WHY
Why 5 Ws in the navbar and not an “About” as usual?
Because I am a journalist, not an academic, and journalists learn to work according to the 5 Ws. #The fact that this condensed version of media machina can be summed up in a few concepts doesn’t make me a theorist. #
I am just a craftsman who enjoys the tools of his trade and has had the luck to come up with a few short cuts. #
media machina is just about facts, data and pattern recognition. #
Why now?
Because, with the marvel of blogs and Twitter, I am reading, daily, the masters in my field of media and new business models. I am enjoying their thoughts, their exchanges, their knowledge, their curiosity, their courage. I felt it was time to contribute and share my stuff, as insignificant as it might be. #When I want to know more about any of them I just have to read their books or the past entries of their blog. I believe that trust comes from accumulated memories. Since most of my professional work has been published in French, I am stuffing here a quick and condensed version of my work: enough memory, I am hoping, to generate a minimum of trust to be able to join the conversation. #
Basically, I also tried to have one of my clients interested in building a proof of concept: a news site built using the observations of media machina. Some of them have implemented parts of it. But a full version of the business model presented here has not been built. Yet. Still working on it. Meanwhile, it’s time to publish my findings. Now it can be built anywhere. #
Why not sooner?
I could spend half my life reading (and sometimes do), but I don’t really like to write without a good reason. #Why is this not a book?
It isn’t? Hm. Really? You mean, like, printed on paper? #So all right, it is a book building process. I’ll let you know when there are printed versions. #
Why in English?
“When you have a choice, go for Very High Bandwith first”. I can meet face to face with most members of my French speaking community in Quebec. However, most members of my English speaking community are farther away, so I have to reach them through lower bandwidth channels like blogs and Twitter. This is the blog part. #Why are there artworks in posts?
I grew up reading comics and I became a magazine maker. I have always loved working with art directors, illustrators and photographers. I know that images and colors can enhance a text when chosen right. (Images can stand alone but I am a writer: I don’t “think” in images, I add them to written stuff.) And I enjoy finding one that fits. Hope you like it. #Why are there no links in the posts?
Update (January 2010): I changed my mind. #Ah! Because media machina is intended to become a printed book: I have to manage to write everything as on a printed page. After all these years on the Web, I am not only used to write with links, I think with links all the time. Writing without including links is a discipline I had to relearn. Feels strange: the Web is all about being connected to people and resources. The once familiar state of mind of being alone with a page has now a kind of alien feeling when writing on a computer. Meanwhile, I still write links in media machina notes as much as I can, and will add more over time. #
