This is the interesting thing about sites like Twitter. On the one hand they allow access to publishing for people that may not have access to that ability before. There is no need for a big printing press just a mobile phone! There are definitely examples of this freedom with people supplying information from places like Iraq and Iran and areas where information is more closely controlled.
I feel hesitant to use the word 'publish'. A dictionary definition is 'to prepare and issue (printed material) for public distribution or sale'. Many blogs, whilst having public access, do not have many if any readers apart from the authors. This blog is just such an example at the moment! This is an area where the idea of empowerment seems to me to be closer to the idea of distraction. Power over the means of production no longer means power. Democratisation of the ability to publish creates information overload as much as it does information empowerment.
Of course this depends on the intended use of the blog (and i include Twitter in this). Is it a way of building and binding a small community that already exists in the 'real' world or a way of disseminating information to a larger audience? The answer is both. It comes down to the relevance and interest of the information and it is up to the the people who read them. Some capture the public's imagination and gain a cult following. This suggests democracy, the people decide what information is relevant.
However, it is undeniable that consumer culture is rising to the possiblities of these new media. A prime example is the battle that Facebook had to have the right to use information posted by its users to focus advertising and examine trends. The internet is a two way street, and as such far easier to monitor than that of television etc. And from this to hone the services and advertising that come with it. With this comes the ability to influence what inform does reach us. Which blogs and posts get noticed, or which trend is picked up by the mainstream, be this on a concious or subconscious level.
Lexicon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The very word 'publish' brings up a debate in itself. I think that blogs/ twitter have appropriated an entirely appropriate word (if you'll excuse the shifting meaning of appropriate in that sentence).
ReplyDeleteThe definition you give of 'publish' is a meaning that is entirely directed by dominant usage of the last 400 years, whereby publish means to prepare a book/ some other physically printed document. I would say that the word had been defined here to mean a process that only the powerful/ rich/ empowered could do (i.e. prepare a book/ document for formal printing). The right 'To Publish' was exclusive.
Compare this meaning of 'publish' to the meaning of the word as used in Web2.0 sites. Here, the word does not refer to the process of preparing a document, nor to the (printing) apparatus behind this process, but rather to the at of putting something into the public arena. I would argue that it is only now that the word is becoming something much more widely empowering. (I recognise, however, the issues of digital divides, and the internet arguably being just a new domain of the already powerful).
The original etymology of the word comes from some sort of latinate root to do with 'public', and 'publish' actually must mean to put something into the public arena? In that way, it seems that the appropriation of the term by Web2.0 is entirely appropriate.
The way you resort to a dictionary (whether it be printed or online) to define the word reflects the way in which our language has been defined by an apparatus that is entirely controlled by the powerful. Words are not defined by the Oxford English Dictionary anymore. The dictionary is being re-written.
How have I written so much about one word from your post? Maybe I should try to comment on more words next.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your instinct to find the etymological root of the word 'publish'. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the root was first used in the sense of 'making public' circa 1330 and was slowly adapted to become more 'commercial' in nature. I find it poetic that the word seems more apt in relation to Web 2.0 if you use the older understanding of it! It is more about making public rather than publishing in terms of not requiring an expensive creation process behind it. I am glad of my initial instinct to question the fit of this word. Turns out it is more right than first i thought!
ReplyDeleteThe word 'appropriate' has very particular connotations for me as an artist. There is an entire history of this word that could be discussed at length (and has been in other places). I think it is also an interesting word in this context as many of the most interesting uses of the internet involve some form of appropriation.
And yet i do not think there is any site with the slogan 'Appropriate yourself'! (Note to self: make one!). The terminology i am aware of is 'Broadcast yourself' and the soon to be officially recognised verb to 'twitter'. Both terms seem blunt and almost boastful of their own banality. Ultimately, appropriation is a very specific conscious act and it is rare that langauge - in the widest sense of the word - is used with the same finesse as say Duchamp! Not that i expect everyone to have this, but as language slowly eats itself it would be nice if someone noticed.
The idea of appropriating a medium seems particularily important as a process of maintaining some kind of control over your own content.
But also the internet appropriates the language of all other mediums as it has no 'native' tongue (unless you include ones and zeros!). And yet still, the medium is the message...
A full post on the concept of appropriation in relation to the internet is needed.
Incidentally, my use of the dictionary to define a term i am using and exploring still seems like a robust procedure to me. Language may be in a continual state of flux, and it may be a little old fashioned, but there are sometimes occasions where consulting an online forum just is not 'appropriate'.
The next post after 'appropriation' should concentrate on the word 'empowerment'!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI posted twaddle
ReplyDelete