Spin Doctor #1
Creation vs. Content?
My thoughts on Jeff Jarvis’ thoughts @ Wither News that make me wonder whether journalists / writers actually are the ‘creators’ of content.
As content creators / manufacturers we recycle, analyze, dissect, and re-assemble aspects of reality. By re-assembling the parts in a different context and frame, the writer / journalist hopefully offers the reader a different and deeper perspective.
The differentiation between authentic / natural / genuine, and artificial / created / product may be misconceived. Nothing is original in the meaning of born / created out of nothing. No aspect of reality can be considered natural resources. Reality already is the product of processes that had altered its previous state/s. Likewise every form of content, even so called authentic echoes of reality ( the ‘source’ ) are the product of recycled matter, created by input of new ( mental / emotional / psychic ) energy = creativity. The act of framing and shooting already adds surplus and alters the authentic / elusive moment of NOW by snapping and slicing it from the flow of evanescent life.
Creativity produces surplus in equivalence to Karl Marx’ theory of surplus in economics. As labor adds value to natural resources and makes them more useful and thus more valuable to the user / consumer, likewise the writer / journalist ( and every other creative workforce ) adds labor, knowledge and in-depth perception to aspects of reality that are given.
The market value of the product / content is determined by the demand which in turn is an expression of the consumers’ ‘information pain’ ( a term coined by Tim O’Reilly, if I’m not mistaken ). The more on target with such a need, the more valuable the content is in economic terms.
The craft of a writer / journalist, however, is not in doing market research and answering existing needs, needs that have been expressed; this would be a poor form of whoring, never mind it being practiced widely. A writer / journalist of value answers needs that are still in hibernation and have not been expressed yet. Being ahead of their time, they sense topics / agendas / pains and needs that are festering and about to break through the barrier of our preoccupied and distracted attention.
[ P.S.: I plead guilty of using images / illustrations that I have not created nor do I own the copyright on them. To ask for permission by the copyright holders would be the proper and professional procedure, but I lack the resources and time to do so. The few times I did in the beginning of my blogging ‘career’, I never got an answer, and by waiting the post would become irrelevant. Copyright holders who feel violated may let me know and I will amend. Should I find the time and resources in the future, I shall provide my own illustrations. ]
