Writing On Writing - 30 April 2010

After reading Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is again, i realised that i am a hypocrite.

In that post, i used a great photo that i got from the Flickr Creative Commons pool. For anyone unfamiliar with Creative Commons, they are a suite of licenses for intelectual property (photos, writing, software etc) which are far more flexible and less restrictive than the more common Copyright licensing. With Copyright all rights are reserved, which means that the author must give explicit permission if you want to copy, share or reuse the intelectual property. Creative Commons on the other hand has a whole range of licenses covering just about everything between Copyright and Un-copyright. For example, you can allow someone to freely copy and alter your photo, as long as they credit you and don't use it for comercial purposes with an 'Attribution Non-Commercial' license. A complete list of the licensing options can be found here: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/

So how does this make me a hypocrite? What i realised was, that although i was happy to use Creative Commons photos from Flickr, all of my photos on Flickr are Copyrighted. I remember when i signed up, the choice for the default license came up and i thought i would go for Copyright just to be on the safe side. The safe side of what i'm not quite sure, but i suspect like many other people i just stuck with what i knew. Revisiting that decision, i am pretty sure that i am never going to make money from my photos, so why bother restricting their use? In the unlikely event that someone did use one of my pictures to make money, it would only be because i had licensed it as Creative Commons, no-one would pay to license one of my pictures, so i would not be missing out. Realistically, like blogging i think i would be pretty stoked that someone liked something i had created. 

In conclusion i am going to change all of my photos on Flickr from Copyright licenses to Creative Commons ...  now i just have to hope that there is a way to change them all at the same time! 

In other news, i am a bit happier with this weeks post than last weeks, i think it flows better and i am more clear in the point i am trying to make. The part i am really not sure about is the personal appeal at the end. Is it effective? Does it come off as too preachy? Is it annoying? Again i would be very grateful if you could comment with any thoughts on the above questions or the post in general.

PS You should check out the rest of danielle bigtooth.'s photos on Flickr, they are awesome.


Update 22:15GMT 30-April-2010: Batch license changes can be made on Flickr by logging in and going to: http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/license/batch/

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems impossible to turn on the news without seeing a story bemoaning the decline of some institution or another. From local shops, to community groups, to companies, there is never a shortage of members of the public prepared to whinge about how things are changing. The typical interview is so common and frequent that it has become a cliche; “Oh it’s terrible that < insert institution here > is closing”. However what most of the interviewees seem ignorant of, is that in a majority of cases they - and people like them - are the ones causing the decline.

I will never forget an interview for a news report on the decline of local shops. The reporter stopped a woman outside a new supermarket and asked her what she thought about the loss of local shops. Of course the woman spoke at length about how awful it was that high street shops were closing and that local jobs were being lost. Finally the reporter asked her whether she would continue to shop at the supermarket. To which the woman replied; “Of course, it is more convenient, cheaper and there is better parking”. She showed no inkling that there was a complete disconnect between what she claimed to believe and her actions.

The bottom line is that - as in the example above - there is normally a good reason for the change. Supermarkets take business away from local shops because they have everything under one roof, they are cheaper and they have more space for parking. Community groups break up because people aren’t prepared to put effort in to maintaining them. Steel mills close because they are more expensive than their rivals and customers demand the lowest prices regardless of where the money goes. Complaining about changes is not going to reverse them, only action will and it seems as though a lot of people are not prepared to back up their words with actions.

If someone is not prepared to put their money where their mouth is, then they should lose the right to complain.

I try to put my money where my mouth is. A recent example of this is the Art Space Tokyo project. I might not know much about art, or plan to go to Tokyo any time soon, but I was still prepared to spend $100 to back the project. I believe in the publishing model, I believe in high quality books and I believe in supporting people who provide excellent free information online. A couple of years ago The Flashbulb offered their latest album for download on a bit torrent website, but asked that you buy the CD if you enjoyed the music. I downloaded the album, enjoyed the music and bought the CD. I paid for something I could have had for free because I believe that people should pay for content they enjoy, even if they can get it for free. In both instances it would have been easy to avoid spending money, but I would have felt like a hypocrite for not acting in line with my beliefs. Last week I was tempted to complain that a book shop had gone out of business. Then I realised that if I had cared about it that much, I would have shopped there more and in reality it was not that big a loss. In that instance I changed a belief because the evidence showed that the belief was incorrect.

I urge you to look at your beliefs and ask yourself; am i prepared to put my money where my mouth is? Maybe you are unhappy about the decline of newspapers, but don’t buy newspapers regularly. Maybe you hate the boring hollywood blockbusters that monopolise cinema screens, but don’t go to see independent films when they are shown. Maybe you claim to support local music, but only go to see international bands. If your actions don’t reflect your beliefs, then you either need to change your actions or your beliefs. In an age when most non-essential needs can be met for free or very cheaply, it is important to put your money where your mouth is and support good ideas, even if they aren't perfect.

