you could trust the wiki itself. In that respect, wikis are like happy little community blogs. But buyer beware – always verify with outside sources and never let the Internet slip you a rufi.

Andy Warhol's concept of "15 minutes of fame" is a bit deceiving for bloggers. Doesn't a good blog post deserve a lifetime of attention on the ‘net?

C'mon, Andy Warhol never could have imagined how the Internet would chop away at our 15 minutes of fame.
Painting: Andy Warhol. Illustrated by Brian Lewis-Jones

Even though a solid, original post technically lives forever, the sense of celebrity brought with a blog can prove fleeting. If a blog posted under a clever pseudonym gets 1000 Diggs, the blogger could be disappointed when the story gets quickly cycled through the site.

Internet-skimmers might glance at the post and steer away in a about a minute. Is this what Andy Warhol meant by 15 minutes of fame? (Perhaps a 15-minute YouTube video better fits the ticket).

Even through "standard," non-Internet media attention, this brief moment of popularity still doesn't live with a person forever. Memories come as quickly as they go – unless you're an ancient Egyptian, Greek, U.S. president or The Beatles, your chances of getting remembered for eons for merely making the blogging "A-list" remains slim.

But for the present moment – bloggers have to catch a niche and fill it to the brim with candy tasty posts if they want to get known. And unless the blogger keeps feeding the beast, the beast gets bored and munches on something else. This seems especially true in an ADD-prone Internet-clicking generation.

So, take AppleInsider for example: the bloggy news site is constantly updated with Apple technology leaks. As long as secrets of up-and-coming technology get posted to the site, users will keep returning. For up-and-coming blogs, initial popularity is harder to achieve, especially since fewer blog niches remain available every day.

Perhaps it'll take old-school advertising like leaflets and shouting on the street for new blogs to make it. Online ads and links to bigger blogs certainly bring more traffic to the kitchen table, but without an initial popularity boost, a web journal, perhaps one similar to my own, is just another Internet filler. What is good content if nobody gets to it?

Consider this analogy: West Berliners are smartphone users. East Berliners use desktop computers for their Internet. The Berlin Wall represents the digital divide. Armed guards symbolize the economy and Ronald Reagan represents Steve Jobs. Bear with me.

Proletariats are going to need sledge hammers to knock down this economic divide.
Photo illustration: Brian Lewis-Jones

Handheld technology has been around for a while, but the smartphone wasn't successfully implemented until a powerful public figure gave some incentive. Still, there are a lot of people who can't sneak past the armed economy for some digital freedom.

Sure, this smartphone technology will put people up to their ears in information (pun intended), thereby revolutionizing the news industry. But news isn't what makes these gadgets so appealing, no no no. The availability of practical information, like maps and weather, is the true beauty of these mobile devices.

But there are so many barriers to entry for smartphones that it's damn near impossible to get one. If the high price of the gadget doesn't slay you, the service plan might. A friend of mine excitedly bought an iPhone only to realize it would cost him $300 to cancel his Verizon cell phone plan for that of the iPhone's AT&T plan.

‘Course, this service plan snafu is no match for the technologically inclined: plenty of people have hacked their iPhones to work with their own network provider. It has been reported that almost 400,000 iPhones in China have been hacked to work with China Mobile (10 percent of iPhones in the world, at the time).

So until the service plan is more flexible, Wifi is widespread and smartphones are as cheap as a normal cell phone, the technology will remain a commodity for the people who want all the information all the time. Until then, there's a definite barrier that stands between smartphone users and Internet users – one that hopefully won't last decades.