William Gibson: beyond cyberspace

Technology, commodification, vacuous marketing-speak, tweeting – the doyen of science fiction writers marvellously exposes the nature of our late capitalist world

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/22/william-gibson-beyond-cyberspace?CMP=twt_fd

@urFRENZ

Looks like a spin on the Lori Drew story to me, and also quite terrible...

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/sep/21/urfrenz-trailer-social-network

The 3 Questions for Authors

"But the fact is that there is something unique about the ways in which ideas become stories that cannot be as easily explained as process. After all, a fiction writer creates a parallel world in his or her imagination. In creating this parallel world he or she deals with the single question that everyone must ponder. What happens next? Who among us does not want to know what happens next? It is the bedrock of all stories, lived or imagined.

Ideas for stories come from an amalgam of life experiences, observations, the chance meeting, an anecdote, a life changing personal experience like falling in love, being betrayed or abandoned, a memory of pain or loss, or joy and ecstasy."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/warren-adler/the-three-questions-for-a_b_964765.html

More: 

A quick study of literary productivity

"Fascinating piece in the New York Times about novelists' work rates. Pricked into writing by the recent appearance of The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides' first novel in nine years, Dwight Garner (for it is he) argues that authors really need to produce more than a book a decade if they don't want to risk that we will "have learned to live without them". This chimed with me: just this weekend, I finished All That I Am, the long-awaited second book from Anna Funder, who first came to our notice with Stasiland, published in 2003. I loved the book – really, truly loved it – but confess in the eight years between this book and that, I've wondered on occasion whether I'd ever read anything by her again."


More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/sep/19/literary-productivity?CMP=twt_fd

Daniel Miller introduces Tales from Facebook

"Renowned anthropologist Daniel Miller introduces his new book, Tales from Facebook, the result of an in-depth study of the way that Facebook impacts on its users' lives. In this interview, he explains why Facebook interests him as an anthropologist and describes some of his findings. Full details about the book can be found at Polity.co.uk"


Quite interesting, I saw him speak at How the light gets in and he made some good points...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL4ipHiVhAY&feature=share

Also this...

How Twitter will revolutionise academic research and teaching:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2011/sep/12/twitter-revolutionise-academia-research?CMP=twt_gu

 

'Cyber bullies are vile, but should we be locking them up?'

The furore over trolling obscures the real bullying that causes this despicable practice in the first place

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• Comments (56)

• 
• • Catherine Bennett
  • The Observer, Sunday 18 September 2011
  • Article history

An 18-week sentence for Sean Duffy, a young man who posted astonishingly malevolent messages on a Facebook memorial page, one set up to mourn Natasha MacBryde, a teenager who had committed suicide, has been attacked by some people as too lenient. Another bereaved parent, who feels he may also be Duffy's victim, thought 18 months would be more like it. Duffy, aged 25, was the second such offender to be prosecuted under the Malicious Communications Act; last year, Colm Cross was jailed for posting obscenities on Facebook tribute sites, including that of Jade Goody.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/18/catherine-bennett-trolling-internet-bullying

A question of inspiration

Authors dread being asked where their ideas come from, but if we can't talk about unhinged belief, what else is there to ask?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/13/a-question-of-inspiration

Internet troll jailed after mocking deaths of teenagers

"Sean Duffy targeted Facebook tribute pages and posted videos on YouTube taunting the dead victims and their families"

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/sep/13/internet-troll-jailed-mocking-teenagers

How To Live Your Life

Video: Kurt Vonnegut Graphs the Shapes of Stories