Post AaImPIAOxmiM8NCvAW by clive@saturation.social
(DIR) More posts by clive@saturation.social
(DIR) Post #AaHQFhyfkhEd8hmoDY by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T03:21:48Z
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"Let's Stop Calling It 'Content''I first starting noticing the word "content" in the late 90sCompanies looking to put writing, animation, video or art on their web sites would call it "content"It flattened innumerable forms of culture into a sort of *goo*, extruded from a tube25 years on, the term "content" has metastasized, eating whole the way many people talk about -- *think* about -- culture.Let's stop nowMy essay: https://clivethompson.medium.com/lets-stop-calling-it-content-8410bf5f94a9A free link: https://clivethompson.medium.com/lets-stop-calling-it-content-8410bf5f94a9?sk=7a2668c44c31a4359876cfcd25a5f2d0
(DIR) Post #AaHQp8Xgyc4XfF3mgS by peterme@sfba.social
2023-09-30T03:28:11Z
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@clive This video may be of interest. A deep dive into "content." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAtbFwzZp6Y&ab_channel=Patrick(H)Willems
(DIR) Post #AaHQvXz3IcqeJ3ujwm by MarkRNay@ravenation.club
2023-09-30T03:28:42Z
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@clive smart. Content is dead to me. Thanks
(DIR) Post #AaHRjLOIOSHXjISzNQ by miclgael@mastodon.au
2023-09-30T03:38:19Z
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@clive Now *this* is good content
(DIR) Post #AaHTo69QgKkVovuL1U by allrite@masto.allrite.at
2023-09-30T04:01:08Z
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@clive Discontent?
(DIR) Post #AaHUSTBQT4aKpx5m8e by jake4480@c.im
2023-09-30T04:08:54Z
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@clive GREAT piece and hard agree. Hated it since the 90s too. It's so gross.
(DIR) Post #AaHUo75TIjDOg6cyAq by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:12:49Z
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@peterme I’ll check it out — thanks!
(DIR) Post #AaHUuMR991VA1OkFBg by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:13:02Z
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@miclgael 😂
(DIR) Post #AaHV2UPpMbul5G0J6W by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:14:22Z
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@tim I think if we need one word, call it “culture” — that’s what it is!Like I said at the end of the piece, though, the best thing is to be specific about the specific forms of culture we’re talking about
(DIR) Post #AaHV7Y3LGeV9oRtmeO by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:15:22Z
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@tim Now you’ve got me pondering an essay about whether “design” is used too loosely as well 😂
(DIR) Post #AaHVCo7AyfGv4kCRt2 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:16:04Z
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@allrite That was the original tagline for my blog in 2002“content | discontent”
(DIR) Post #AaHVP7wz3T4g4NJ64O by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:16:40Z
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@jake4480 Man, we’ve been enduring it for a long while, eh?
(DIR) Post #AaHVXYs6qUvtsi35aC by derekbruff@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T04:19:04Z
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@clive Yes, please. “Content creator” is the worst. That’s what you call someone when you don’t know how to be more specific about what they make.
(DIR) Post #AaHWM18w0Wzi2hyh5E by jake4480@c.im
2023-09-30T04:30:11Z
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@clive ugh. And it gets more and more nauseating and exhausting every year, right? And all the companies pushing it - SUCH a solid writeup, man. I've seen blurbs about it but never a full cohesive piece- the Emma Thompson part was wild, too. We should definitely take it back. Making art, writing, recording music or making a video. Not too tough. Corporate capitalism is so damn unpleasant and dorky about everything, and mix it with 'content'.. sigh. 😂
(DIR) Post #AaHXrHcctCJA5AL36e by fool@mastodon.world
2023-09-30T04:47:01Z
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@clive let's not. It breaks my filter.
