New Media is older than you think - Part 1

The Internet is delusional. More precisely, people who see it as something other than a shill for corporate interests are delusional. I suppose that means I'm raining on somebody's parade but then again, I've never thought Felicia Day was that big of a deal. The promise of "New Media" was broken the day the term was coined.

So it should be no surprise when you suddenly find your creative expression cut short by some mysterious mechanism that's denied your 15 minutes of fame.

 I've watched a lot of misty eyed podcast pundits proclaiming the impending doom of the "old" media model and the rise of the "New Media" model. They postulate on how all those silly old men in their corporate towers are powerless to prevent the tidal wave of content in this brave new media world. Surely the tables are turning and the rise of entertainment by mob rule will conquer the day.

They fondly recall short lived television shows that to their minds were unfairly struck down only to find rebirth in a new medium. A feat not possible without the promise of the... Internet!

 I guess they forgot about that whole thing with VCR's and DVD box sets. Oh yeah, and the fact that 90% of television programming couldn't draw 1000 views in a YouTube channel anyway. Worse, YouTube probably wouldn't let them monetize it due to some BS about "commercial use rights".
What they fail to mention is that the "rebirth" found its conception with an sympathetic ear who had control of the content. And why not, they had nothing to lose by offering up these "lost gems" on the web. All the better if they could squeeze a few more bucks out that old crap too.

So it goes with most of the New Media superstars as well. Most of whom started with more than just a laptop and a webcam.

People like to point to podcasting and YouTube as the best examples of new media. Look behind the curtains of the most popular "visionary" media offerings, however, and you find a deep bench of old media. 

Take the example of Leo Laporte's TWIT netcast (podcast) network. Built on decades of broadcast experience on radio and television as America's favorite tech pundit, Laporte's TWIT it is the wet dream of anyone with a YouTube channel. With over 20 shows built around technology related topics from social media to law it's frequently held up as the example of successful "New Media."

The part that gets glossed over is that without Laporte's "Old Media" gravitas and a few handpicked hosts from his TechTV days, TWIT would be just another hobbyist channel on YouTube. Not surprisingly, the collective TWIT resume is heavy in traditional media as well as technology luminaries like Steve Gibson, Bob Heil and Alex Lindsay. Not exactly the kind of talent easily accessible to the average podcaster trying to make their way in the world.

There's nothing wrong with leveraging your strengths but you can't hold TWIT up as a pure example of New Media precisely because of them. It's existence is entirely reliant on leveraging old media concepts if not its on-air personalities.

I mean, really now, TWIT would literally have to start airing "This week in gym socks" and "The Social Terrorist Today" to fail with their talent lineup.

While tightly controlled, TWIT still relies on advertising and audience metrics for a revenue stream. Programming that doesn't meet a revenue threshold no matter how popular can find itself cancelled, which isn't exactly a new idea. We're still being asked to vote with our wallets instead of our interests. Even popular hosts organically grown from this "New Media" that run afoul of "old media" hierarchies can quickly find themselves out on the cold.

Perhaps the most vivid example was the ousting of a rising star on the TWIT network in 2011. Erik Lanigan came fresh out of college and worked for TWIT as an editor before beginning the rise to the ranks of a show host after Laporte recognized his talent. Toward the end he gained a loyal following and was reportedly being groomed to substitute for Laporte on his weekend "Tech Guy" syndicated radio show.

From available information Lanigan wasn't receiving adequate support for his fledgling overnight show not to mention a paycheck in general. It culminated in a chat conversation where he admitted as much. Viewers of the live broadcast were none the wiser, however, with even Laporte struggling to find anything derogatory in the show's recorded video. It appears Lanigans sin, was to admit that he wasn't being fairly treated by TWIT management to chatroom friends.

Laporte's commentary on the subject was probably the most emblematic of old media icons when in response to questions about Lanigan's firing he said, "I had to kiss a lot of butt in the first 20 years, that's why I'm here...You kiss butt in media for a long ass time"

Isn't this the core issue of old media that the New Media is supposed to correct? Isn't the rule that the quality of the content should supersede ego or advertiser metric? So the old maxim of brown nosing to the top is part of the new revolution in media? It calls into question if New Media outlets are really the incubators of fresh ideas or just a new medium for the old guard to monetize.

Part 2

                  

The Silicon Valley Bubble

The silicon valley bubble.

I'm a tech guy,  been in IT for most of my adult life.  I've worked for companies both great and vile and  when I finally got sick of being used, went into consulting.  Most of my consulting career has been  working for small companies with generally good people. 

In an environment like this it's a blessing to be able to just do what you do best and not be subject to the petty power struggles of the cubicle bound.  That's how I can say they're mostly good people because I didn't have to live with them...

I'm not so fortunate to have grown up in the progressive forward thinking panacea that is the Silicon Valley.  Or at least that's my impression of it. 

Forgive me if this next part is a bit autobiographical, it's necessary to avoid the moniker of a "troll" that may give you cause to ignore my message.

Troglodyte I can tolerate, however.  After all Troglodyte means "Cave Dweller" and as far as I know people who lived in caves stayed dry in a thunderstorm and didn't get eaten by Saber toothed tigers...

I grew up in the gun toting, bigoted, false-faced, chauvinistic mentality of Phoenix Arizona.  In an ultra conservative landscape where any alternative to the nuclear family is frowned upon, my upbringing was challenging to say the least. 

My childhood experiences formed my opinions just like everyone else but things were a bit different in my case. 

I was raised by well meaning incredible people in the persona of my family characterized by unsung heroes. 

