Physical and Online Spaces
1) Ever seen a dog planking? This one compared to the one last week that could barely contain itself from jumping into a pool is just another example of personal differences. Also, not all are such good nannies.
2) I had a gift card for Target so I walked over there this week to see if I could find some items our usual store isn't carrying. They have remodeled the store and clearly know where their money is made. The beauty/skin care section is now enormous and close to the front of the store. The shaving section seems to indicate hardly any men shop there given that most of what exists is targeted at women. Also of interest is that even though it was the day after Halloween, only half a shelf of items were left for sale. This seemed equally true at Meijer, where today's grocery shopping failed to turn up any aisle of leftover Halloween content. This is rather puzzling given that the week before there was plenty of stuff still.
I walked over to the newish Five Below store because I wanted to see if they carried any sugar-free candy. Answer: no. And there was also only one side of a display with any Halloween items. Lastly I went to Dollar Tree as I saw someone on Amazon had mentioned that they carried sugar-free items, but I didn't see any. Also very little Halloween stuff. Is this just another sign of supply chain shortages? I noticed our toilet paper aisle at the grocery was cleared out this week, which I haven't seen for over a year.
Speaking of Dollar Tree, it is striking to me how most of the prices are kept low…by reducing the sizes of the items. For example, I buy chocolate-caramel sugar-free Werthers every year. They had them there, but in a smaller size than at the grocery. Ironically the one thing that is a great buy is also the one thing where a small size would be handy - spices. Although there are maybe 10 items besides salt and pepper, they are all large sizes! But they were $1 as was the jar of pesto.
3) The eBook extortion by publishers, particularly when it comes to libraries, just keeps getting more outrageous:
"The #ebookSOS campaign has put together a spreadsheet listing dozens of named examples. One title cost £29.99 as a physical book, and £1,306.32 for a single-user ebook license. As if those prices weren't high enough, it's common for publishers to raise the cost with no warning, and to withdraw ebook licenses already purchased. One of the worst aspects is the following:
Publishers are increasingly offering titles via an etextbook model, via third party companies, licensing content for use by specific, very restricted, cohorts of students on an annual basis. Quotes for these are usually hundreds, or sometimes thousands, times more than a print title, and this must be paid each year for new cohorts of students to gain access. This is exclusionary, restricts interdisciplinary research, and is unsustainable."
4) Adobe and news orgs are working on a new tool that could identify a photo’s origin - and combat misinformation. Seems to me that tool would also be useful in fandom for identifying art plagiarism and who originally created stuff.
5) I've seen people on Pillowfort and once or twice here on DW ask about how to start posting regularly and what they should post about. And as I've left comments on some of those posts I thought I'd just write up some thoughts here and then link to them the next time I come across one.
I think that posting practices rest on a couple of factors - tools, time, intention, and personality. For example, I spend most of each day at a computer, which I think simplifies things a lot in terms of preparing posts. Most people spend much more time with a phone instead, which makes things more difficult, especially if the platform being used is not as helpful (i.e. offering post queues)
But I think it's easy enough to create drafts for posts, just that it may be more of a pain to copy them over to a post form if you've only got a phone. I usually use a Word Doc but when I'm away from the computer I use an email draft on my phone that I dictate into.
Time is often an issue. I have a flexible schedule that allows time to work on part of a post each day (though any prep I do is usually more sporadic). If someone else is grabbing minutes in between things or doesn't have freedom during a commute, it's probably hard to devote a lot of thought to any particular topic because of interruptions. That's why having an ongoing draft is helpful, because you can record an idea and expand on it later.
Of course not everything is going to work out. Sometimes an idea goes nowhere or it just feels like too much work to really delve into it during a week or whatever your time frame is. So the question is: what the poster's intention is for making a post (or even keeping up an account)? Unless one is planning to go pro with a social media account (which a lot of people do today), I'd say the best thing is to make it for one's self first. If people like it then they do and if they don't, it's for you anyway, right?
I definitely write for an audience, even if that's 1 or 2 people. But the content I put in it is mostly there because I want a record of it (just like this post!) I have many times searched my own account to find things I've read or discussed in the past because it's relevant to something else. Sometimes I've also seen things that recall life events. It's handy. And it's also a form of self-expression and a way to interact with others, so I find it a worthwhile use of my time.
