Captains Blog: stardate 45.67.89, entry #4. The supernullification of the mainstream agenda has been questioned in favour of the individual atmospheric aura of every separate star cluster. Or as the earth band Green Day says, "Down with the moral majority, cause I wanna be a minority."
Well what more appropriate medium could I be speaking to you through to discuss the dwindling power of mainstream culture. Commonly described as the long tail theory, we are seeing today an increase in marketing and media giants chasing after niche markets rather than shoving hit songs, movies or celebrity personalities down our throats. The blog may be the most perfect example.
The beauty of the blog is it's grassroots origins, being created by it's own core audience. Allowing a huge number of differing opinions and points of view to be published and compared demonstrates a practical function of the internet, for one thing, and serves as a metaphor for the larger issue of media saturation vs. personal choice of media sources. In a state that values only hit shows or songs we are exposed to less content overall, and we form narrower points of view as a result. The same could be said for print media (choosing the most sensational or nationalistic stories only) until blogs came along. The blog has proven the people's desire for individual attention in a world of mainstream ideals by sheer participation- the most basic yet most effective means to measure this.
As we see a shift toward recognizing this niche mentality of the market, I have no doubt blogs will continue to rise in popularity, until a few major players secure an oligarchy over the rest (which under a capitalist system is likely the most democratic scenario we can hope for). As for the rest of the internet, it is celebrated for it's uncensored wealth of content. It is the medium of the niche in it's strongest form, and it's here to stay. With other media I'm not sure how things might change. Less emphasis on huge blockbuster films? Perhaps more promotion of indie films? The music industry has certainly been affected by this niche mentality. How many big bands can you name today? Just yesterday it was the pop tarts, Spears, Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, 98 degrees, but today it is a never ending flow of punk and emo bands that seem to hold the mainstream. But not the same two or three, hundreds of them. Even punk fans can't keep up- I've asked a few. TV will be hard pressed to change, as it's success is entirely based on stats. Maybe shows themselves won't become the monolith superseries they are now, but that is purely a guess.
Producers of media may have a harder time in the future, as they will be left fighting for smaller markets and can expect smaller profits. Nailing that niche will likely require better knowledge of these minor markets than producers currently have. See any poor representation of anything for reference, this shouldn't be hard to find. On the other hand, if a movie or album bombs, they might not be millions in debt. Really, they're just going for more smaller risks from fewer major risks. It's hard to say which way they're better off.
From a consumer P.O.V. I like the idea of being catered to more specifically, but before you anti-corporates get your brandless knickers in a twist of victory, remember how fast trends come and go already. With more trends playing less significant roles in society, we'll have to buy seven new pairs of new pants a week to keep up with styles in the segmented market of the future. It's already ridiulous how fast styles die, and a little marketing/production research will tell you that yes, it is okay to blame the producers for that.
But hey, we are in the culture of sampling. Fashion has never been such a strange combination of old and new, of high end brands and value village, and of ambiguity. Sampling in music is a fairly new style, and even metal bands are using audio clips in songs now. It's not just DJ's on turntables anymore. Art is now postmodern, taking cues from past movements like modernism among others. Open source programming has a sense of collectivity that directly attacks the major software corporations' stranglehold on consumers .
I think the long tail theory sounds kinda promising, but I'm sure capitalism and communism also did to the right people at the right time. I am confident our institutions will either screw it up or profit from it massively, but I hope we get the gist of it down here at ground level. Give me what I want, just don't get it wrong or make it uncool in two weeks!
-cedric

Hey blog readers...
I know you've waited all week for this, so I promise it will be just as good as the last one. It's all I can do for my loyal audience/poor prof who has to read this weekly.
So my blog for today is about choosing an appropriate URL. Well, for hypothetical purposes my name is now Leslie Green (yes, the male Leslie) and I am building a site to represent my photography skills. So we have three possibilities...
1. www.hostmysite.com/~lesliegreenphotography.com
2. www.flying-green-monkeys.com
3. www.lesliegreen.com
The first URL is one of those that gives you the impression this person has no programming skills, or money to pay a programmer to make a respectable portflio site. Angelfire, Geocities, etc. are mostly populated with tween's fan sites for Shakira or the power puff girls, not so much professional websites that are supposed to get you a job. This URL says "If you want to hire me to take shortcuts, I'm your man, Leslie Green. PS- I'm not e-literate."
Two, flying green monkeys. Well, points for originality perhaps, and I must say monkeys are irresistibly cool/devious creatures, but hey, they're not hiring and firing us yet so we don't need to encourage them. What the hell would this site be about? If it wasn't straight up flying green monkeys, I'd be seriously disappointed. If it was a portfolio, there better be some connection to the name of the site or it could not be taken seriously. While this URL is memorable, it is the address itself that is, leaving no clue as to the content of the site.
Three- this one is a winner. First of all, it's short and simple. This is awesome. Second, even if someone only knew your name, they could search for your site and likely find it. Third, it's professional sounding, unlike option #1. It shows you're willing to pay a couple bucks for a good domain name that you'll likely maintain, and that you've developed (or paid someone else to) a decent site that doesn't rely on simplifying programs. There is little else to say about why this URL is the best, because if you hadn't come to that conclusion yourself, I can't help you. With anything.
So, keep it simple, related to the topic of the site, memorable and short. Like a good joke. Like this joke: A giraffe walks into a bar and says "Hey everybody! Highballs! On me!"
-cedric