(DIR) Post #AaHXxdrp5yZWoOTkUi by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:47:06Z
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@tim Sure! But in talking about the interplay of form and content — when we’re talking about design, say — we’re interested somewhat equally in both thingsThe way “content” is used quite often these days is, to my mind, rather specifically to swish its value away away; to situate the value of <waves hands at human expression> mostly/purely in the networks in which the content resides
(DIR) Post #AaHY3qQrI8lNWFp9Ps by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:49:00Z
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@tim One cannot use the word “culture” in *all* cases where we currently use “content”; but we can certainly use it in quite a *lot* of them We can call the moving image the moving image; online essays, online essays; comments, comments
(DIR) Post #AaHYEu5I3N7U210c2S by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:49:22Z
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@derekbruff Or don’t care!
(DIR) Post #AaHYLuuhMw7Id8OnQG by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:50:45Z
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@jake4480 Yep — with my band, I write songs and perform songs. I don’t write content and perform content I mean one can *call* it content but that is to take a database’s view of what I’m doing
(DIR) Post #AaHYYoO4wbN09dI2e8 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:53:50Z
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@tim Sure, I take your point One could avoid saying “culture” if it seems too thusly broad But so is calling a film, a song, a book, a tweet, or a TV show “content”Unless we’re specifically discussing the network in which these pieces of human expression reside — ie the ground and the figure, the database and the data within, in which case “content” *can* be a useful term — “content” is maddeningly vague
(DIR) Post #AaHYof9t1b6CAHD5V2 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T04:57:40Z
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@tim @karenmcgrane Hmmmm interesting!Let me think about that one. I’m not immediately persuaded the parallel is a good one, but I need to think more about why (Apart from the obvious one, which is that there are fewer corporate forces intentionally using the word “food” to reduce the specific value of “Italian food”, the way that streaming execs use “content” to (rather specifically, I think) devalue the nature of scriptwriting, acting, production, etc)
(DIR) Post #AaHZRZz0CX9fPHfy2i by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:04:18Z
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@clive To some extent I can see that the overall idea of treating all human art as an easily generatable afterthought when you're trying to build something artistically useful like a website or an ad campaign or a society is bad. However...
(DIR) Post #AaHZZsW5B51fCj6dxw by argonaut@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:06:16Z
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@clive Yes, let’s!
(DIR) Post #AaHZrdDMoBFYxVok9Q by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:09:27Z
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@tim I dunno — I can see the utility of the word in a few of those limited cases; perhaps with UX designers, though even they can be led astray by divorcing the structure of what they’re building from the *specifics* of what human expression will inhabit that structureContent strategy strikes me as a symptom of the problem I’m describing — a corporate denuding of human expression from being human expression But more importantly, the real problem has become that …
(DIR) Post #AaHa0qgs4h83MN0rui by kissane@mas.to
2023-09-30T05:11:10Z
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@clive @tim So literally no one asked but I have strong opinions about this, which I’ll sum up as: “Content” is the correct term and in fact the *only* useful one for describing many structures of design and delivery. (I think you two agree there.)The problem is that as software ate the world, venal people got control of the money, heard that usage, and learned that they could go a long way by treating all art, editorial, everything, as a fungible space-filler.
(DIR) Post #AaHa9meCTaAZQW1YfI by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:12:46Z
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@tim … the word “content” - to stand in for poems, speeches, family reunion photos, etc — has escaped the bounds of these comparatively-numerically-narrow technical fields, and become a way that the people authoring the stuff describe their own workIt is a database-eye’s view of the moving image, of a short utterance online, of a joke, etc
(DIR) Post #AaHaMG1J5wxK01mQV6 by argonaut@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:15:02Z
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@clive @tim try UX, and how it hides all value under an acronym that is not even precise (user experience is a labor of many more specialities than design). That should make for a similarly enlightening essay.
(DIR) Post #AaHaYoR4xpqSDFozgW by law_geek@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:17:18Z
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@clive I think us lawyers may share a large part of the responsibility for this. I've lost count of the number of times I've used the word content as a catch-all in a current project.