Like democracy, a small contribution to what you believe in might not make a difference alone. But if enough people put their money where their mouth is and actively support what they believe in, the things that really matter to society will be improved.

[750 Words]
Image by danielle bigtooth. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Writing On Writing - 23 April 2010

A Story Of Unconventional Publishing was my first attempt at two things I have posted about previously: planning and shipping.

To be honest, I’m not that happy with how the post turned out. While the plan did help focus and structure things somewhat, by the end even I’m not sure what my point was. I think I spent too long on the introduction and not long enough on what should have been the body. Shipping certainly helped me get something posted in time, however again I’m not terribly happy with the result. Even with the amount of time I set aside I was still rushed prior to the deadline.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it was better than it would have been without a plan and shipping on time is important. I also think I have learned a few useful things:
1. I need to have a very clear idea of what my point is first, then plan around that.
2. I need to leave more time for editing and proofing.
3. While working to a maximum word count was good, I found myself not only worrying about how to get under 750 words, but also that I would cut too much out.

It will be interesting to re-read the post tomorrow and see how I feel about it then.

I would really appreciate any feedback on A Story Of Unconventional Publishing, was there anything you liked? Anything that wasn’t clear? Anything that was just plain bad?

A Story Of Unconventional Publishing

A couple of weeks ago I read an article on Signal Vs Noise about two people who were self-publishing books. The first book had an interesting story behind it. It had sold out of it’s initial print run, however the publisher wanted to release the next edition as a cheap paperback. As the book contained numerous maps, illustrations and had been designed as a hardback, the author was reluctant to release it this way. Instead he decided to purchase the worldwide publishing rights, so that he could reprint as it was originally intended.

I followed a link to get more details about the project and ended up on Kickstarter. The idea of Kickstarter is quite simple; creators post projects with a minimum amount of money to be raised before the project will go ahead. They also offer various rewards for individual pledges above certain thresholds. In this case, due to the expense of printing a high quality physical book, the minimum pledge total was set at $15,000. Normally the creator would have to get this money from a bank, venture capitalist or publisher in exchange for a share of the profits, or at least interest payments. With Kickstarter the middleman is cut out, the customers put up the money, all of which goes to fund the project.

    

I love books, so I was blown away when I saw the photos of the first edition of Art Space Tokyo. From the silk screened cloth cover, to the impeccably set glossy pages, I knew I wanted a copy. I might not be terribly knowledgeable about art (far less Japanese art) and I have never been to Japan. At this point, even the prospect of going to Japan is a vague thought for the future, rather than a firm plan. So based on the subject matter of the book, I knew that justifying the purchase was not going to be easy.

I loved the idea of someone self-publishing to maintain the integrity of a book and I loved the idea of using Kickstarter to raise the money, however I couldn't quite bring myself to order a book I only had a tangential interest in. The average book I buy is around $20, so spending $65 on Art Space Tokyo seemed a little excessive. I read the Kickstarter page a few times, looking for an excuse to stump up the cash for the book, but it wasn’t until I realised who the author was that I knew I had to back the project.

Just after I finished my Books Vs E-Readers series of posts, I came across an article on Books In The Age Of The iPad. In an eloquent way it laid out the primary problems with e-book readers and the instances where physical books would still be the medium of choice for reading. It was presented in a very well designed manner, with custom diagrams to illustrate key points. Even the webpage containing the article supported the points being made. I also discovered that the author had written the best product review I have ever seen on the web: GF1 Field Test - 16 Days In The Himalayas. The review was interesting, engaging and presented in a very different way to most product reviews. The quality of the content and design of both of these web pages made the decision to back Art Space Tokyo obvious, so I pledged $66.

The interesting thing about Kickstarter is that the backers are almost as invested in the project as the creator. As a backer I want the project to go ahead, so I checked in regularly to see how the pledge total was progressing. After 15 days of hitting ctrl+r on the Kickstarter website and watching the total steadily rise, finally it broke the minimum funding. There are still 8 days before the deadline and because the minimum amount has been achieved the book is definitely getting made. Right now I am debating whether to increase my pledge to $100 so that I can get my name in the credits ... I think it would be really cool to have my name in a book. Unfortunately I am not sure if ‘being cool to have my name in a book’ is worth an extra $34. Thoughts?

The book is scheduled to be printed next month and dispatched in June, so not too long to wait. Check out the Kickstarter Page.

[746 Words]

The Benefit Of Forced Focus

For the last few of years i haven't been watching a lot of films. I would occasionally go to the cinema, but i didn't really watch films on DVD or TV nearly as much as i used to. I was worried that spending a lot of my time on the internet and watching TV shows had degraded my ability to concentrate, to the point that i could no longer focus on one thing for 90 minutes or more.

