Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Dead links to dead trees

Some bits and pieces, connected only by their location on the cusp of cyber and meat:
The Times wins the right to unmask police blogger Nightjack, a move that seems to serve no purpose than allowing old media to remind the blogosphere who’s boss. The whole thing makes me exceedingly angry; fortunately, Chicken Yogurt is clear-headed enough to point out the essential hypocrisy of The Times’s position.

On similar lines, tight-collared reactionary Simon Heffer in the Telegraph spews extraordinary quantities of nonsense about the rubbishness of Facebook, never once questioning the privilege that accords him a platform.

Graphic design student Rob Matthews prints off 437 articles from Wikipedia and turns them into a book. “It makes people laugh,” says Matthews, “which is good.”

Ann Kirschner tackles the format question that’s got publishing in knots, by consuming Dickens as book, audiobook, Kindle and iPhone.

Everett True offers a quantitative comparison between blogs now and fanzines then.

The whole Iranian hoo-ha raises a number of questions about politics and technology, not least the question of whether we perceive the result to be unjust because Twitter users are more likely to be Moussavi supporters. However, Harvard academic Jonathan Zittrain makes a wider point about this most misunderstood medium, and why it is so successful at times of civic upheaval: “The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what make it so powerful.”

PS: More on the Nightjack case from Paperhouse, Anton Vowl and Girl With A One-Track Mind, who suffered similar indignities at the hands of Rupert’s catamites, and also ties the whole grubby affair up with what's occurring in Tehran.

PPS: And the bloggers, inevitably, strike back.

6 comments:

Rog said...

The most extraordinary snippet to emerge from your entertaining links is the fact the Simon Heffer has teenagers.

I still don't believe it.

GreatSheElephant said...

Personally I find it odd that anyone with Simon Heffer's special qualities is genetically able to reproduce.

Dave said...

I do hope you didn't think I had enough spare time to follow all those links.

Billy said...

Is it too much to ask for Simon Heffer to write something about which he actually knows something?

Dick Headley said...

Wow Tim, it's all too much for my little brain. All I know is I'm anonymous and nobody cares.

Tim F said...

Rog, GSE, Billy: Am awaiting Simon's transfer to the Telegraph advice column, specialising in sexual problems and bringing up adolescents.

Dave, DH: Oh, it's not important anyway. Look, a funny monkey!