Posts Tagged ‘ clay shirky ’

Learn How to Brag Without Sounding Like a Jerk

September 24, 2010

Believe it or not, self promotion is not something I do well. It is brought home to me regularly when I’m writing monthly reports in the office or when someone asks me for my bio for a speaking gig. A couple of months ago I tweeted that I needed help with this and several people replied that they did too. I am by no means done in my quest but I thought I’d share what I’ve found so far. I didn’t find much online so I turned to books. My library didn’t have anything specifically about self promotions so I turned to the career books thinking there had to at least be a chapter in each. The first one I picked up at my library as a book on CD was Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. The book is aimed at an audience slightly younger than me, probably someone just starting out in their career. But I figure it’s never to late to teach an old dog, or well, slightly older than young dog, new tricks. There is some good general career advise in this book and I would definitely recommend it. It let me to the second book, Brag!: The

Publishing is the New Literacy

July 14, 2010

By Bobbi Newman

In a recent piece at egdge.org Clay Shirky talks about the changes brought about by the internet and relates them to historical events. To make a historical analogy with the last major increase in the written word, you could earn a living in 1500 simply by knowing how to read and write. The spread of those abilities in the subsequent century had the curious property of making literacy both more essential and less professional; literacy became critical at the same time as the scribes lost their jobs. It is our misfortune to live through the largest increase in expressive capability in the history of the human race, a misfortune because surplus always breaks more things than scarcity. The mere fact of being able to publish to a global audience is the new literacy, formerly valuable, now so widely available that you can’t make any money with the basic capability any more. I know that this line was tweeted a lot, but it seems that many people missed the point. He wasn’t saying publishing is a new literacy. He is comparing publishing to the historical aspect of being literate. He adds some clarification in an interview with James Mustich and Andrew Keen on

Even With the Sacred Printing Press, We Got Erotic Novels 150 Years Before We Got Scientific Journals.

July 6, 2010

By Bobbi Newman

Even With the Sacred Printing Press, We Got Erotic Novels 150 Years Before We Got Scientific Journals.

Clay Shirky talks about cognitive surplus in this Ted talk. Now it’s tempting to want to get the Ushahidis without the LOLcats, right, to get the serious stuff without the throwaway stuff. But media abundance never works that way. Freedom to experiment means freedom to experiment with anything. Even with the sacred printing press, we got erotic novels 150 years before we got scientific journals. I love this quote for several reasons. First, it amuses me that he points out that the printing press and writing word are not the hollowed institutions we librarians often like to think they are. Secondly, it’s about risk and innovation. Many of the things we take for granted in relations to the printing press didn’t come to be until 150 years after initial attempts at invention. Imagine if someone had decided it was a waste of time, or effort or made no difference or discouraged its use. Read the book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. I’ve bought it, but haven’t started it. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this

I’m not narcisitic, you’re eavesdropping

September 23, 2008

By Bobbi Newman

I’m not narcisitic, you’re eavesdropping

In many of the articles I read about the Social Web, especially Twitter, the author laments that they don’t care that I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch, or what I thought of the latest American Idol. I’ve long felt that these writers are missing the point and this week I came across two sources that articulate this better than I could have. The first is Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody, he makes the point that with new advances in technology people mistake broadcasting media (1 to many) for communications media (1to 1). New tools allow people to use broadcasting media for communication. He gives this example – if you read a blog of someone you don’t know and see that they got wasted last night and today when shopping for clothes you think what’s the point? Who cares? Yet if you went to a food court in a mall and eavesdropped on the same conversation it would be clear that you are the weird one. We’re so used to the old web that we think if we can read it, it’s targeted towards us and with the new Social Web this just don’t hold true

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Posts Tagged ‘ clay shirky ’

Learn How to Brag Without Sounding Like a Jerk

Publishing is the New Literacy

Even With the Sacred Printing Press, We Got Erotic Novels 150 Years Before We Got Scientific Journals.

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