(DIR) Post #AaHaeZdqsfBY4FXjeq by mikeyp@hachyderm.io
2023-09-30T05:17:22Z
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@clive Great essay. Seems to correlate with Mike Monteiro’s plea: “Don’t let them call you a creative.” https://youtu.be/TCGMSuDJYVY?si=lEELCZvp-C77kOG5
(DIR) Post #AaHajl99X7xJCHelVo by argonaut@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:17:31Z
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@clive @tim I try to call it “information”, to make emphasis on its intrinsic value, and the fact that it’s in it where the objective of design is, as an offering and not as fodder.
(DIR) Post #AaHapUrOzxHmQK5cGm by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:05:55Z
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@clive I think the more modern rise of the concept of "content" is actually more grounded in the idea of how the consumer actually interacts with these modern cultivated cultural landscapes: they comb a vast array of short stories, political comments, funny quips, experimental music, thirst traps, educational documentaries, brain itching distractions, bigotry and hugboxes, and circlejerks and close nit communities,
(DIR) Post #AaHapVobRqdnNvmtXs by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:06:16Z
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@clive and then remix each of these pieces, synthesizing the art forms, applying memetic references, and ultimately what comes out of it in aggregate is something akin to a homogeneous cultural sludge you could call content.
(DIR) Post #AaHapWlRv3iEKRJtGi by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:17:58Z
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@o7 This is a really good description of what the online communication-o-sphere looks like!But I’d disagree that the remixed/synthesized/digested aggregate that comes out, when someone has been imbibing this onlinestuff, is usefully called “content”The person in question produces their own specific piece of culture: maybe it’s a joke, a tweet, a reblogged post on tumblr, a meme, a comment … it is a specific utterance that has a useful and specific name
(DIR) Post #AaHapXny3BJxYXVPpg by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:06:25Z
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@clive And the average browser's way of stumbling through this online hyperspace takes them through something that I think is close to sampling at least some portion of this average, they absorb a little of this and a little of that and eventually they are satiated; not satiated in their desire for community or enjoyment of the high arts but satiated in their desire for content.
(DIR) Post #AaHapZi0yHkPSejgpc by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:06:53Z
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@clive It is art, simplified in many ways yet more complex in many others, a snack like nibbling of culture but also a dive into the minds of anonymous individuals.
(DIR) Post #AaHapbUGMNw4yaJjfs by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:07:01Z
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@clive Content in its modern form isn't so much a problem but a new form of cultural communication. It can be greyer and more formulaic and calculated, often lacking luster in places where what would classically be deemed "art" would shine, but it can also be more experimental, more shocking, more niche, more free form, more raw, and more real than what "the artist" classically conceives of.
(DIR) Post #AaHapdA88D1IAiugZU by o7@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:07:06Z
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@clive So all in all I think there is a good reason to use the term, for these cultural artifacts that fall in this newly conceived realm of our digital limbo.
(DIR) Post #AaHaxbOOazxP01O3OK by Rainer_Rehak@mastodon.bits-und-baeume.org
2023-09-30T05:18:28Z
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@clive Yeah, and only a certain kind of ppl use this term... the same ones who say human resources.
(DIR) Post #AaHb2xDYsSYk8Ys5b6 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:19:37Z
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@law_geek Aha, I didn’t know that!I think we all beat responsibly for this 😂
(DIR) Post #AaHb9RcckRT6AhgmTQ by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:19:01Z
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@mikeyp I am less opposed to “creative”; it at least confers a modicum of respect upon the person doing the creation, which “content” does notBut I see Mike’s point
(DIR) Post #AaHbEbQzh2Iu3Ii0m0 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:23:12Z
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@kissane @tim Yeah, this is basically the nut of the problem Though I would still suggest that even within the comparatively narrow confines of design architecture etc, “content” might be doing some subtle harm I realize it’s enormously more efficient for designers info architects to talk about content as a discrete category, but they are also designing things that aren’t going to contain amorphous contentThey’re going to contain specific forms of expression …
(DIR) Post #AaHbLSOXhTs22lpYSO by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:25:50Z
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@tim @kissane lol yes!!
