T Campbell's Blog
Writer of Penny and Aggie, Fans (also called Faans), Rip & Teri, Search Engine Funnies and A History of Webcomics. Experienced webcomics editor, currently seeking full-time work and working on strange and interesting new things...Saturday, January 21, 2006
The Daily You.
Today's Word Spy cites "egocasting," one of my big worries about media in the digital age. Egocasting is, essentially, hand-crafting a smorgasbord of media to encourage your current tastes instead of going out and finding new things. It's a form of intellectual laziness, and while you don't need technology to ONLY read detective novels and nothing else, tech makes it easier to FEEL like you're getting a wide variety of perspectives when you're actually just patting yourself on the back for already knowing everything.
I recognize this habit in myself (not least because this blog obsessively tracks almost any mention of my name elsewhere on the Web, time I could be using to finish reading the Koran and the Dhammapada-- hey, I'm being quoted in Italian! OMG!)
This is my big problem with the political blogosphere-- liberal and conservative. I'm a liberal, so clearly I have no time for Little Green Footballs except to find out what "those idiots think" (and no, I'm not going to link them). But sticking to the liberal blogs left me completely unprepared for the 2004 U.S. election results. I was convinced, CONVINCED, that the pollsters' methods were outmoded and that John Kerry was going to take this country back by a 60% majority, at least. Because, you know, EVERYONE I LISTENED TO believed that. Since then I've switched to The Daily Show, which at least invites a conservative guest more than once in a blue moon. Props to Sore Thumbs and Winger for at least TRYING to reinvent the political cartoon from a non-liberal, non-conservative perspective.
This is the kind of thinking that gets me as I read The Assassin's Gate. It's a pretty thorough account of how we got into Iraq, filled with names I was barely aware of and exploding certain myths that had crept up in my own thinking about the subject. I try not to place too much trust in any one work, but I'm certainly better-informed for reading this one... and I doubt I would have picked it up if it hadn't been listed as one of the ten best of the year.
Which brings me to the ongoing awards ceremony debate. Kristofer Straub has skillfully poked at some of the hubris of your standard award ceremony, but I think lurking in his illogical extreme is a rational argument: awards do matter, because often they are the incentive that certain people need to try new things. (I probably wouldn't have gotten off my duff and gone to see Brokeback Mountain without the hoopla. It was worth it.)
I'm a bit preoccupied with search-- with matching comics to readers as closely as possible. And one of the big problems with search is that searchers are often seekers of we know not what. If the WCCAs manage to force a few readers to read a comic they wouldn't have considered otherwise, and if the comic goes on to delight and enrich them, then they have performed a service.
Anything that encourages us to stand outside ourselves for a few minutes is a useful counterweight. Because we spend too much time navel-gazing as it is. We're all in this world together and should spend more time exploring one another.
In my humble and correct opinion, anyway.
I recognize this habit in myself (not least because this blog obsessively tracks almost any mention of my name elsewhere on the Web, time I could be using to finish reading the Koran and the Dhammapada-- hey, I'm being quoted in Italian! OMG!)
This is my big problem with the political blogosphere-- liberal and conservative. I'm a liberal, so clearly I have no time for Little Green Footballs except to find out what "those idiots think" (and no, I'm not going to link them). But sticking to the liberal blogs left me completely unprepared for the 2004 U.S. election results. I was convinced, CONVINCED, that the pollsters' methods were outmoded and that John Kerry was going to take this country back by a 60% majority, at least. Because, you know, EVERYONE I LISTENED TO believed that. Since then I've switched to The Daily Show, which at least invites a conservative guest more than once in a blue moon. Props to Sore Thumbs and Winger for at least TRYING to reinvent the political cartoon from a non-liberal, non-conservative perspective.
This is the kind of thinking that gets me as I read The Assassin's Gate. It's a pretty thorough account of how we got into Iraq, filled with names I was barely aware of and exploding certain myths that had crept up in my own thinking about the subject. I try not to place too much trust in any one work, but I'm certainly better-informed for reading this one... and I doubt I would have picked it up if it hadn't been listed as one of the ten best of the year.
Which brings me to the ongoing awards ceremony debate. Kristofer Straub has skillfully poked at some of the hubris of your standard award ceremony, but I think lurking in his illogical extreme is a rational argument: awards do matter, because often they are the incentive that certain people need to try new things. (I probably wouldn't have gotten off my duff and gone to see Brokeback Mountain without the hoopla. It was worth it.)
I'm a bit preoccupied with search-- with matching comics to readers as closely as possible. And one of the big problems with search is that searchers are often seekers of we know not what. If the WCCAs manage to force a few readers to read a comic they wouldn't have considered otherwise, and if the comic goes on to delight and enrich them, then they have performed a service.
Anything that encourages us to stand outside ourselves for a few minutes is a useful counterweight. Because we spend too much time navel-gazing as it is. We're all in this world together and should spend more time exploring one another.
In my humble and correct opinion, anyway.
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We're all in this world together and should spend more time exploring one another.
