Went for a walk in the rain today. Everything was going great until a gust of wind destroyed my umbrella. I guess I’m in the market for a new umbrella now.
I heard the rain when I woke up this morning and assumed we’d skip our morning walk. I was wrong. Liz still wanted to get our walk in. We headed out back and walked for a couple of miles in a cold drizzle. We’re incredibly lucky to have these trails in our backyard and I’m glad we are taking advantage of them.
Moving past commentary-driven media
Maybe it’s time for something different.
For years, I listened to local sports talk radio on my commute home. I live in the middle of SEC country, and — especially during football season — the talk shows were full of callers who were mostly annoying and overly opinionated.1 The host of the show was great and I really enjoyed his commentary, so I kept listening. One day, after a particularly obnoxious sequence of callers, I tweeted something like “I’d love a sports talk show without callers” and tagged him. He responded, thanked me for listening, but said that most people didn’t want to listen to him talk for a couple of hours. They tuned in for the callers. That was the format.
Audience commentary is part of every type of media. With newspapers, we’ve long had editorial pages, op-eds and letters to the editor. Radio has a whole sub-genre of talk radio that features callers giving their opinions and arguing with hosts. Television never really developed a feedback format because of obvious technical limitations, but developed something similar. Panel discussion shows are basically talk radio with a standard roster of characters, arguing with each other and representing viewer opinions.
The internet made commentary even easier. In the early days of the web, every news site and blog added comments to their stories to encourage feedback. The feedback quickly turned to meaningless noise, filled with extreme opinions and spam. Social media took it one step further. Facebook and Twitter are essentially just the comments section. Commentary became the media.
Some people love to read the letters to the editor and listen to talk radio. Many people — judging by ratings — watch television shows with a panel of guests arguing with each other about news or sports. There are people want to read the comments on news sites, although I don’t understand why anyone would subject themselves to that. And there are people who truly enjoy social media. This is all commentary-driven media.
I’ve realized that I don’t like any of those things.
I like to read articles that provoke thought. I visit news sites and blogs that cover my (many) areas of interest. I use an RSS reader to track all of these sites. I follow photographers, videographers and creators who make original art. I listen to podcasts that add value and knowledge. I follow people on social media who are experts in their field, but I rarely respond or comment on their posts. Yes, I want to be entertained, but I also want to learn and be challenged. In contrast to the commentary-driven media, I suppose this is expert-driven media.
The reality is that most people prefer the commentary-driven approach. They feel part of the conversation. They can contribute if they want. They want to hear the opinions of others and argue about topics. Our current social media landscape was designed for them. They want to feel that their opinion is a vital part of the conversation. That is the format.
Cultivating an expert-driven media environment is tougher and it appeals to a smaller audience. But there is a significant audience. There are plenty of people who want to read posts and articles from people who know what they are talking about. An ample audience of people who want to listen to podcasts and watch informative videos. We just have to design a system that prioritizes meaningful content and encourages sharing well-thought out responses over quick, thoughtless knee-jerk commentary.
With the implosion of Twitter, I feel like we have an opportunity to build something different. I’m happy with Micro.Blog right now and look forward to its continued development. I’m interested in the resurgence of RSS 2 and the momentum behind new indie-web protocols like ActivityPub. I’m encouraged that so many people are experimenting with different approaches to “social” media. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
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Every third caller wants their team to throw more to the tight end.
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Some of us never let RSS go.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
Six years ago today, I wrote a post about some Micro.Blog Kickstarter that I was excited about.
Just finished a nice hike.
I know the name is officially still in use, but if Apple ever manages to release an electric car, they should recycle the name “Claris.” Apple Claris sounds like an EV.
My wife and I are discussing a tropical vacation to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We visited a couple of resort web sites and I followed a couple of interesting options on Instagram. Now, every ad I see is for a Caribbean resort.
I occassionally do this thing where I go to bed early, then wake up at 2 am and work until about 4 am. I find that I’m more productive after some sleep. Thankfully, I’ve learned to schedule my emails for delivery at normal times, so people don’t think that I’m insane.