Hello loyal readers (or should I just say Prof. Mccartney?)..
Amidst the supremacy of images in today's modern high tech world, I would like to assert that the primary adavantage of the internet is still text based, not image or sound based. Despite the ability of computers to produce dazzling images, animations and a full range of sounds, it is text that provides the most common, user freindly way to participate in the immediate two way communication that makes the internet superior to television, radio and print.
The most obvious example of this two way communication is the internet forum. Literally an online message board, it accepts opinions and comments from everyone who is a registered user, which often doesn't require much more than a willingness to sign up. I have contributed to online forums (though not much) and they provide tons of information about the topic at hand. One advantage to this system is that you can find information that may not be published anywhere else. This is the sheer beauty of two way communication- the readers are often also contributors, meaning your sources are nearly endless for ideas, tips and expertise.
The accesibility of information that may be hidden or censored (by the government, large corporations, etc.) is another advantage of two way communication. Freedom of speech is virtually guaranteed online, as even the most socially unacceptable content can be distributed with little concern for legal penalties. Identity is all but removed, and can be nearly impossible to track. In a post 9-11 world of diminishing public rights and freedoms, the internet may be the last bastien of total freedom to express ourselves.
Along with forums, blogs are another text-based interaction. While forums allow information to reach many people, blogs allow a little voice to become a big one. There is not as much feedback compared to a forum, as comments come after the entry is made, but there is feedback nonetheless. Blogs are more opinionated and less informational than just an article, so readers can identify with a personality and follow a blog for their news. Whether or not this is better than traditional news sources is a matter of debate, even to me. Major media is easier to point a finger at, but bloggers might actually give a crap what you said about thier stance on whatever. Credibility depends entirely upon the author, but at least you can personally tell them they suck (or not).
With forums and blogs, we can see the importance text has in accessible two way communication for the masses. Along with this, many websites are still text based and have graphics simply because they are required. Online newspaper sites are very popular as alternatives to finding a paper, but aren't known for their images or sound clips as much as thier reproduction of the day's stories.
So even just for research purposes, text is dominant online as the main way to find the info you're looking for. Add to that the first instant two way communication device (next to the phone) and you've got the core idea behind a world wide web system. Knowledge has never been happier than when it was found here, in it's ideal habitat.
-cedric

To the poser of Harriet Myers.... If you were a real candidate, you would be campaigning on a short bus. After my intial review of this blog about running for the supreme court, I thought to myself, this is a bunch of crap. It looks like a twelve year old girl wrote it after eating a kilo of sugar. Then I thought, wait, what if the president had his own blog? Would it look much different? After a moment of serious consideration, I realized that supreme court judges do actually have to be smart to earn their positions. Unless of course, their Dad was a supreme court judge. Or they're supportive of a constant state of war/fearmongering in their own "free" country. But back to the sadness that is Harriet Mier's bogus blog....
Hey ghost writer for Harriet! It's called a dictionary! You might want to use it to learn to spell, and especially to determine which form of the word "your/you're" you should use. Also, one exclamation mark will do, three makes you look as excitable as a kitten chasing a laser pen. This site is so riddled with errors, short forms, internet lingo, and simple unintelligent comments that anyone who fell for it dearly deserved it. And see how many people contributed? I weep.
Now, the ethics. First of all, I almost consider it unethical to make such a sorry attempt to trick people into thinking someone with the vocabulary of a speak and spell (but not the spelling) could ever actually be a supreme court candidate like the real Harriet Miers. But hey, throw out the line. If they bite, reel em in. It's not your fault people are that dumb. Really, though, it is completely unethical to waste people's time pretending to be a real candidate in a real democratic election for a position of importance to the nation. (Needless to say, but also- Why bother?) People will probably waste a lot of time reading this faked personal information when they could have thought about the real candidate's qualifications and opinions, and hey, they may have even been able to participate in the country's politics! Wouldn't that be a novelty!
Now, it is obviously unethical to steal someone's identity and make them look as stupid as this author has, especially when they are actually campaigning for an important position like Miers. There is the sad possibility that some less gifted people will make an innocent mistake and assume Harriet Miers is really who wrote this blog. Defamation of character? I'm sure it would hold up in court.
So, to the real author of this blog; thanks for wasting my time and many other people's time. Thanks for potentially damaging the campaign of a worthwhile candidate, undermining democracy, and reminding everyone how little of the internet is credible. I hope you can develop a more healthy hobby, maybe leave your house, and do something productive for the world. And I hope Harriet Miers has a lot of pull in the legal system, and she finds you and deals with you harshly. You've made an example of her, hopefully she makes an example of you.
-cedric