(DIR) Post #AaHbQirXtum2Z7uJvM by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:24:33Z
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@kissane @tim I am less firm on this latter view, though I realize designers gotta design
(DIR) Post #AaHbX4aU2dEXgIxG1w by grantimatter@mstdn.social
2023-09-30T05:17:19Z
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@kissane @clive @tim In the magazine world, I also have noticed that the rise of "content" has correlated with a lack of differentiation between pretty different skillsets. Nowadays, I have freelance clients who expect me to be both a photographer and photo editor as well as a reporter, copy editor, and writer. I think what I'm saying is that the fungibility went way beyond software and into the corporate side of publishing.
(DIR) Post #AaHbX5Z6PFisiJJfW4 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:27:11Z
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@grantimatter @kissane @tim Aha, that's a really insightful point!Part of the corporate flattening of different forms of expression into one flavor of goo ...... is that they stopped wanting to pay for expertise in each domain
(DIR) Post #AaHbc4LeMHZ4O4Omwq by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:27:50Z
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@argonaut @tim Ah, that's interesting! I can see that
(DIR) Post #AaHbh6S9xY9mMbqOPY by law_geek@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:27:56Z
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@clive you learn something new...😊 it makes clauses much shorter and cleaner. We used to include a complete definition of what content means, which covered everything you'd expect, but these days, everyone knows what it means & we're discouraged from using definition clauses in site terms & policies so it's more usual to just say content without specifically laying our everything included within it.
(DIR) Post #AaHbnUYDHIIMq3iopE by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:28:01Z
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@Rainer_Rehak Lol, yes
(DIR) Post #AaHburhva2bigWmWum by VCP@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T04:28:04Z
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@tim @clive Sweet Contenthttps://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/hc/english-poetry-i/183-o-sweet-content/
(DIR) Post #AaHbusmvYwCW2K82LY by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:29:00Z
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@VCP @tim lolol perfect
(DIR) Post #AaHc0OHBuy1d8vuWMS by jake4480@c.im
2023-09-30T05:30:12Z
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@clive right. And I find it ironic that so many of the young "influencers" (another term I dislike) have gotten used to calling it content, when we find it so "cringe" and that's *their* recent term 🤣 - it's just such a shame the capitalists want to cheapen art like that. I get WHY they do, but it's always a slippery slope to something even DUMBER and cheaper although I can't imagine what that would be. I suppose we're all going to find out 😕
(DIR) Post #AaHc6ENPda60B3bbJg by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:28:43Z
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@argonaut 🤘 🤖
(DIR) Post #AaHcBLbYBulE2herrc by kissane@mas.to
2023-09-30T05:31:33Z
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@clive @tim “Content” is mostly for a layer of information, which is a thing that actually needs a lot of talking about, or a fallback generic for truly unknown/not yet known stuff. The best digital and print designers and system architects I’ve worked with all come in knowing that in their brainstems. This is also why I called what I used to do “editorial strategy” because I was usually working at a less removed layer of abstraction, but I lost that fight.
(DIR) Post #AaHcBNszi1u17NppKa by kissane@mas.to
2023-09-30T05:32:34Z
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@clive @tim 💤
(DIR) Post #AaHcHUNYTuwuzd2ZRg by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:32:53Z
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@jake4480 Yeah, this is what is the most depressing part of it all -- when people doing very cool and specific forms of cultural expression just call it "content"
(DIR) Post #AaHcO0LOY5Grrv8YAS by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:31:48Z
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@law_geek This point about it making clauses shorter is really on pointI think this efficiency is a good part of how the word took over mainstream -- and industrial and corporate -- discussions of human expression and culture"Content" covers a lot of ground!But as with software's relentless pursuit of efficiency in everyday life -- and the messes that has sometimes caused -- it may have been that being *less* efficient in our daily language would have been better
(DIR) Post #AaHcZ46CvajQhTJ6jg by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:35:38Z
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@kissane @tim Yeah, the excellent designers I know all have a nuanced sense of what's going onAnd like I said, my brief wasn't really with the comparatively narrow usage of content in design industries ...... it's in the much larger world of business and mainstream how-we-talk-about-things, which is like 100,000X the size of the population of designers and UX folken etc 😅
(DIR) Post #AaHce7iIuuBVMGXS4W by negative12dollarbill@techhub.social
2023-09-30T05:30:26Z
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@kissane @clive @tim My only contribution is to remember this old thing:
(DIR) Post #AaHce90Q72GnMk1Qwq by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:36:04Z
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@negative12dollarbill @kissane @tim lolol
(DIR) Post #AaHcsDrOrOmATZW3ai by timbray@cosocial.ca
2023-09-30T05:38:34Z
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@kissane @clive @tim I have always loathed That Word. They are stories and pictures and rants and songs. "Content" is MBA for "shit I don't care about that I want you to click on".
