without thought

Grail hunting

Found an interesting piece on UGC or user generated content. On the blog Publishing 2.0 Scott Karp writes a pretty scathing piece on an Apple viral under the title The User Generated Content Myth. The story behind this viral is that it was the generated content of a Leeds University student named Nick Haley. Haley has, it seems to me at a glance, done a pretty good job of remixing a pre-existing iphone commercial; possibly not as an homage as Karp so skillfully points out but in a bid to gain recognition. Karp goes onto say however

“Pretty slick, huh? Is it just me, or does something about this smack of LonelyGirl15 — just a bit too “authentic” to be believable? Nick got “discovered” by Apple execs after the video had only been viewed a couple thousand times — hardly a viral hit by YouTube standards.”

Well Mr.Karp, it so happens that there is a lot of talent up in that city of Leeds and although I agree with you to a point I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that Haley made it. What I am reflecting on right now however is something I wrote about in my _07 post, ‘Catch fire’. In this era of remix and remixability the kids are always editing, re-editing, remixing etc. but you would wonder why someone would waste their time adding to something that is already out there? Perhaps Haley felt that the band CSS suited the Apple advert better? Surely CSS would have something to say about it? Or do they see that it works in their favor if a million and a half people are exposed to them? The driving force behind any UGC , as Chris Anderson has argued so well in his book The Long Tail, IS recognition. UGC could possibly be the new graffiti. Some kids dedicate hours of their lives to throw ups or tags whilst others create content for the web.

It’s a very confused world out there in 2.0 land. I can’t wait to read about the aftermath. Personally, I’m starting to develop things called opinions. Not all of it CAN be good, of course but more crucially (I was having this conversation with my tutor last week) not all of it can be true. The point is that veracity and 2.0 don’t always see eye to eye. I have concluded that we are entering an era where the word ‘truth’ needs careful re-evaluation. Mythologist Joseph Campbell spoke my mind on the subject when I read this

“Mythology is not a lie. Mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth — penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words, beyond images. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told.”