Blogs Vs. The Major Media:
Prior to any research, I had opinions about blogs. My primary complaint about them was "Who do we blame if they are inaccurate, heavily biased or just downright crappy?" and of course the question "How do we know the author knows anything about what they're discussing?" Some research I have now done addressed these concerns to some degree, but I am still a bit worried. There are impressive looking sites on the web that trick people into thinking they carry crucial, life altering news, while they actually say nothing. (There was a slick site that used highly technical language to describe how tap water was extremely dangerous, but the URL is long gone from my memory. Funny but troubling, thinking about how many people probably got scared.) There are inevitably some blogs that carry little or no relevance but some graphics genius made them look like a million bucks, and so gullible surfers fall for the credible look. So my first concern is that the average surfer likely has little idea of credibility on the web, as it is easy to fabricate through impressive graphic design.
The other concerns I had with blogs were to do with the actual information. First, bias is a main factor in blog writing. Every one of them is biased. So, do we have to read opposing points of view every morning, or identify with someone we like and recieve half the world's arguments daily? At least with major media there is an obligation to try to be unbiased, but I do acknowledge the fact that newspapers have had political affiliations for a hundred years. Even if bad PR or sales is the worst case scenario, we can still publically penalize well known media outlets for poor media coverage. Blogs offer the option of responding, but what good that will do is anyone's guess. Another point against blogs would be the fact that you never know where to start. You could read someone's blog for two months and suddenly realize that their opinions are not as aligned with your own as you thought; then it's back to square one. Newspapers and magazines have the benefit of recognition and the images they have built for reputability, so the average consumer can pick up the Toronto Star and assume it's not going to be full of crap. Blogs carry no guarantee.
One final minor complaint - blogs dont make news quite as accessible as major media does. I found a few things that could have used explanation in the blogs I read over, and some acronyms that were never spelled out. I have never thought newspapers were smarter to direct their writing at the lowest common denominator. News means little when it's about some topic you don't recognize.
Some things I don't mind about blogs. An article in Wired magazine convinced me of one simple point to do with credibility; when your fan-base is built entirely on reader's reviews, a crappy blog is not likely to become very popular. To counter my earlier point about newspapers, when we read a paper (or watch TV news, read a magazine) we more or less assume the credibility of the institution. Sure this is based on readership/popularity (like blogs) but corporations are rich, and they can fabricate credibility much better than a good webpage designer can. So, at least we know from readers themselves that a given blog is accurate and responsible in it's reporting.
The one thing I really like about blogs is the fact that they are created for personal reasons, not for profit. Although some bloggers have turned their hobby into lucrative careers, I doubt many bloggers start with aspirations of fame and riches. (Remember when you bought a guitar to become a rock star? Same kind of chances.) I put a lot of trust in personal motivation over financial motivation. You have to want something to do it for free. A quote from the Wired article I read said "40% of the web is commercial. The rest runs on duty or passion." That about sums my point up.
So all in all, blogs aren't potentially any less accurate or responsible in news reporting than major media outlets are. But, until we have some system of evaluation that is universal and recognizeable, it is hard to tell the bad from the good. It is a paradoxical situation- Blogs are effective because they have no infrastructure, but I'm sitting here suggesting that they need some common ground. Maybe I just like to able to point my finger. I would say a reader with some degree of internet literacy and current events could safely enjoy blogs and rely on them for news. The average joe, I'm not so sure. I as a journalist I am all for free speech, but there are a lot of people with a lot of bullshit to say. As blogs develop more signposts for credibility (I did see blog awards and credible authors/media outlets comments on some pages) they will be a more fierce competitor to major media. For now, I think the general public remains a little skeptical. -cedric