(DIR) Post #AaHcsF5GJLSUGr0dpw by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T05:43:14Z
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@timbray @kissane @tim Quite frequently, yeah, I think this is exactly how it's used in corporate life
(DIR) Post #AaHdiY05E1FXzuWnVQ by ramsey@phpc.social
2023-09-30T05:52:35Z
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@clive @timbray @kissane @tim This is all I can think about when I hear the word “content,” now.Bo Burnham’s “Content” from his Netflix show “Inside.”“But look, I made you some content Daddy made you your favorite, open wide Here comes the content It's a beautiful day to stay inside”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQvrap19Eng
(DIR) Post #AaHe16b3Ks8EVafYn2 by law_geek@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T05:56:02Z
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@clive yes. It should probably really only be used by lawyers & understood by everyone. In common usage, content creators feels wrong when you could say eg artists, writers, podcasters. And social media companies using content creators to describe their users is a huge red flag that their t's & c's allow them to rip off your IPR!😀🙄
(DIR) Post #AaHeFp7sZaHgfV2eZc by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-09-30T05:58:42Z
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@clive @timbray @kissane @tim Tim is exactly right. Paying someone to package "content" is a lot less expensive than paying someone to practice "journalism" or create "art." And look what that simple term has done to journalism and art over the last three decades.
(DIR) Post #AaHfRdpiUAKT4akHD6 by SloanStudio@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T06:12:03Z
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@clive Interesting piece. In design, my experience teams will often focus on the look and functionality and forget a great experience requires desirability and satisfaction. What brings people back? What makes people care? What makes people become fans? Too often the production misses the artistry that makes things special. Letting people “cook” when they are inspired or excited leads to a lot of great new opportunities. But we don't need to be different for the sake of it either.
(DIR) Post #AaHhtskQpHafLZrpw0 by rikard@topspicy.social
2023-09-30T06:39:33Z
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@clive Yes. I've never understood people calling themselves "content creators".
(DIR) Post #AaHmbYFWne4CKYUVSC by TenPastTwo@mas.to
2023-09-30T07:32:15Z
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@clive I can't stand calling prose "copy" either. Appreciate it comes from the printing process but why overload an already very overloaded word when we already have a precise word.
(DIR) Post #AaHoVPTKijnjHM9CwC by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
2023-09-30T07:53:34Z
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@clive I can see how the term "content" came about to try to be inclusive of a variety of media, but what I absolutely can't abide is the term "consuming content", an implication that, for example, a piece of music is somehow a scarce good, that creative exchange is somehow used up by the normal process of human intercourse.
(DIR) Post #AaHobDMie6PrT5p0bo by nick_appleyard@mastodonapp.uk
2023-09-30T07:54:26Z
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@clive @tim Oh “design” is a huge, flabby, inchoate word which has the extraordinary property of having quite precisely defined sub-categories (called “design” and “design”) which are entirely separate from each other.It’s a brilliant word for constructive ambiguity!See also “sustainability”.
(DIR) Post #AaHpvnqsncl6NJJOSW by nick_appleyard@mastodonapp.uk
2023-09-30T08:09:33Z
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@clive “Content” says you are looking at things from the perspective of the container, not of the contained.
