Digital thoughts

A few days ago, a group of journalists has published the following Manifesto. You may want to read it all; it's about your freedoms in the 21st century.

Internet Manifesto: How journalism works today. Seventeen declarations.

1. The Internet is different.

It produces different public spheres, different terms of trade and different cultural skills. The media must adapt their work methods to today’s technological reality instead of ignoring or challenging it. It is their duty to develop the best possible form of journalism based on the available technology. This includes new journalistic products and methods.

2. The Internet is a pocket-sized media empire.

The web rearranges existing media structures by transcending their former boundaries and oligopolies. The publication and dissemination of media contents are no longer tied to heavy investments. Journalism’s self-conception is—fortunately—being cured of its gatekeeping function. All that remains is the journalistic quality through which journalism distinguishes itself from mere publication.

3. The Internet is our society is the Internet.

Web-based platforms like social networks, Wikipedia or YouTube have become a part of everyday life for the majority of people in the western world. They are as accessible as the telephone or television. If media companies want to continue to exist, they must understand the lifeworld of today’s users and embrace their forms of communication. This includes basic forms of social communication: listening and responding, also known as dialog.

4. The freedom of the Internet is inviolable.

The Internet’s open architecture constitutes the basic IT law of a society which communicates digitally and, consequently, of journalism. It may not be modified for the sake of protecting the special commercial or political interests often hidden behind the pretense of public interest. Regardless of how it is done, blocking access to the Internet endangers the free flow of information and corrupts our fundamental right to a self-determined level of information.

5. The Internet is the victory of information.

Due to inadequate technology, media companies, research centers, public institutions and other organizations compiled and classified the world’s information up to now. Today every citizen can set up her own personal news filter while search engines tap into wealths of information of a magnitude never before known. Individuals can now inform themselves better than ever.

6. The Internet changes improves journalism.

Through the Internet, journalism can fulfill its social-educational role in a new way. This includes presenting information as an ever-changing, continual process; the forfeiture of print media’s inalterability is a benefit. Those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential.

7. The net requires networking.

Links are connections. We know each other through links. Those who do not use them exclude themselves from social discourse. This also holds for the websites of traditional media companies.

8. Links reward, citations adorn.

Search engines and aggregators facilitate quality journalism: they boost the findability of outstanding content over a long-term basis and are thus an integral part of the new, networked public sphere. References through links and citations—especially including those made without any consent of or even remuneration of the originator—make the very culture of networked social discourse possible in the first place. They are by all means worthy of protection.

9. The Internet is the new venue for political discourse.

Democracy thrives on participation and freedom of information. Transferring the political discussion from traditional media to the Internet and expanding on this discussion by involving the active participation of the public is one of journalism’s new tasks.

10. Today’s freedom of the press means freedom of opinion.

Article 5 of the German Constitution does not comprise protective rights for professions or technically traditional business models. The Internet overrides the technological boundaries between the amateur and professional. This is why the privilege of freedom of the press must hold for anyone who can contribute to the fulfillment of journalistic duties. Qualitatively speaking, no differentiation should be made between paid and unpaid journalism, but rather, between good and poor journalism.

11. More is more – there is no such thing as too much information.

Once upon a time, institutions such as the church prioritized power over personal awareness and warned of an unsifted flood of information when the letterpress was invented. On the other hand were the pamphleteers, encyclopaedists and journalists who proved that more information leads to more freedom, both for the individual as well as society as a whole. To this day, nothing has changed in this respect.

12. Tradition is not a business model.

Money can be made on the Internet with journalistic content. There are many examples of this today already. Yet because the Internet is fiercely competitive, business models have to be adapted to the structure of the net. No one should try to abscond from this essential adaptation through policy-making geared to preserving the status quo. Journalism needs open competition for the best refinancing solutions on the net, along with the courage to invest in the multifaceted implementation of these solutions.

13. Copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet.

Copyright is a cornerstone of information organization on the Internet. Originators’ rights to decide on the type and scope of dissemination of their contents are also valid on the net. At the same time, copyright may not be abused as a lever to safeguard obsolete supply mechanisms and shut out new distribution models or license schemes. Ownership entails obligations.

14. The Internet has many currencies.

Journalistic online services financed through adverts offer content in exchange for a pull effect. A reader’s, viewer’s or listener’s time is valuable. In the industry of journalism, this correlation has always been one of the fundamental tenets of financing. Other forms of refinancing which are journalistically justifiable need to be forged and tested.

15. What’s on the net stays on the net.

The Internet is lifting journalism to a new qualitative level. Online, text, sound and images no longer have to be transient. They remain retrievable, thus building an archive of contemporary history. Journalism must take the development of information, its interpretation and errors into account, i.e., it must admit its mistakes and correct them in a transparent manner.

16. Quality remains the most important quality.

The Internet debunks homogenous bulk goods. Only those who are outstanding, credible and exceptional will gain a steady following in the long run. Users’ demands have increased. Journalism must fulfill them and abide by its own frequently formulated principles.

17. All for all.

The web constitutes an infrastructure for social exchange superior to that of 20th century mass media: When in doubt, the “generation Wikipedia” is capable of appraising the credibility of a source, tracking news back to its original source, researching it, checking it and assessing it—alone or as part of a group effort. Journalists who snub this and are unwilling to respect these skills are not taken seriously by these Internet users. Rightly so. The Internet makes it possible to communicate directly with those once known as recipients—readers, listeners and viewers—and to take advantage of their knowledge. Not the journalists who know it all are in demand, but those who communicate and investigate.

Internet, 07.09.2009

• Markus Beckedahl
• Mercedes Bunz
• Julius Endert
• Johnny Haeusler
• Thomas Knüwer
• Sascha Lobo
• Robin Meyer-Lucht
• Wolfgang Michal
• Stefan Niggemeier
• Kathrin Passig
• Janko Röttgers
• Peter Schink
• Mario Sixtus
• Peter Stawowy
• Fiete Stegers

Translated from the German original by Jenna L. Brinning

Though it mentions journalism a lot, I think it's safe to say the above Manifesto embodies the ideals of any digital native. The world runs mostly on information nowadays, and information has this tendency to spread fast and wide, not restricted by physical limitations. This has made it obvious that social institutions we were taking for granted don't work very well; indeed, better ways to run the show are arising naturally out of the freedom the Internet has granted us. The incumbents - the corrupt, despotic, greedy politicians and CEOs who rule the modern world - are being made obsolete as we speak, and they are fighting back. Hopefully, what they are doing is just thrashing in the tar pit, but because they are so big and powerful, they can still do a lot of harm.

See, what the Internet Manifesto doesn't say is that in order to use the Internet freely, you first need to use your computer freely, without fear of surveillance or censorship. For over six months, I used this blog to warn against attempts to limit that freedom. But it's easy to miss the forest among all the trees. Luckily, there is another Manifesto that was also published a few days ago. It's titled To Liberate Computer Users and, though it is rather technical (and not very coherent), you might want to read it as well. By the way, The Austin, Texas initiative it mentions is the Helios Project.

As for what you can do about it, let me repeat some advice I gave back in May:

1. Learn the basics of programming. Think of it this way: you're using the computer all the time, yet you don't know how to talk to it. Note the emphasis: a GUI restricts you to the equivalent of pointing and grunting. You owe it to yourself to do better than that. And don't feel intimidated, the aura of mystique that seems to surround programming nowadays is purely an illusion.
2. Learn the languages of the Web. Similarly, you surf the Web day in and day out, but can you make a simple Web page if the need arises? Because if you don't, you'll always be dependent on third parties for your continued sharing in the world-wide conversation.
3. Use a free, open source operating system. Isn't it enough that you barely have control over your hardware? Do you really need someone named Steve to tell you how you're supposed to use your own machine, what software to run and when to upgrade? Do I even need to ask you that?