In terms of content, I read a lot. Sometimes it's from accounts I'm following and sometimes from other sources. I often have thoughts about what I read (or watch or listen to) and decide to link and share here. I kind of discovered my own interests that way, because I recognized I return to certain topics over and over. And I find it's easier to discover what one thinks about things by writing those thoughts out.
I also started this account due to fandom interests which I still have and so I write reviews or meta or comment on things happening in fandom spaces. I post few photos nowadays because it's a nuisance to do on DW and because Pillowfort is so much easier. I rarely post text there, though that's largely because I've had a big back catalog of photos to share. In another year or so when I've gone through all of that, chances are I'll post a lot more text and links.
I think personality affects what people share and how often. It can be a matter of impatience or anxiety or a lack of self-confidence or too much self-confidence. I find I don't really want to post every day. I'm also emailing with friends or talking with people and I have other outlets to share some things. For many years now I adopted a 5 point format for posts because it kept me from posting too often or posting too much.
Sometimes I have a lot to say but the format helps me space it out. Sometimes I don't have enough and so the format keeps a post pending until I have more to say. I chose 5 items (though I sometimes use 3 as well) because that offers a variety of topics to a reader without being too much for a single post. (I have seen posts that are long lists of links with no commentary, and no matter how much I'm interested in the topic, not many people have the time or patience to browse through all that). And since I draft everything in advance, stuff can sit as long as it needs.
What works for me probably won't work for a lot of other people. But I think knowing the "why" you want to do something is important. If it's to have conversations with people, then having a few posts a year to keep the account active is plenty, because you can always engage by commenting on their posts or contributing to communities. If it's to collect stuff on a particular interest, then make it for yourself first and worry about others reading later. If it's to record personal thoughts and life events, does it even need to be public? Making it private takes a lot of stress out of it rather than worrying if you're doing something right or often enough. Ultimately, if posting is not rewarding to you in some way that doesn't depend on other people, don't force it.
View poll: Kudos Footer-324
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
2) I had a gift card for Target so I walked over there this week to see if I could find some items our usual store isn't carrying. They have remodeled the store and clearly know where their money is made. The beauty/skin care section is now enormous and close to the front of the store. The shaving section seems to indicate hardly any men shop there given that most of what exists is targeted at women. Also of interest is that even though it was the day after Halloween, only half a shelf of items were left for sale. This seemed equally true at Meijer, where today's grocery shopping failed to turn up any aisle of leftover Halloween content. This is rather puzzling given that the week before there was plenty of stuff still.
I walked over to the newish Five Below store because I wanted to see if they carried any sugar-free candy. Answer: no. And there was also only one side of a display with any Halloween items. Lastly I went to Dollar Tree as I saw someone on Amazon had mentioned that they carried sugar-free items, but I didn't see any. Also very little Halloween stuff. Is this just another sign of supply chain shortages? I noticed our toilet paper aisle at the grocery was cleared out this week, which I haven't seen for over a year.
Speaking of Dollar Tree, it is striking to me how most of the prices are kept low…by reducing the sizes of the items. For example, I buy chocolate-caramel sugar-free Werthers every year. They had them there, but in a smaller size than at the grocery. Ironically the one thing that is a great buy is also the one thing where a small size would be handy - spices. Although there are maybe 10 items besides salt and pepper, they are all large sizes! But they were $1 as was the jar of pesto.
3) The eBook extortion by publishers, particularly when it comes to libraries, just keeps getting more outrageous:
"The #ebookSOS campaign has put together a spreadsheet listing dozens of named examples. One title cost £29.99 as a physical book, and £1,306.32 for a single-user ebook license. As if those prices weren't high enough, it's common for publishers to raise the cost with no warning, and to withdraw ebook licenses already purchased. One of the worst aspects is the following:
Publishers are increasingly offering titles via an etextbook model, via third party companies, licensing content for use by specific, very restricted, cohorts of students on an annual basis. Quotes for these are usually hundreds, or sometimes thousands, times more than a print title, and this must be paid each year for new cohorts of students to gain access. This is exclusionary, restricts interdisciplinary research, and is unsustainable."
