virtualDavis

Austin Kleon practices “creative thievery”. Perhaps we all do! (Meandering Margaux)

Get caught stealing like an artist! Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) did… And it seems to be serving him rather well.

Newspaper Blackout will take you down the blackout poetry path, demonstrating the visual and literary appeal of Kleon’s quirky poems. Kleon derives poetry by crossing out most of the words in a given publication, discovering meaning in the remnants, and he’d like to show you how to do the same. (I can’t help thinking about refrigerator leftovers for some reason, but most leftover success stories involve adding/combining rather than subtracting…)

In Steal Like an Artist Kleon deploys his full quiver of mashup, remixing and doodling tricks to offer some practical wisdom about the creative process to his 19 year old self. We’ve all wished our way back in time, yearned for a redo knowing what we now know. Kleon skips the wish and gets it done.

Related articles

• Steal and Remix like an Artist (meanderingmargaux.com)
• Steal Like an Artist [Book Review] (nursetopia.net)
• Austin Kleon Visual Thinking for Writers (drawinghand.wordpress.com)
• Steal Like an Artist – Book Review (myradicalcommitment.com)
• Do You “Steal Like An Artist”? (randomolio.com)

If I was a cartoonist I would depict a cyberflâneur with huge burning ears… because s/he had developed the ability to listen intently from a place of silence! ~ Linda Hollier

Linda Hollier‘s (@lindahollier) playful caricature delights for many reasons not the least of which is its totally unselfconscious (and, I suspect, unintentional) counterpoint to Evgeny Morozov‘s (@evgenymorozov) op-ed, “The Death of the Cyberflâneur“.

Morozov pits his cyberflâneur caricature — a late 19th century dandy shackled and handcuffed between Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg — at odds with social media.

Transcending its original playful identity… [the Internet is] no longer a place for strolling — it’s a place for getting things done. Hardly anyone “surfs” the Web anymore. The popularity of the “app paradigm,”… has made cyberflânerie less likely…

THE tempo of today’s Web is different as well… the “real-time Web,”… it’s Silicon Valley’s favorite buzzword.

That’s no surprise: people like speed and efficiency… ~ Evgeny Morozov (NYTimes.com)

Morozov proceeds to single out Google and Facebook as two of the most flanerie-threatening forces. He likens the latter to Baron Haussmann who’s urban planning transformed Paris during the reign of Napoleon III, eliminating many of the conditions which had proven favorable to flâneurs.

Google, in its quest to organize all of the world’s information, is making it unnecessary to visit individual Web sites in much the same way that the Sears catalog made it unnecessary to visit physical stores several generations earlier.

[…]

Facebook seems to believe that the quirky ingredients that make flânerie possible need to go. “We want everything to be social,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said on “Charlie Rose” a few months ago. (NYTimes.com)

Swept up in a relentless 24×7 social data stream which simultaneously guides and limits our capacity (or appetite) for aimless meandering, we are less and less likely to veer from the pack. Gone is the autonomy and the veil of anonymity which let us lurk voyeuristically, dabbling, observing, studying humanity’s mesmerizing diversity. Or so Morozov asks us to believe.

Hollier offers another perspective. She isn’t Pollyannaish about the web, social media and our increasingly wired lifestyles, nor does she shy from the challenges of information overload. Instead she embraces the data inundation much as late 19th century Parisian flâneurs embraced the urban throng. Together, but apart.

It is this intentional distance that Hollier and I have mused over individually and collectively over the last year or two. We recently reflected on deep listening to access the source of storytelling, even in the midst of distraction and hubbub. Hollier has explored the flâneur as a model for mindfulness, suggesting that “the flâneur thus begins to play the role of consciousness“, and she returns to the idea of mindfulness in “Cyberflanerie: Deep Listening in Cyberspace“, suggesting that the state of conscious, unbiased receptivity is precisely what distinguishes and empowers cyberflâneurs.

There is so much information coming at us in cyberspace that unless we nurture the intention of listening with “moment by moment, non-judgmental awareness” – the definition of mindfulness given by Jon Kabat-Zinn – we stand the risk of being overwhelmed and suffering from information overload. We will fail to capture the fleeting moment. It is only with an attitude of deep listening that we will be able to filter what really needs our attention. (here2here)

Deep listening. The cyberflâneur’s art, like his/her predigital forebears, is the art of receptivity. Attentive openness and observation without judgment. Heightened perception and omnivorous curiosity.

