...i shudder at what we become when everyone is a content creator...1 in 2 children want that as their career "when they grow up"...what will the new AI algorithm dictate they make?...we are missing the tools in new media to make = new media and unfortunately new media tools just make iterations of old media...and thence you get the pods you/I protest...minds are fragile...expression is concrete...whence can we sugar the cookies...
Really thoughtful post, Sam. I've been tossing around Rom's column in my head for several days as well, and I'm kinda not sure what to think. I get what she's saying about fan service, but there's a positive way and a negative way to look at that. (Ultimately, a publication -- especially an "enthusiast"-style publication like Trail Runner or Runner's World -- has to be "for" someone, or some group of people. I'm not sure how you get around that essential need for a publication to exist.
In the running enthusiast space, there's really only two publishing operations left with the organizational muscle -- and money to defend against lawsuits, were it to come to that -- to write the kinds of stories you're describing, and that's the publications under the Outside umbrella and Hearst, which of course owns Runner's World. In today's media landscape, I'm just not sure who else can take stories like those on. It would be encouraging to see Rom pushing for change inside the one of those two that she works for, and maybe opening up and telling us about the challenges she faces in getting those stories told.
(Still, her points are very good ones; I'm just not sure how we get from A to B on this.)
...i shudder at what we become when everyone is a content creator...1 in 2 children want that as their career "when they grow up"...what will the new AI algorithm dictate they make?...we are missing the tools in new media to make = new media and unfortunately new media tools just make iterations of old media...and thence you get the pods you/I protest...minds are fragile...expression is concrete...whence can we sugar the cookies...
Really thoughtful post, Sam. I've been tossing around Rom's column in my head for several days as well, and I'm kinda not sure what to think. I get what she's saying about fan service, but there's a positive way and a negative way to look at that. (Ultimately, a publication -- especially an "enthusiast"-style publication like Trail Runner or Runner's World -- has to be "for" someone, or some group of people. I'm not sure how you get around that essential need for a publication to exist.
In the running enthusiast space, there's really only two publishing operations left with the organizational muscle -- and money to defend against lawsuits, were it to come to that -- to write the kinds of stories you're describing, and that's the publications under the Outside umbrella and Hearst, which of course owns Runner's World. In today's media landscape, I'm just not sure who else can take stories like those on. It would be encouraging to see Rom pushing for change inside the one of those two that she works for, and maybe opening up and telling us about the challenges she faces in getting those stories told.
(Still, her points are very good ones; I'm just not sure how we get from A to B on this.)