4) Adobe and news orgs are working on a new tool that could identify a photo’s origin - and combat misinformation. Seems to me that tool would also be useful in fandom for identifying art plagiarism and who originally created stuff.
5) I've seen people on Pillowfort and once or twice here on DW ask about how to start posting regularly and what they should post about. And as I've left comments on some of those posts I thought I'd just write up some thoughts here and then link to them the next time I come across one.
I think that posting practices rest on a couple of factors - tools, time, intention, and personality. For example, I spend most of each day at a computer, which I think simplifies things a lot in terms of preparing posts. Most people spend much more time with a phone instead, which makes things more difficult, especially if the platform being used is not as helpful (i.e. offering post queues)
But I think it's easy enough to create drafts for posts, just that it may be more of a pain to copy them over to a post form if you've only got a phone. I usually use a Word Doc but when I'm away from the computer I use an email draft on my phone that I dictate into.
Time is often an issue. I have a flexible schedule that allows time to work on part of a post each day (though any prep I do is usually more sporadic). If someone else is grabbing minutes in between things or doesn't have freedom during a commute, it's probably hard to devote a lot of thought to any particular topic because of interruptions. That's why having an ongoing draft is helpful, because you can record an idea and expand on it later.
Of course not everything is going to work out. Sometimes an idea goes nowhere or it just feels like too much work to really delve into it during a week or whatever your time frame is. So the question is: what the poster's intention is for making a post (or even keeping up an account)? Unless one is planning to go pro with a social media account (which a lot of people do today), I'd say the best thing is to make it for one's self first. If people like it then they do and if they don't, it's for you anyway, right?
I definitely write for an audience, even if that's 1 or 2 people. But the content I put in it is mostly there because I want a record of it (just like this post!) I have many times searched my own account to find things I've read or discussed in the past because it's relevant to something else. Sometimes I've also seen things that recall life events. It's handy. And it's also a form of self-expression and a way to interact with others, so I find it a worthwhile use of my time.
In terms of content, I read a lot. Sometimes it's from accounts I'm following and sometimes from other sources. I often have thoughts about what I read (or watch or listen to) and decide to link and share here. I kind of discovered my own interests that way, because I recognized I return to certain topics over and over. And I find it's easier to discover what one thinks about things by writing those thoughts out.
I also started this account due to fandom interests which I still have and so I write reviews or meta or comment on things happening in fandom spaces. I post few photos nowadays because it's a nuisance to do on DW and because Pillowfort is so much easier. I rarely post text there, though that's largely because I've had a big back catalog of photos to share. In another year or so when I've gone through all of that, chances are I'll post a lot more text and links.
I think personality affects what people share and how often. It can be a matter of impatience or anxiety or a lack of self-confidence or too much self-confidence. I find I don't really want to post every day. I'm also emailing with friends or talking with people and I have other outlets to share some things. For many years now I adopted a 5 point format for posts because it kept me from posting too often or posting too much.
Sometimes I have a lot to say but the format helps me space it out. Sometimes I don't have enough and so the format keeps a post pending until I have more to say. I chose 5 items (though I sometimes use 3 as well) because that offers a variety of topics to a reader without being too much for a single post. (I have seen posts that are long lists of links with no commentary, and no matter how much I'm interested in the topic, not many people have the time or patience to browse through all that). And since I draft everything in advance, stuff can sit as long as it needs.
What works for me probably won't work for a lot of other people. But I think knowing the "why" you want to do something is important. If it's to have conversations with people, then having a few posts a year to keep the account active is plenty, because you can always engage by commenting on their posts or contributing to communities. If it's to collect stuff on a particular interest, then make it for yourself first and worry about others reading later. If it's to record personal thoughts and life events, does it even need to be public? Making it private takes a lot of stress out of it rather than worrying if you're doing something right or often enough. Ultimately, if posting is not rewarding to you in some way that doesn't depend on other people, don't force it.
View poll: Kudos Footer-324
Comments at Dreamwidth
.