Welcome to the bog blog today. Websites; are they for the dissemination of information, for a cheap laugh, for a look at something taboo, or are they the meticulous handiwork of a 13 year old loner? The answer, of course, is that they're all of these and more. So, I will decide which is the better website between Chevrolet and the Kristian Olsen Art and Design page. Just to save you, my valued reader, all that time and effort of deciding for yourself.
So here's looking at Chevy. The first page presents itself in a familiar, logical layout, with most of your links down the left side of the page, a nice big picture smack dab in the middle and some more options below. The site is laid out as you might expect, with options for "cars" "trucks" "SUV's" and "commercial vehicles" as the main links. Straightforward enough, I'd say. They also are smart to provide a search option right at the header of the homepage (which works well, I tried it) and they also have a dealer locator. To add a little credibility they have contact info and the usual copyright info for all to see, which is useful if only to make sure you're looking at the authentic corporate site, not some gearhead's chevy-dedicated website.
The other nice thing about Chevy's site is the way the info they want you to find is accessible through multiple routes. Pricing info, for example, can be found right off the home page, or if you focus in on one model the link for price info is still present on nearly every page. A really cool feature is the 360 degree view of the cars. Very handy, and technically impressive. Photos, safety info, and options for each model are listed, making this site very consumer-friendly. I have to assume this was Chevy's motive in designing this site, and I would say they accomplished thier goal. Every bit of common information a buyer would be seeking should be easy to find here, and of course, the photos are excellent. Overall I would say Chevrolet has built themselves a well designed, effective site for the average car shopper. Very solid, like a rock.
Now let's examine the Kristian Olsen Art and Design page. My first impression was "Wow this is a simple website." Not much to it, really, but after going through it all, there's not much left out. It's a fairly simple gallery, with the options to buy art, get some info on who this guy is, contact him or the company who represents him, and to just browse through his work.
I did have some minor quibbles with the site design, however. The way you view his work is through thumbnails that you click on to see the entire image. The thumbs, however, are quite small and you don't really know what you're looking at until you see the enlagred image. Maybe this was intentional, to encourage browsing, but it is kind of annoying. Trying to find a peice you saw last time, for instance, could be a hassle. My other little complaint has to do with his link for a "newsletter." It should have been called "mailing list" as there is no newsletter, only the option for someone to email you and let you know what Kristian is up to next. Sounds like a mailing list to me. I did like his choice of backdrop for the site. It was artsy enough to fit the page's style, but not nearly as visually commanding as his actual peices of art. If so, I'd be rubbing my eyes.
So, all in all both of these sites weren't bad, but I'd hand it to Chevy. A clean, logical layout with easy to find information and nice photography, the site was was simple to navigate and impressive on all counts. Kristian Olsen has a nice page too, I wouldn't consider it bad, but I did find a few things that perhaps weren't as logical as they could have been. That's all for now, so go see for yourself is you don't believe me. the sites are www.chevrolet.com and http://kristianolson.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc.
See you next week, with an introspective look at the slinky, and how it has shaped social relations in the 21st century. -cedric

Hey dedicated readers. This week I have for you a review of another person's blog. Another person who sounds kinda cool. The Blog is called "The random blabberings of a bewildered young girl." I know, sounds promising, but get your mind out of the gutter.
The address for this blog is http://missmojorising.blogspot.com which leads me to believe that this bewildered young girl has a thing for Jim Morrison. Cool. Add a point to her score card. Further reading led me to see that indeed, this 20yr old New Yorker has excellent taste in music, that spans all categories and styles. I noticed everyone from The Beatles to Nirvana, Simon and Garfunkel to T-Rex listed on her "favorite song to....." list. Lots of good bands get mentioned. Add another point.
Miss Mojo Rising also seems pretty cultured, with credible commentary on many artists work in traditional art forms (painting, sculpture, etc.) and in music and filmmaking. She mentions being thrilled to visit 6 museums in Philadelphia on a trip, and her writing is very mature. Even better; no typos or grammatical errors! Add three points!
As far as technical stuff, the site is a little beyond your basic blog. The coolest feature is a window playing the song and music video for the song of the day. Today's was Cut Your Ribbon, by Sparta.. a band I know of for obscure reasons. She has adjusted the background color for her blog, and while it is slightly bright for my eyes, I appreciate the effort in dressing up the blog a bit. Unlike mine here. Plenty of links have been recommended by Miss Mojo Rising, and she hosts a full profile and archives and all the other basics.
All in all, I would recommend this blog for anyone who is not a loser. In fact, if you are a loser, take some music and film tips from this blog. Overall a well written blog with interesting commentary. If Miss Mojo Rising is half as hot as I'd like to imagine, I've got a crush.
-Cedric

Hey internet, how's it goin? This is my incredible new blog. It will cover your computer screen with pure ecstacy. It will overload your hard drive with pleasure. It will bring the RAM in your computer to life, upon which your house will be promptly destroyed by a rampaging wild animal. It will be so god damn cool, you might remember something about it in five minutes or so. Unfortunately, I haven't decided what it will actually do that will undoubtedly be so cool, but rest assured - coolness guaranteed. Radicality is a definite. Superiffic. Funtabulous, but enough with the hype.

My final thought for the day - camping is intense. (Say it out loud.)