(DIR) Post #AaHs4JLPnLOIGvmH4q by YamakaziTaiga@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T08:33:26Z
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@clive so, as an alternative... overrated crap?
(DIR) Post #AaHtNfnqcPBtNlsCg4 by semele@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T08:47:51Z
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@clive It was longer than a 9 min read coz I had to keep stopping to think. Anyway, I added a good few 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
(DIR) Post #AaHu9BfByojFo2TtC4 by Ertain@mast.linuxgamecast.com
2023-09-30T08:56:47Z
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@clive Thanks for sharing.
(DIR) Post #AaHvvkdRMJRs7hNmfw by roblaing@mstdn.social
2023-09-30T09:16:43Z
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@clive The word "content" becoming popular in newspaper management coincided with the demise of the industry.
(DIR) Post #AaI032sGLQ1eXC37Fw by MOULE@mastodon.moule.world
2023-09-30T10:02:00Z
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@clive And artists are now called "content creators"...eugh. It sounds so soulless! Artists are not "content factories" and should create because they want to, not create "content" to fuel algorithms. :MOULE_Cry:
(DIR) Post #AaI03zHRBycrg4H2Y4 by RustyBertrand@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T10:01:45Z
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@clive Human product Brain juiceResources ExtractContent is people!Tread lightly, for you tread on my dreams.
(DIR) Post #AaI3VHTjwFw5nfjafw by boris@ashlande.rs
2023-09-30T10:41:38Z
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@clive @peterme 100% second this! Patrick put a ton of work into it.
(DIR) Post #AaIBEZzQf20lvD6UgS by jaycruz@fosstodon.org
2023-09-30T12:08:14Z
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@clive Here’s a couple words I like to use instead of content.Writing that isn’t an individual perspective or expression is called copy.Video to fill in is called b-roll or stock footage.Music that’s for the mundane utility of filling silence is called muzak, elevator music, samples, and even, some movie soundtracks.
(DIR) Post #AaIM6yPh4MymqixraC by RememberUsAlways@newsie.social
2023-09-30T14:09:18Z
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@clive It's likely more beneficial to stop referring to ourselves as #consumers before we let #corporate redefine more terms in #human #culture .If they had their way, #slavery would be legal as it was for over a thousand years.
(DIR) Post #AaISoXWyyivDwRWzWS by hayesstw@c.im
2023-09-30T15:25:10Z
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@clive Back in the 90s when the web was young people started saying that in order to get people to look at web pages, and then come back and look at them again, they must have content. They must have something to say that people would want to read. By "content" they meant that -- something to say -- at a time when many people were putting up websites with no content but lots of jiggling graphics and other stuff to demonstrate their self-defined cleverness, but it was quite clear that they had nothing to say. You're n ot going back to look as yet another "animated" (ie jiggling") graphic thingy. So content was used to mean, well, content, as opposed not no content. It's got rather debased since then, but it did originally mean something.
(DIR) Post #AaIZr4afjaQGjSPbKy by hapbt@epsilon.social
2023-09-30T16:44:03Z
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@clive https://youtu.be/PiCGli9f_RI?feature=shared
(DIR) Post #AaIh2taj9bGVm01RSK by smigol@rigcz.club
2023-09-30T18:05:31Z
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@clive I never understood what strange jobs like "content creator" meant.
(DIR) Post #AaIjV7VPDMu2wa7SU4 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:32:07Z
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@float13 @nick_appleyard @tim lololol
(DIR) Post #AaIjcKWFEGApKcwwLo by etherdiver@ravenation.club
2023-09-30T18:32:17Z
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@clive Hear Hear! Wonderfully explained.
(DIR) Post #AaIjcvzxsivpZW8hJQ by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:32:20Z
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@smigol It would imply, yeah
(DIR) Post #AaIjrKd966He1LKaDw by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:33:30Z
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@hapbt 🤘 🤖
(DIR) Post #AaIjxzVI2oOgWZpdom by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:34:37Z
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@hayesstw Yeah, I see that -- and it still has a usefully specific meaning in the realm of design and UX, as several folks have pointed out here on MastodonIt's more the *mission creep* of the word, as it has leaked into the world at large, and the C suite
(DIR) Post #AaIk9vY2ZqIBjOoHqK by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:35:13Z
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@etherdiver So glad you enjoyed it!