There was however one strange exception to the rule, i really enjoyed films when i went to the cinema. My original thinking was that i enjoyed movies at the cinema because i was going to see films that i cared about seeing enough to make the effort to go to the cinema. That my enjoyment was related to the quality of the films rather than some innate property of the cinema. On reflection i think it is more likely that i enjoy films at the cinema more because i am forced to focus on the film completely. No internet, no instant messages, no e-mail notifications, no talking and no other distractions. Even the size of the screen and volume of the sound discourage other distractions. Don't get me wrong, i don't think i would enjoy a bad film just because i saw it at the cinema, but for good films i think focus has a big impact on my enjoyment.

While the cinema is great for films and concerts are great for music, i wonder if there is a way to force focus on computer based tasks and activities? Obviously there are software solutions like Rescue Time but there are always other things to distract you on a computer. Ever since computers became able to multi-task people tend to as well. It is interesting that currently the iPhone and iPad only allow you to run a single application at a time. They might be good devices for focus ... until iPhone OS 4.0 is released and they get multi-tasking.

Balls!

Balls, managed to miss the blog duel deadline today.

In fairness i have been rather distracted by my dad starting a business. I spent the morning designing a logo, business cards and letterhead. Not being a graphic designer, the process was rather time consuming, at times frustrating, but ultimately quite satisfying. The logo isn't anything fancy, but trying to get everything pixel perfect in vector format was a challenge:

A large part of the afternoon was spent arguing accounting terms, styles and requirements with my mum, then prototyping various spreadsheets that will be required for cashflow, mileage and invoicing. Again time consuming and at times frustrating, but i think we have come up with a pretty good system.

Tomorrow i need to actually create the final versions of the spreadsheets and then design a really basic single page website. After all that is sorted, he should be good to go. I may have done hee-haw so far with my own business, but at least my training and research hasn't gone to waste ;-)


In other news, the votes are in and my blog posts will be a maximum of 750 words from now on. Hopefully it should be sufficiently challenging for some of the longer posts i have planned.

Seeing as i missed the deadline and this is a bit of a non-post, i will do 2 proper, real, hopefully interesting posts this week.

Blog Post Word Limit?

One thing i really enjoy about Twitter is that the limit of 140 characters really forces you to refine exactly what you want to get across in a tweet. You have to cut out all of the superfluous crap, be concise and often have to rethink how to write what you want to say.

I find that often my longer blogs posts are rather rambling and i indulge in as many words as i think i need to get my point across. One of the things @37Signals are always saying is; 'embrace constraints', so i suspect my posts would be better if i imposed a word limit on the length of any individual post.

My gut feel at the moment is to limit to 1000 words, but i am concerned that this might still be too long. I think my longest post was around 1400 words and the average is less than 1000, so it wouldn't really be a substantial cut.

I have put a poll at the top left of this page and will abide by whatever length gets the most votes.

2010 Reading List - Quarter 1 Update

This is just a quick summary of my progress towards one of my Arbitrary Dividing Point In Time Resolutions. Some of you may have noticed the 2010 Reading List in the sidebar of the blog, i'm using this to keep track of what I have been reading each week.

I haven't been quite as consistent in this resolution as i would have liked, a couple of times i was more than a week ahead and at least once i was a couple of weeks behind. Though overall i have averaged a book a week this quarter. Why quarterly updates? Well monthly seems like too frequent, at most there would be 4 or 5 books and it would be quite likely I would be ahead or behind where i should be. Also around the middle of March I was looking at my reading so far this year and i noticed a pattern in what i was reading. 

In the first quarter of the year, most of the books i was reading were inspirational for what i want to achieve in business. Some books were successful at inspiring me; The War Of Art, The Art Of The Start and Rework. Some ended up being downright depressing (The Management Myth) but all were interesting. After i noticed this pattern i decided to to finish the quarter with the book that originally inspired my interest in business improvement; Maverick. While i now know a lot more about manufacturing and business, it is still as relevant and inspirational as it was 5 years ago.

I have decided that the theme for my next reading (though it might not last a whole quarter) is going to be; influencing, marketing and sales. It fits in with what i need to do with my business and is an area that i am currently not very well versed in. I will continue to update the reading list in the sidebar and am considering doing a summary of each book as i go. 

Overall i could have read more, but i'm happy that i managed to squeeze in a bonus book this quarter, as my fiction/non-fiction ratio was getting a little skewed. 

Other Arbitrary Dividing Point updates:

1. Business - No progress other than starting company.

2. Business - No progress other than starting company. 

3. Travel - No progress, but expected it to be back-weighted in the year. 

4. Reading - See Post Above.

5. Writing - Missed quite a few days when i got back from Australia, but managed every day in March.

6. Watching - I have cut down my TV viewing a lot, but still watching 2 or 3 shows every day. This should come down over the summer.

7. Blog At Least Once A Week - Although not originally on the list, in light of the Blog Duel it seems logical to include it. I've had a few crap cop-out/short posts, but also had a pretty epic series too. I'm aiming to be more regular, more consistent and better crafted going forward.