*One of these days we're gonna see the digital revolution in retrospect, and man, that vista ain't gonna be pretty.
http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2010/09/02/a-renaissance-of-wonder/#more-177
"Who launches a blog in 2010?
"In my case, the answer is someone who had one in 1997, before the term “weblog” even existed. Back then, I was the first full-time writer at Wired News. Web pages had only recently evolved out of the primordial ooze of gray backgrounds and blink tags. Though it seems absurd to contemplate, when I joined Wired magazine’s website HotWired (now Wired.com) in 1995, the idea that you could employ the Internet to publish articles every day, or even several times a day, was still new and radical. Coming from the mindset of a monthly magazine, trying to design and put out a new “issue” once a week seemed ambitious. (We called my proto-blog a “column,” and the awkward term “webzine” was still in circulation.)
"How quickly the world has changed; and I’m happy to report, for the better, in many ways. (((I don't wanna play the cynic here, but I'd like to hear him name a few. Uhm... economic prosperity? Military stability? Improved environment? Civil liberties? Thriving cultural scene? Whaa?)))
"Smart science writing is flourishing all around us, (((it most certainly isn't, because smart science itself is on the ropes from relentless culture-war attack))) offering perspectives from an extraordinarily broad and diverse range of sources. On a typical morning, I might wake up to an insightful post at Wired.com by @jonahlehrer, a fascinating story on evolutionary theory by @carlzimmer, a poignant reflection on being a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome by @lynnesoraya in Psychology Today, or a deeply informed musing on the social dimensions of technology at Atlantic.com by @alexismadrigal.
I can also get my science unfiltered from the brilliant crew of researchers assembled by @BoraZ at scienceblogging.org, listen in as Robert Krulwich and @jadabumrad reinvent science coverage for a multimedia generation at RadioLab, and surf endlessly intriguing links offered on Twitter by the likes of @edyong209, @brainpicker, @ferrisjabr, and @vaughanbell.
After breakfast, I can plunge into a book (on paper or onscreen) written by the provocative scientist/blogger Mark Changizi or a compelling and lyrical reporter/prose stylist like Rebecca Skloot. And that’s just the first hour of any day of the week!
Another way that the world has changed, however, is that it’s harder for writers to make a living doing what they do best. (((Along with musicians, scientists, programmers, manufacturers... hmm, basically anybody who isn't in finance has been catching it in the neck for many years now.)))
"In 1996, the idea of a mainstream, for-profit publication asking an experienced journalist to write without compensation — in exchange for “exposure” — would have seemed starkly unethical. (((However, thanks to 14 years of digital progress, it's now okay to round up and kill bloggers while also not paying them anything.)))
"Now it happens all the time, even on high-traffic commercial websites. As one journalist friend put it, “How much exposure did you make last year?” Somehow the triumph of the “digital revolution” — putting the tools of creativity and the ability to reach a mass of readers in everyone’s hands — has also resulted in a devaluation (both intellectual and economic) of the writer’s craft. ((("Somehow"? It's not a big mystery.)))
"Even the simple notion that smart investigative journalism is an expression of skill has become suspect, elitist, old-media dinosaurish — particularly among some new-media pundits. I’ll never forget my shock reading a tweet from one highly-touted pundit last year: “Finally the professional writers are clearing out..."