My mother, who conquered the sexist biases of the glass ceiling even within her own family and achieved more than it's likely I ever will.

My  grandmother who's depression era wisdom guides my choices to this day. 

My aunt whose free spirit taught me that it was ok to say the hell with what people think you SHOULD be instead of what you WANT to be. 

Lest I forget my Uncle who was the only strong male influence that ever meant a damn to me. 

By the way, I admit there is a bit of a conflict between my aunt and my grandmother's influence....

Of course, where I lived there was a missing character in my upbringing that often left me isolated and ridiculed.  Apparently a fatherless (we won't go there) child in Arizona must automatically be relegated to something less than deserving.  I grew up being chided by other boy's fathers as being homosexual  (at the age of 8) or disallowed from associating with their "normal" offspring for fear that I might "infect" them.  The cruelty of their children is a given and I should add that none of them were ever in danger of either "aberration." 

In case you're still wondering, yes I like girls...

So much for the glorious childhood of my memories.  I couldn't wait to get out of it...

Even  with all that baggage,  I'm not looking to go anywhere else mostly because I've been here so long that I know my enemy too well to chance a new one anywhere else.  Besides, the few good friends I have here are far too important to me to abandon to this wasteland.  If I could take them with me I'd leave in a heartbeat.

Such is my fate but I still cling to the hope that I can somehow effect some change in this unholy backwater if for no other reason than to make it a little easier on my own existence.   

As I write this I'm sitting in a house that's approaching 100 degrees because I can't afford to turn the Air conditioning on.  To do so would bankrupt me.  Not that there aren't a dozen other things threatening to do the same.  That is mostly the result of a crippling economy and a bias against those who exhibit a tendency toward independent thought where I live.

Obviously, things used to be better but there's no sense on dwelling on it.

As an IT guy I've been responsible for everything from an office set up above someone's garage to a multi-million dollar law firm whose very whim could affect public policy.  Well, at least on a local scale...

Even in the backwater that is Arizona we still get news here.  It's just that most people here ignore anything that isn't self indulgent or threatening to their pro-life convictions.  I, however, do not.

Still there is some benefit to living in a place where all is never so rosy.  I've gained a sense of cynicism that allows me to cut through the hype of gross consumerism.  It's not that I've embraced the role of staunch pessimist.  I just have insight into what level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs other people are operating on.

So finally we get to the bubble. 

Being in IT I know I'm not in the most ideal locale to embrace all that technology has to offer.  So I recognize that the tech pundits who orbit the tech havens of Silicon Valley and Austin are fortunate to be able to operate at the higher levels of Maslow's construct.

Where I live being an IT professional offers little in the way of creative thought.  It's little more than a 21st century auto mechanic fixing what's broke for a set price.  The kind of intellectual freedom espoused by tech pundits is viewed as threatening to the local status quo.  Talent isn't cultivated or nurtured it's bought, used and discarded.  That's not pessimism, it's fact.

Talk to most people who live in the "Bubble," however, and you find an idealism that borders on the naive and to be honest it irritates me.

What most in this group consider profound suffering I'd consider a bad hair day. 

I would dearly love to live in a place where I could fully indulge in the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy but alas I do not and likely will not as the opportunity has never presented itself.  Not that I've ever been in a position to take advantage of it if it did.

You can shelve your admonitions of pulling one's self up by their bootstraps by the way.  My boots are in hock.

It's not unlike the mid-level manager who's never been without a steady income and could never contemplate otherwise.  Our priorities naturally tend to shift upward in the hierarchy of needs since those who can reside there can take the lower levels for granted.  Unfortunately, it also tends to blind us to the realities clearly visible before the rest of us.  We rationalize those not so fortunate as somehow less deserving or lacking ambition.  As much as you deny it, it's only human nature in spite of our high ideals.

Those within the bubble operate at such a high level that an event such as, say the wrong salad dressing in their garden salad qualifies as a crisis on par with the Holocaust.  First world problems indeed....

So I find myself frequently irritated when assumptions made by these "Bubble People" are promoted as reality for the rest of us.   

The fact that it's not really necessary to replace a perfectly functioning phone because a new model came out is on par with blasphemy to them.  Consumerism goes hand in hand with technology it seems and is the guiding mantra of the "Bubble People". 

In short, they don't get it because they don't see it anymore...

Therefore I place no more value in their assertions than a Metacritic.com review of a Broadway play (they don't do plays...).

If there is a social elite it doesn't belong to the old money of New England or the 21st century Wall Street barons.  No, it is the naiveté of the "Bubble People" who unwittingly advance consumerism to the exclusion of all detractors.

Perhaps if I had grown up in such a sheltered and "normal" environment I too would argue the merits of unbridled optimism and the promise of technology.  Unfortunately, I've seen little personal benefit from it.

Technological advance is a panacea only to those who can focus on it.

The easy answer is to just ignore the "Bubble People" but that's not possible.  They drive popular culture even if it's to our own detriment. 

I'm a fan of Star Trek and the world it proposes as are the "Bubble People."  The difference between me and them is that I know we haven't even started down that road.  They believe we're already there.

There's a place for the firmly optimistic but it has to be tempered with the realities that must be conquered to make their assertions true. 

By the way, the bubble isn't limited to technology.  It's easily applied to other dogmas like religion, politics and cultures.

The French revolution dealt harshly with those who ignored the realities of their own environment.  Bubble people should keep that in mind lest they find themselves on the guillotine of public opinion.  But then, the public only concerns themselves with the latest shiny object don't they...

Nothing's more debilitating than having one's bubble burst...