Today as we move through the speedy spheres of cyberspace – the limitless mindspace we find ourselves in when using technology to communicate – I believe it is the perceptive attitude of the flaneur that we should seek to cultivate… This practice will require a deep listening, whether it be to visual, aural or textual images. (here2here)

Hollier’s big-eared caricature of a mindful cyberflâneur strolling the global arcades we know as the Internet and practicing the art of listening resonates with John Hendel‘s (@johnhendel) “The Life of the Cyberflâneur“.

Space, whether for the Parisian walker, Internet browser, or tablet user, always has its architects, and what we now have amounts to a virtual, wonderful labyrinth without end… The cyberflâneur is triumphantly alive, a wry cackling presence that pops up wherever I look… Lurkers quietly drift at all hours, intent and voyeuristically hungry for understanding. There’s the sly playfulness and quirk… The cyberflâneur continues to probe our online paths today, and I suspect the same will be true tomorrow. (The Atlantic)

Hendel’s article, penned as a response to Morozov’s doomsday op-ed, concludes with an inevitable observation: Morozov must be strolling another Internet. After all, the digital arcades that Hendel, Hollier and I stroll enable and encourage a veritable renaissance for flanerie. Long live the cyberflâneur!

If you’ve endured this ponderous post, you may enjoy reading the following related reflections:

• Yrjö Ojasaar, CEO of Publification.com, responds to Morozov with a defense of “social reading”
• Swarthmore professor Peter Schmidt channels Mark Twain: perhaps rumors of the cyberflâneur’s death are exaggerated?
• Toby Manhire from the New Zealand Listener aggregates articles related to the rise of the sharing fetish.
• Jesse Darling strikes a smart, sarcastic note about arcades, mall rats, and after-dark thugs.
• The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research’s podcast, episode #3 tackles Morozov’s cyberflâneur death knell.
• Ainsley O’Connell debunks Morozov’s cyberflâneur eulogy.

Life can become so very hectic and full of movement that we can forget what it is to be still and have nothing to do except to be still. (Abbot’s Notebook)

Before joining Mary Beth Coudal, Joanna Parson and Kathryn Cramer for a thoroughly rejuvenating Adirondack Memoir Retreat at Skenewood I posted a wandering rumination on storytelling. It connected dots. Loosely.

During the retreat I presented to the group on storytelling in the digital age, emphasizing the importance of — and increasingly abundant, powerful and affordable/free tools for — good storytelling. While the tools are many and evolving daily, the keys for good storytelling are few and enduring.

• Listen Suspend noise, distraction and judgment.
• Wonder Become curious and receptive. Ask questions.
• Distill Strive to “unpack a narrative in its purest form” ~ Bob Davidson
• Plot Sequence the scenes: beginning, middle, end.
• Revise Trim the fat. Focus the narrative. Polish the delivery.
• Practice Discover the narrative’s energy, pauses and cadence.
• Share Relate interactively with your audience.

Although the last tip might vary depending on your storytelling medium (ie. print and video, for example offer minimal interactivity between storyteller and audience), I believe that “sharing stories” remains a superior goal to “telling stories”. After all, the story exists not in the words, images, etc. of the teller. The story is conjured up in the imagination of the audience. Whether oral story, book, movie, cartoon, it is the interaction of teller and audience that breathes life into a narrative.

For this reason, the best storytellers remain receptive, listening deeply to their audience even while relating their stories. Listening, revising, improving their narrative(s) for the current audience.

Mary Beth Coudal’s post-retreat reflection reminds us to listen and discover.

I’m finding benefits to being still, keeping quiet…

As we walked in the Adirondacks, the other writers and I stopped talking for a little bit. We said nothing.

When I wasn’t talking, I could listen. I could hear our footsteps, our breathing, a bird on the lake. I could hear a breeze through the leaves of grass. (To Pursue Happiness)

Abbot Philip Lawrence’s quotation at the top of this post, excerpted from “Storytelling: From Ira Glass to Benedictine Monks“, was in my mind as I spoke with the retreat attendees about storytelling in the digital age. Today storytellers are blessed with ever richer storytelling tools and platforms, but their audience is drowning in distractions. It’s a noisy, hectic world, and it is more important than ever to cultivate stillness and quiet in order to listen.

