Publishing is a crazy game. One person creating something to communicate to others – usually many others. In recent years (the last century or so) we’ve taken printing to crazy levels; and created various media that give us the opportunity to talk simultaneously to millions via live and pre-recorded messages and, more recently, a medium has come along that allows us to quickly and effectively communicate in a variety of ways that just boggle the mind.
The newbies*
Blogging and easy to use website builders mean there are more people than ever before engaged in one-to-many communication; in crafting a message and sharing it with others – publishing. Barriers are falling down all the time; citizen journalism has arisen and Facebook has led a charge against a modern trend towards privacy. We are all sharing more and more and yet not many have experience, skills or knowledge of the impact this is having or of the age-learned ways to avoid this leading to problems – legal or otherwise. (*newcomers)
Old hacks
The publishers of old have largely been taken by surprise by the digital revolution, many were late to the game, many more still don’t seem to get it. An understanding of how to turn it to commercial advantage has passed many by and others have found themselves regretting past trials.
Journalism and writing itself haven’t changed – just as communication hasn’t.
Social media
The biggest recent change is the emergence of social media – the ease in which people can update their friends; the ability for people to create, publish and share immediately. How do we take advantage of this to ensure our message gets out there and how do we effectively interact with the audiences we create. We’re moving faster and faster from a one-way, broadcast, approach to communication and into a new openness – a chance for
Other channels
Digital has changed the landscape of publishing in so many ways, one of the most interesting is it has changed print. Not only has it impacted in some negative ways (reduced circulations of some publications, preference to receive news online etc) but it has also provided a whole new set of options for those in publishing. Magazines can be published much cheaper than ever before – from virtually free if distributed digitally through to options to easi
So what?
Well, it’s my personal belief that a lot of the core values of publishing have not changed. The Law, for one has neither caught up, nor changed, so the requirement to be honest, ethical and representative is still a requirement – especially when talking about a person (or other ‘entity). In addition the guiding
And – WePublish?
Along with others I’ve keenly watched the changing landscape, last year’s ‘Talk About Local‘ unconference provided a starting point and local groups such as Cultural Conversations, Northern Bloggers and Social Media Surgery are all helping those from around the city to share expertise, skills and experiences. Alongside these are no end of technology-focused user groups and meetups.
But what we didn’t have was an event focused on providing a single place where everyone could go to share their thoughts, ideas and tips on how to get the most from all this publishing opportunity. How to ensure what they do answers their own need – and that of their selected audience.
And so, WePublish – a brand new event aimed at content creators across the city – journalists, writers, bloggers, webmasters and anyone who creates ideas and communications that are shared with others – and asks them to take a day out to sit down and share with one another.
I’ll be chairing the event and I’d love to see you all there;
- WePublish is to be held on Sat 22nd January. 10.30 – 4.30.
- at Old Broadcasting House, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2. Directions.
- Entry: £5 (payable in advance – includes lunch and refreshments). On the day places may be available; updates via Twitter.
Great idea and I’m sorry I can’t be there. This is of real interest to everyone in Leeds in the business of information sharing. Certainly I find in my job when drawing together stakeholders around a particular cultural issue or initiative that peoples’appetitite for better information and better co-ordination of that information is inexhaustible.
Although I can’t be at the event I’d like to share a self-publishing platform I’ve helped create – http://bookleteer.com – it’s free to sign up and use to create Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes which are simple-to-make hybrid digital/paper publications (we have an online library of hundreds of free-to-download titles at http://diffusion.org.uk ).
We’d love to see more people use them for hyper-local, creative or other types of projects and welcome anyone to sign up and experiment away. Perhaps you might design a notebook for participants at the event, or use it to create a shareable record of the days ideas and outcomes?
cheers, Giles
Hi Jon,
I’m really looking forward to the WePublish event; in fact I think I was one of the first to buy a ticket. But then as Nick Copland recently said I am a bit of a fanboy for this sort of thing (his actual phrase was “low hanging fruit!” . . . nice to know how one is perceived in some quarters, isn’t it!) But I did want to register a major disagreement and a minor disgruntlement over what you said in your post.
I think a lot about writing . . . and I think about writing a lot (see what I just did there, ha.) Digital technologies and social media fundamentally change the way we write, make the old image of writing as a one way transaction – like God carving the tablets of stone – totally redundant. Writing isn’t about managing messages and crafting communications any more – nobody takes any notice of that one shot, top down, arrogant shut up and listen stuff anyway – it’s about entering a conversation, as one voice amongst others, tentative and experimental, human and humorous. That’s why I still think we are on the right track with Cultural Conversations, which is less about “publishing” and more about “engaging.”
I’ve been part of all the previous Cultural Conversations, talked about everything from how to use RSS feeds and the pros and cons of various blogging platforms, discussed the ethical implications of “fearless blogging” and the political ramifications of developing a personal voice in big organisations, debated the right way to use social media as a tool for change and argued passionately about the value of active, reflective engagement in the life of this particular city at this particular time. And I’ve talked with people I’d never normally meet, from financial services, marketing, academia, large, forbidding cultural institutions . . . and even The Council (they are human beings too, I was genuinely shocked!) I don’t think we’ve exhausted the potential of Cultural Conversations by a long way, even if participants don’t choose to “publish” or even engage in any social media. That’s why I’ll be going to the next Cultural Conversation event at PSL on Feb 1st, Contemporary Art Meets Social Media, as well as the WePublish event. I think both have a lot to offer.
I agree, largely – but wrap it up however you want; it’s still publishing!
Cultural Conversations and WePublish have a lot in common and I look forward to our day long ‘conversation’ about contemporary publishing in Leeds – in all it’s forms.
Any chance you could finish those two hanging sentences? You’ve got me on tenterhooks there!