Get the lube, kids! It's webcomic orgy time! YEEE-HAAAW!
Get the lube, kids! It's webcomic orgy time! YEEE-HAAAW!
Within the past couple of years, I've been convinced that egocasting is the single greatest threat to the United States.
I'm glad to see there's a word for it. That means I can make a snappy protest chant or something.
I'm glad to see there's a word for it. That means I can make a snappy protest chant or something.
Seriously though, I used to know "egocasting" as "running a website/blog"
Why do you kids gotta keep renaming things like this?
Why do you kids gotta keep renaming things like this?
As someone who consumes a vast amount of information, here is how I cope.
1. Use Mozilla Firefox and its wonderful RSS feature. I can't read every blog and news site on the planet, but I can get an idea of what they are offering by reading the headlines of the feeds.
2. I read a pretty wide selection of political blogs. Again, most of the decent ones offer RSS. Most good news or political blogs have great links. It's a great way to find new sites.
3. I set aside 1 hour each day, usually in the evening, to do nothing but scan news stories.
4. Google Alerts - A massive time saver. For info that I gotta have ASAP, nothing beats it. I use it only for topics I would have to use Google itself to scan for, like what is happening with a favorite artist, author, or celebrity.
5. My biggest time saver is del.icio.us. Not just because I can take my internet bookmarks anywhere, but because I can group them together in nice clusters for reading. But most of all, if I pick a category, like graphic design, I can see what other people are looking at too.
6. Read the comments on blogs. It's where the real debate takes place. Provided it doesn't turn into a flame war, you can see the general public slug it out and offer both sides of the story.
1. Use Mozilla Firefox and its wonderful RSS feature. I can't read every blog and news site on the planet, but I can get an idea of what they are offering by reading the headlines of the feeds.
2. I read a pretty wide selection of political blogs. Again, most of the decent ones offer RSS. Most good news or political blogs have great links. It's a great way to find new sites.
3. I set aside 1 hour each day, usually in the evening, to do nothing but scan news stories.
4. Google Alerts - A massive time saver. For info that I gotta have ASAP, nothing beats it. I use it only for topics I would have to use Google itself to scan for, like what is happening with a favorite artist, author, or celebrity.
5. My biggest time saver is del.icio.us. Not just because I can take my internet bookmarks anywhere, but because I can group them together in nice clusters for reading. But most of all, if I pick a category, like graphic design, I can see what other people are looking at too.
6. Read the comments on blogs. It's where the real debate takes place. Provided it doesn't turn into a flame war, you can see the general public slug it out and offer both sides of the story.
Bill Watterson had pretty much the same worries about old-tyme dead tree magazines. But I can see how electric stuff makes the process easier.
But there's this to be said too: the Net can cut through some big walls in a way nothing could before. There was never a time when we could so easily chat and bitch and befriend across huge stretches of geography. And that's important because we still have our talent for seeing other countries as disturbing alien worlds full of disturbing aliens. I think the popular idea of America over here is as scary as it's ever been. Any technology and set of interests that brings us into human contact across borders can help take some of those toxins out of circulation. There are big limits, of course; the people brought together are those with common languages, spare time and access to the net. All the same, I think we've got some cool new weapons against old demons here.
But there's this to be said too: the Net can cut through some big walls in a way nothing could before. There was never a time when we could so easily chat and bitch and befriend across huge stretches of geography. And that's important because we still have our talent for seeing other countries as disturbing alien worlds full of disturbing aliens. I think the popular idea of America over here is as scary as it's ever been. Any technology and set of interests that brings us into human contact across borders can help take some of those toxins out of circulation. There are big limits, of course; the people brought together are those with common languages, spare time and access to the net. All the same, I think we've got some cool new weapons against old demons here.
Ok. Labels are getting ridiculous now. I'm an egocaster (nowhere near correct usage of the word "cast," but whatever) because I watch what I like. Wow. Sounds to me like there is someone who thinks they are so sophisticated because they watch CNN and read the New York Times, even though they live in North Dakota. Come on, folks. Egocasting has such a negative connotation to it. When I first heard the term, I though it was someone who only puts out material about themselves using the Web 2.0/RSS style delivery system. Think a Podcast talking about how great you are, or a videoblog of home movies about yourself. Which is essentially what every celebrity does when they sign up for a press conference about how their cat is sick, or they just adopted a Hibiscus. But now we have a term for people who only like to watch what entertains them, and of course now we’re, and I quote, “actually just patting yourself on the back for already knowing everything.”