Another conference attendee, William McHone, is setting off in pursuit of stories following the retreat.

As I head off on Wandering III, the people, places and events I come upon will inevitably remind me of the many wonderful people, places and events that have shaped my life thus far. I am hopeful, over time, the recording will become both something of a travel log and memoir… (Wandering With Moe)

As a fellow wanderer, perennially swaying to the siren song of adventurer, I envy McHone’s walkabout. Such sweet seduction!

And yet he must cultivate stillness as he wanders. He must be curious and receptive in order to discover the stories lurking in the people and places and events he will encounter. He must ask questions and listen deeply to the answers. He must distill the essential scenes and weave them into intoxicating narrative adventures. And he must share them. Again. And again.

And if he does, when he does, we will be listening.

Related articles

• Storytelling: From Ira Glass to Benedictine Monks (virtualdavis.com)
• The Wonder of Storytelling (virtualdavis.com)
• Adirondack Memoir Retreat (virtualdavis.com)

Penguin Random House (Image by Marco Leone)

By now you’ve heard the latest publishing industry scuttlebutt: Random House and Penguin are shacking up. But unlike many celebrity pairings which fuel the rumor mill (Is it a marriage of passion? Convenience?), this high profile marriage offers neither surprise nor mystery.

Penguin Random House is obviously a marriage of survival.

Like two gilded empires arranging a desperate diplo-nuptial alliance, these Big Six giants are defending their hegemony in a publishing marketplace increasingly dominated by Amazon, Apple and Google.

The book publishing industry is starting to get smaller in order to get stronger.

[The Penguin Random House merger] could set off a long-expected round of consolidation as the industry adapts to the digital marketplace… The merger will create the largest consumer book publisher in the world… [enabling] greater scale to deal with the challenges arising from the growth of electronic books and the power of Internet retailers.

[…]

Facing those challenges, the major publishers have been expected to join together, getting smaller in number and bigger in size… They could all now face increased pressure to consolidate in response to a combined Penguin Random House.

[…]

HarperCollins has already signaled its interest in consolidation… Analysts also said there could be matchups between large publishing houses and smaller, independent ones. (NYTimes.com)

Not a surprise. Inevitable. Catalytic at the very least and potentially transformative. But, too little too late? Perhaps.

Compare Penguin Random House’s potential leverage.

Penguin Random House would potentially have the market power to negotiate better deals for itself. That said, the company’s $4 billion in revenues in 2011 put it at about a tenth the size of Amazon with its $48.08 in revenues. (Forbes)

Bob Mayer dismissed the question of leverage in a tidy quip over on Nathan Bransford‘s blog.

How are they going to “battle” Amazon? Two very different entities.

And while NY is at least a year or two behind the digital age, making a larger entity certainly isn’t going to enhance change when they’re going to spend their time learning to merge, rather than advance. Small, agile publishers are the wave of the future and this was a step in the wrong direction. (Bob Mayer, via Nathan Bransford)

Leverage is leverage, especially given the massive publishing/retail bandwidth Amazon represents, but one wonders if it might take all of the Big Six merging to arm wrestle Amazon. And that might pose a few monopoly obstacles.

More likely, I imagine, will be increasingly widespread (and rapid) transformation among the traditional publishing companies. Much top talent will become free agents and many entry/mid-range talent will transition to other industries as the traditional publishing empires downsize and adapt leaner, more agile, customer-centric and creator-centric business models.

While a transition of this magnitude is inevitably destructive and scary, it is bound to fuel innovation, and this excites me and many other storytellers. Let the realignment begin! Who will follow Penguin Random House?

Related articles

• Penguin and Random House Combine to Form World’s Largest Book Publisher (digitalbookworld.com)
• Penguin-Random House Merger Talks: Rumors Confirmed (digitalbookworld.com)
• Penguin and Random House to Merge and Become Penguin Random House (observer.com)
• WRITING ON THE ETHER: Seeking Sanctuary (janefriedman.com)
• Penguin Random House (nathanbransford.com)