Making 15 Minutes Count
Digital Author Case Study: @newyorknico’s Nicolas Heller
Working closely in an intensely creative way with someone you don’t really know, let alone have ever met in person, might seem like a potential creative constraint, to put it mildly. But what I learned about digital authorship through the process of digitally co-authoring digital content with a digital author about a digital author, is that the only real constraints besides physical or logistical ones are those we place on what we think we are capable of.
What I really liked about this experience was the challenge it posed to partner up in a short time frame to creatively critically analyze the work of a digital author of any media platform or content. I honestly didn’t have a strong inclination of who I might want to study, just lots of possibilities. When I first saw Mariana’s online pitch to recruit a partner to study @newyorknico, I was intrigued but intimidated; I initially thought that I wasn’t good enough to work with Mariana — looking at her body of work, experience, and accomplishments, she’s like the person I want to be when I grow up — even though there’s only three years between us. But then I thought two things: I want to learn from her, and I also want to learn about the digital author she suggested.
Mariana is a graphic design diva with mad wordsmithing skills whose second nature seems to be collaboration. I appreciated her energetic intensity and creative focus on the micro from the get-go in our project. The partnership flowed quickly after the first email exchange and throughout the evolution of the video creation and production. Leveraging asynchronous tools like Google Drive and WeVideo, along with a healthy dose of emails, doc comment messages and a virtual work session, we worked through the ideas from notes to script to slides to video; our own strengths came into play naturally, complementing each other, in a strangely balanced way.
Through this project, I’ve learned that I really like collaborating, and learning new approaches, habits, and tools from new collaborators. The creative constraint of time — both in time to put the video analysis together to the max time length of the actual video analysis — forced us to dive right in and not get caught up in overthinking things. I appreciated the work style, communicative flow and open flexibility of my partner Mariana, and felt comfortable sharing ideas and offering suggestions, building on them layer by layer. Creative collaboration can be so rewarding if you are open to the process.
Not knowing of Nicolas Heller, a.k.a. @newyorknico, before this project, I quickly fell in love with the colorful real-life characters he features through his Instagram profile. In exploring them and their lives through images and video clips, it made me really smile, laugh, and even get a little verklempt; reviewing his feed made me miss New York. I mean, once you hear the Green Lady of Brooklyn laugh or see Lil’ Mo Mozzarella bust somebody’s chops, you can’t resist seeing who else is living inside these snapshots of humanity from the Big Apple. What’s really noteworthy about Heller is that he’s using his nuanced talents as a filmmaker to capture what makes New York New York — its people. This digital content born of artistic appreciation turned social media advocacy and humanitarianism is also what makes Heller like very few other digital authors creating social media content. Heller’s unassuming use of emotional truth and emotional valence could make him a future example in an updated version of Create to Learn. In Heller’s ability to highlight the most unusual of personalities featured in @newyorknico’s feed, we surprisingly see our own shared experiences, and ourselves, in them.
Through this digital case study project, I’ve realized what positive social media can look like that helps us stay connected, empathetic, and human. I do wonder if the term “influencer” is really appropriate for a digital author like Heller, considering the kind of influence he’s been able to accomplish in contrast to what initially comes to mind. Does there need to be a new term for the current social media interpretation of this loaded label? Or maybe with more digital authors like Heller, we will come to see influencing as meaning something other than what it commonly means? Will digital authors like Heller cause us not only to care, but to change how we see what influence should mean, and cause, in the digital sphere?
Digital Author Case Study Works Cited
Carmel, J. (2021, February 12). The Work Diary of the Unofficial Talent Scout of New York City. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/business/nico-heller-new-york-city.html
Heller, N. (n.d.). @newyorknico Instagram Profile. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.instagram.com/newyorknico/?hl=en
Heller, N. (2020). When @gizmo_vintage_honey tell you she has an idea for a video, you do it no questions asked. @newyorknico Instagram profile. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.instagram.com/p/CEJ16qpn6PA/
Hobbs, R. (2017). Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Phillips, G. (2021, July 11). The heart of NYC: How New York Nico has rebuilt the community. TheRichest. https://www.therichest.com/rich-powerful/new-york-nico-nicolas-heller/
Robinson, E. (2022, January 14). LES small business owner says social media saved his shop. Spectrum News NY1.https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/01/14/les-small-business-owner-says-social-media-saved-his-shop
Shop local with New York Nico. (2020, October 11). The Shopkeepers. https://www.theshopkeepers.com/shop-local-with-new-york-nico/
The fabulous queen of Brooklyn’s vintage clothing: Meet gizmo vintage honey. (2021, April 2). ABC7 New York. https://abc7ny.com/best-vintage-stores-in-nyc-clothing-new-york-nico-nicolas-heller/10463965/
Vespoli, L. (2021, June 18). The big-hearted influence of @newyorknico. GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/the-influence-of-new-york-nico
Yaptangco, A. (2021, November 29). New York Nico is helping Save New York City, one Instagram post at a time. ELLE. https://www.elle.com/culture/a34057203/new-york-nico-nicolas-heller-interview/