(DIR) Post #AaIkGj0zZabMt6aqv2 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:35:47Z
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@RememberUsAlways Excellent point -- "consumer", as a word, has done even more damage to how people see the world, and themselves
(DIR) Post #AaIkPdpQE4vhPMQvA0 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:36:15Z
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@jaycruz Yep yep -- those are all good and specific words!
(DIR) Post #AaIkcNbZr5G8rC21GC by OneBlindMouse@mastodon.scot
2023-09-30T10:14:30Z
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@peterme @clive It's an interesting point... to a point but when do we rise up against the word 'concept'..?There's an idea (not a prevailing one but in development) in music that people separate being a musician and a content creator but it can feel a little 'snobby'. The "I'm writing proper songs, not content." thingThe biggest devaluing feature of music is that we, as (amateur) musicians, simply produce so much of it that it's almost impossible to describe. We need a term of reference.
(DIR) Post #AaIkcOihi4YQJaNE0W by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:38:29Z
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@OneBlindMouse @peterme Yeah, I think I've heard that distinction tooMe, though, I do not really want an overarching term of reference. I'm happy to do the extra bit of intellectual labor to call each thing by its name, even if it requires longer clauses ...
(DIR) Post #AaIki37yu0jn5KtM00 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:39:06Z
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@MOULE Every time I hear "content creator" a piece of my immortal soul breaks offand falls into the plutonian abyss
(DIR) Post #AaIknlOXkIKHpDMZxg by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:39:31Z
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@RustyBertrand hear hear
(DIR) Post #AaIkuu3FxVWOhToKmm by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:40:52Z
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@kevin lol yeahI really do not like that term eitherThough at least it has a *smidgen* of specificity to itIt honors the fact that the person is creating somethingIt should be more specific, obviouslyBut it's not a database's-eye view of thing, which is what "content" implies
(DIR) Post #AaIl7mEAMMPECP3Ja4 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:42:01Z
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@semele So glad you liked it!
(DIR) Post #AaIlFnpaHWe5UNNiPA by tim@phire.place
2023-09-30T04:57:52Z
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@clive but you’re confusing a part for the whole. Most of what gets published is not essays or movies or comments, or even text, images, audio, and video. (I can imagine someone objecting “I don’t make VIDEOS, I make CINEMA.”) It’s user manuals, recipes, bank statements, hospital bills, games and puzzles, personal messages of various kinds and genres, FAQs, pricing information, technical details, a shocking amount of metadata, and I could go on and on
(DIR) Post #AaIlFpRYHqbuUQ9YDw by tim@phire.place
2023-09-30T04:58:15Z
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@clive Designers and publishers and content strategists and information architects and UX writers need a word to describe all of that stuff, and that word is CONTENT
(DIR) Post #AaIlFqRaZCEZapB5v6 by econads@chaos.social
2023-09-30T08:36:47Z
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@tim @clive yes, as with nearly everything, it's context dependent. Kind of still need that word for my job.. It's just escaped it's normal habitat and is now an invasive weed in normal public discourse.
(DIR) Post #AaIlFrErbzeK3eERiy by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:42:31Z
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@econads @tim Yes, precisely -- this latter point is basically what I was agitating against
(DIR) Post #AaIlLKeRgSXYj9oAAC by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:42:47Z
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@YamakaziTaiga 😂
(DIR) Post #AaIlRDkmF7Tv4UZsCu by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:43:06Z
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@nick_appleyard Yes -- it's the view of the world from the perspective of the database
(DIR) Post #AaIlSijEZ0VRQdZSDI by AubreyDeLosDestinos@101010.pl
2023-09-30T18:55:02Z
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@clive @smigol, okay.