This opinion annoys me and angers me. I’m still trying to figure out why. Maybe it’s because someone is pigeonholing a medium that I participate in and love. Maybe because it’s someone pointing out human nature? Or maybe because it’s true? I don’t know for sure. I think I might know. It sounds like someone is trying to write off the Bohemian Revolution of our generation and her hand crafted media, by labeling it as something cheap and immature. Or maybe just her viewers? But here’s the thing, people do that with TV, and books, and movies. That’s human nature. Why do you think there is a Weather Channel, various news channels, book sections, newspapers, radio stations, Internet directories, podcast, vidcasts, blog, etc. People have certain desires for entertainment. Trying new things leads to finding crappy things, but also great things. Hollywood has been churning out the same drivel for years, yet ‘casts are the catalyst? And just because I don’t want to try a knitting show because I like tech, or webcomics, or comedy, or drama makes me “intellectually lazy?” No. It means I’ve found what I like. I do believe that people should try new shows, but new genres? That’s asking a lot. But they might find something that is truly life changing. But I think labeling is dangerous, and irresponsible.
Maybe I just don’t like the word. Casting is a word too easily applied. I guess any webcomic that has an RSS feed is a Comiccast, isn’t it?
Here's an idea. Lets just stop trying to label each other, and enjoy what we like.
This opinion annoys me and angers me. I’m still trying to figure out why. Maybe it’s because someone is pigeonholing a medium that I participate in and love. Maybe because it’s someone pointing out human nature? Or maybe because it’s true? I don’t know for sure. I think I might know. It sounds like someone is trying to write off the Bohemian Revolution of our generation and her hand crafted media, by labeling it as something cheap and immature. Or maybe just her viewers? But here’s the thing, people do that with TV, and books, and movies. That’s human nature. Why do you think there is a Weather Channel, various news channels, book sections, newspapers, radio stations, Internet directories, podcast, vidcasts, blog, etc. People have certain desires for entertainment. Trying new things leads to finding crappy things, but also great things. Hollywood has been churning out the same drivel for years, yet ‘casts are the catalyst? And just because I don’t want to try a knitting show because I like tech, or webcomics, or comedy, or drama makes me “intellectually lazy?” No. It means I’ve found what I like. I do believe that people should try new shows, but new genres? That’s asking a lot. But they might find something that is truly life changing. But I think labeling is dangerous, and irresponsible.
Maybe I just don’t like the word. Casting is a word too easily applied. I guess any webcomic that has an RSS feed is a Comiccast, isn’t it?
Here's an idea. Lets just stop trying to label each other, and enjoy what we like.
Rich, you seem a bit conflicted about the matter yourself. Let's just say that there's a point at which going after old favorites is perfectly fine and a point at which it's a little too introverted, and I'm warning against letting yourself reach point #2.
Really was the movie really worth the hoopla?
Ahem. This is really about the Asassin's Gate though. I'm surprised you read a book telling you something new and eye opening about Iraq.
That sounds mean.
I guess I want to know what the book is about and what exactly changed in your head or whatever. Much like BBM testimonials make me think "okay it might be a good movie and not just "matter and energy will end if this didn't exist" film. Maybe even a fresh and engaging story" I wonder if this book will be something besides "they planned it. All of it. And now they'll make all the women barefoot and preggers. and are stealing souls of naked iraqi children to transmute into obese felines"-style.
Because it seems even with proper criticism of the Administration people can't keep from screaming off the deep end. And I know you already were not hot on the war. So what could this book tell you and make you change/think differently.
As for Kerry...I just kinda didn't think anything would work with Bush or him. Rock the Vote and the Farenheit 9/11 hoopla was...well it certainly made some celebs employed.
Ahem. This is really about the Asassin's Gate though. I'm surprised you read a book telling you something new and eye opening about Iraq.
That sounds mean.
I guess I want to know what the book is about and what exactly changed in your head or whatever. Much like BBM testimonials make me think "okay it might be a good movie and not just "matter and energy will end if this didn't exist" film. Maybe even a fresh and engaging story" I wonder if this book will be something besides "they planned it. All of it. And now they'll make all the women barefoot and preggers. and are stealing souls of naked iraqi children to transmute into obese felines"-style.
Because it seems even with proper criticism of the Administration people can't keep from screaming off the deep end. And I know you already were not hot on the war. So what could this book tell you and make you change/think differently.
As for Kerry...I just kinda didn't think anything would work with Bush or him. Rock the Vote and the Farenheit 9/11 hoopla was...well it certainly made some celebs employed.
Concerning the WCCA... rather than have only critics that don't have webcomics be the nominating force, why not have any webcomic critic be able to nominate for it... but if they have a webcomic, their comic is automatically disqualified. (Or in other words, Eric Burns could nominate comics for it, but Gossamer Commons and John Stark would be disqualified. Because his word is worthwhile even if he's a cartoonist/writer as well.)
Rob H.
Rob H.
People sitting in judgement of their peers is good enough for the judicial system. This doesnt need to be changed.
The only problem WCCA has right now is a bunch of prople who have specific view of how webcomics should be (them on top) and the dopes who follow them around hoping for links.
The only problem WCCA has right now is a bunch of prople who have specific view of how webcomics should be (them on top) and the dopes who follow them around hoping for links.
I know I'm posting late here, but I'm playing catch-up and something confuses me. You don't read the Daily Kos... because you're a liberal? Isn't it the biggest liberal blog in existence?
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