mink

I return, about 6 months later. No, I didn't forget about my blog, nor the people that may (read: may never) read it. Oh no. What I may have forgotten is how valuable an activity blogging can be.  Where I work now , time is of the essence. Here's an Edward Said nightmare: We are trying to sell to people who have very little to spend; they need to be in many places at once, and are not as mobile as society may think they are. They are sensitive to change, but are demanding about their aspirations. So when it comes to our products, services and sales routes, we are constantly moving, shifting, trying.  That leaves me with little time to think and do the things I write about here.  I used to think this situation was a binary choice and, therefore, a problem. However, I have come to think of the "binary" in a different way: It isn't about time; it's about ideas.  A friend once told me that I would either spend the rest of my life building someone...

I attended a MOTO meet up yesterday after a few months. We heard from a new member - Najma - who had written a piece on beliefs, discussed writing and editing, and watched Samaki Mchangani .  The discussion on writing and editing was intriguing: Some of us were of the opinion that it is mandatory to go over one's writing and make it perfect by consolidating ideas and throwing unneeded ideas out. Others (me included) were of the opinion that sometimes the most potent way you can express an emotion is in the very moment you pen it down for the first time; any iterations beyond this instance waters the emotion down to suit public convention.  In the background, a question lingered: Is all of emotion able to be relayed through words?

Here I will refer to "traditional" content as content that is translated via TV, newspapers and radio; it is centrally produced and once published cannot be changed. I will refer to "digital" content as content that is translated via the Internet; it can be produced by any number of people and can be changed even after publication. The primary difference between traditional and digital content is that the reader cannot know how many times the digital content has been edited over, or by who. In order to build an audience that trusts digital content, digital content creators (including curators, editors, etc) need to be open in their approach to their content. This requires transparency with both, contributors as well as readers. It also requires a consistent editorial policy, such that content is edited in the same ways, following the same rules, across all articles. These are developing thoughts.