(DIR) Post #AaIlXRQEKuOtCXvuls by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:43:58Z
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@nick_appleyard @tim Yep yepThose are both terms that in danger of being drained of any serious meaning
(DIR) Post #AaIlg1oOvJq8NZKjJ2 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:45:11Z
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@withaveeay Agreed -- I can understand why the term initially had appeal, and still has utility in design areas"Consuming content" is the grotesque side-effect of the term leaching out into public discourse, and -- worse -- into the C suite
(DIR) Post #AaIlglpjogF372JRmC by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:41:33Z
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@roblaing Precisely!!
(DIR) Post #AaIlmdgR1z5BZal9oO by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:46:43Z
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@TenPastTwo Yeah, copy has its own problemsBut at least, as you note, it has a pedigree, and a long-understood meaning ... it hasn't metastasized to become a stand-in in the mainstream for "all words sequentially arranged" ...... the way "content" has become a stand-in for "meaningful human art and utterances"
(DIR) Post #AaIlsSse6qLlo0FVSq by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:46:56Z
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@xi Yes, bang on
(DIR) Post #AaIlxUPhpuaO0b6nfk by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:47:13Z
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@rikard It's barbaric
(DIR) Post #AaIm3YpaKEhPRk6mDA by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:47:29Z
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@SloanStudio Very true!
(DIR) Post #AaImD8lC6w8DU8ceps by jmbwell@jmbwell.me
2023-09-30T18:47:23Z
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@clive@saturation.social as @drewtoothpaste@mastodon.social wisely wrote, they trained us to call it “content” to make us think of the website selling it instead of the person who thought it up and wrote it
(DIR) Post #AaImJZkcflkkvuQKq8 by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:49:13Z
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@ramsey @timbray @kissane @tim Yes yes -- he brilliantly lands that moment!!
(DIR) Post #AaImPIAOxmiM8NCvAW by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:49:45Z
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@jmbwell @drewtoothpaste 💯
(DIR) Post #AaImbJztyzZlHq24NE by semele@mastodon.social
2023-09-30T18:53:00Z
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@clive Oh yes. And I especially liked a couple of lines, such as the one about the typical Silicon Valley attitude, and something else. It chimes with a lot of things that are usually running through my mind. I liked the tone, too - not shallow, but a light-hearted feel to it, too. So thanks!
(DIR) Post #AaImqKVGNtFfCPrFNA by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T18:48:43Z
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@law_geek AbsolutelyThey would love to reduce all human expression to "a jumble of interchangeable bits in our database, which we can deploy to momentarily command an audience's attention"
(DIR) Post #AaInAMcIEiqjXshOlM by clive@saturation.social
2023-09-30T19:03:08Z
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@semele Excellent!
(DIR) Post #AaInKmKZUEW2BzNMpM by RememberUsAlways@newsie.social
2023-09-30T19:11:01Z
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@clive 👍
(DIR) Post #AaJLqNQH1hMAeLHXLU by hayesstw@c.im
2023-10-01T01:41:48Z
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@clive I think the rot set in when people started advertising for "content-creators". That was getting it backwards.You don't, or shouldn't, start a web site and then look for something to say on it. You first have something to say and decide whether a web site is a good medium for saying it. You may hire writers and graphic designers etc to help you say it better, but they are not "content-creators".
(DIR) Post #AaJV4XMFmeAf6YEE6a by clive@saturation.social
2023-10-01T03:24:26Z
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@hayesstw Yes and yes
(DIR) Post #AaJi1xfMoQsXEYGqXI by ChristianFill@troet.cafe
2023-10-01T05:50:26Z
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@clive Thx for sharing! I am in the content business for more than 20 years - and I liked every word of your essay. 🙋♂️
(DIR) Post #AaL5yU2x4ad2Yk8Xs8 by GrayRabbit@toad.social
2023-10-01T21:53:18Z
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@clive @thoughtshopper Data is information.
(DIR) Post #AaMHFO1a0eyTSViXwW by clive@saturation.social
2023-10-02T11:33:43Z
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@thoughtshopper @GrayRabbit Yes!