ReadWriteWeb

Cartoon: The Winter of Our Dis-content

Have you noticed that we aren't writers any more? Or filmmakers, or video producers, or even musicians or cartoonists? We're content-creators.

Way too often, I hear Web folks talk about "content" as some kind of undifferentiated commodity: "Yep, figger we're gonna need ten, maybe twelve kilos o' content for that page. You got a bulk discount?" Back a cargo truck up to the content silo, fill her up and you've got yourself a website.

But there's actually something interesting about the term - once I get past my visions of container ships laden with content, plying the seven seas. It's a way of dismissing the value of individual creativity, sure. But it can also be a way of capturing the idea that so many of us now communicate in different media, and that digital technology has gone a long way toward democratizing personal expression.

How about you? When you hear "content", do you think of the lorem ipsum that fills in the space between the revenue-generating ads... or something else?

More Noise to Signal.


ReadWriteWeb encourages comments, but please remember: Keep it nice, keep it clean, and avoid promotional comments. We do pre-moderate some comments with links. For more information, please read our full comment policy.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Recommended Story
RWW SPONSORS




Recent Comments




RWW PARTNERS