Our house is on a golf course that went out of business. Long story, but the course was eventually purchased by the original developer and gifted to the local rec commission. It’s taken a while for them to rebuild pedestrian bridges and do some improvements, but now, the park has about 4.5 miles of (very hilly) trails accessible from our back yard. Went on a wonderful walk with my wife this weekend and discovered trails I never knew existed.
Finally got around to watching Glass Onion. So much fun. Going to have to watch it again to catch all the details.
I’ve been walking on Main Street at lunch this week. Today, I ran into a bunch of friends who were also out and about. Almost had a pre-COVID vibe.
Looks like BMW has found a use for color e-ink technology… car exteriors.
Every time Sticker Mule has holographic stickers on sale, I end up buying some. I love the way they look and $29 for 50 die cut stickers is a great deal. Just got to figure out what I want to order.
My 11-year-old son is cleaning out his backpack after winter break. I’m not sure how he accumulated so much junk and trash.
Getting back into the normal rhythm this morning. My wife has to work today so the alarm was set for the first time in two weeks. Brutally early. Tomorrow, the kids are heading back to school and I’ve got work, but I wanted to get back on schedule so I’m up, too.
The Verge wants us to bring back personal blogging.
2023 was a great year for Star Trek. Strange New Worlds was my favorite new Trek, but lost in the shuffle was Star Trek: Prodigy, which just wrapped up its first season with a spectacular finale. Smart show with a solid arc. If you like Star Trek, give it a shot on Paramount+.
I want to keep a daily journal in 2023. I’ve tried DayOne several times in the past. Love the app, but I’ve never stuck with it for more than a few weeks. Any recommendations for other apps/services/approaches that have worked for you?
Who Wants the Metaverse? An interesting academic look at the history of the term “Metaverse.”
Reset: 2023
Trying to find balance
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I ever found my footing after the pandemic shut everything down. I’ve been trucking along keeping everything going, but the last half of 2022 was especially challenging. This rhythm and pace is not sustainable and it’s time to reset the balance between family, work and school.
Family is first, as always, but even more so now that my oldest is about to head off to college. I want to spend quality time with her before she moves out and heads to school. Work is going well, but is constantly busy. With graduate school, I’m taking the spring semester off to spend some time getting into a new routine.
For 2023, I need to focus on four areas: health, writing, organization and creativity.
Focus on physical and mental health
I’ve got a list of things to work on — from getting enough sleep to finding time to walk at lunch. I feel like I know what I need to do, but making time for a healthy life has been challenging over the last year. I need to develop consistent, healthy habits.
Write more
I’ve been writing for school almost constantly for the last year. And that’s great, but it’s come at the expense of writing for myself. I’ll still be writing for grad school, and hopefully getting some journal articles published this year, but I want to expand the type of writing I’m doing and improve my skills. Writing on bobwertz.com (via Micro.Blog) is going to be my primary personal writing outlet for the year.
Smartly organized
In general, I’m organized, but there are some areas that are an absolute train wreck. I’m working on some using the tools I have — like Notion and Tot — more effectively. There’s a fine line here, though. Time spent on getting organized is time that I’m not working out, writing or designing.
Rediscover creative endeavors
I’m a designer, but I’m not designing much right now. I have a bunch of projects, from stickers to typefaces that I want to work on. These always end up on the back burner when family commitments and grad school deadlines take priority. I need to carve out some time for visually creative projects that I’ve been neglecting.
I’m looking forward to hitting the reset button and restoring some balance to my slightly chaotic life. In past years, I’ve shared a check-in post at the midpoint of the year to evaluate how I’m doing on my theme and goals. This year, I’m going to try and post quarterly to keep myself accountable.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
Got word this week that a book review I wrote for New Media and Society was approved for publication. It feels so wonderful to have this finalized before the end of the year.
Just bought some Nanoleaf smart lightbulbs for our bedroom lamps. Setup with HomeKit was incredibly easy and the price was reasonable. I really like them.
At my daughter’s physical therapy session and it’s hard to believe she had an ACL repair just over a month ago. She’s moving really well and her leg strength is improving rapidly.
Merry Christmas from Team Wertz. 🎄