That, and spread the word. It's what the Internet does best, after all.

1. I can roll my own games and
2. it's just as fun as playing games made by others.

If it sounds like I'm biased against modern games, it's probably true. My hardware is still behind the curve, and what little I see of recent titles fails to impress me. I'd be glad to discuss specifics in the comments. For now, let's just say the attention span issue I described in my previous post manifests itself plenty in gaming. When most of the development effort goes to graphics, there can't be many resources left for the other things that make up a game. You know, little things such as fun gameplay, or a story that doesn't feel shoehorned in. Which reminds me, not every game needs a story. But I digress.

1. Game development is HARD. You do it seriously or not at all.
2. A game designer must know a lot about games.

Me? I don't even consider myself a gamer (not even casually), much less a game designer. But I love computers and all the nice things I can do with them, and the few games I worked on have been well received, so I must be doing something right. YMMV.

P.S. Sorry for the delay. It seems I can't keep up a blog for more than 15 months in a row. Digital Thoughts will resume in the first week of December with a new format.

Playing Games, Making Games by Felix Pleşoianu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

I finally identified the essential difference between Windows users and those of other operating systems. It's very simple, actually. Windows users will bitch and moan about their operating system at every turn. They'll complain about bloat, viruses, bugs, prices, Bill Gates... just about everything Windows, yet they would never, ever try an alternative.

Unsurprisingly, Linux users are the polar opposites. They positively love their OS; if they see any flaws in it, they're totally willing to overlook them. They use what they like and they like what they use. Still, offer to introduce them to some other OS (the more obscure the better) and they'll jump at the opportunity to try something new. As long as it's not Windows, of course.

Last but not least, Mac fans are, well, fanatical about their favorite platform, which they consider perfect. Trying something else? Surely you're kidding! Windows is totally uncool and Linux is for rocket scientists. No wonder everyone else disagrees with them.

Can we all get along, for a change?

(Originally posted on A philosophical programmer.)

Humor: Three types of OS users by Felix Pleşoianu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Some people just don't get computers.

Of course, this isn't news for anyone. I've explored the topic repeatedly on my other weblog, and I still have angles left to cover. E.g. there's the question whether everyone ought to get computers, but that's a tricky one. Fact is, a lot of people are trying, and sometimes that puts a lot of pressure on us technical guys.

By the way, there's a funny thing about this. Countless times, I've been accused of being a man whitout patience. Ironically, this comes most often from the same people who keep asking me why it takes so darn long to write a computer program. (Oops, I was hoping not to mention programming this time, but it's hard to avoid. Computers are very much about programming. More on this in a future post.) And the only answer I have for them is that it doesn't take long to write a computer program. It takes long to do it properly. Insert long, blank stare here.

Note, this isn't about those poor souls who are honestly trying and failing to learn computers. There are plenty of legitimate reasons why this can happen. No, my peeve is with people who are hostile about this whole technology thing and how it doesn't fit their personal, narrow, tilted view of the world (yes, I'm being acidic). Okay, few actually go to that extreme, but a lot of people who should know better have grossly unrealistic expectations, and as their decisions spill out into the real world, this is a problem.

Because, you see, what they don't get is that computers are actually very much like real life. As opposed to, you know, the virtual, quasi-magical things they're usually taken for. And the reason they don't get it - my, it took me a lot of time to understand that! - is they don't really know much about real life, either. So I made a list of things that are worth doing in real life, which happen to also teach something important about computers.

• Mountain hiking (!) teaches about planning and preparation. You can't wing it, unless you enjoy being brought back by Search&Rescue. With a broken leg. Through a snow storm.
• Making electronic devices teaches selecting the right components and assembling them just the right way. It teaches precision and calculation, as well as the importance of knowing what works and what doesn't and why.
• Building model airplanes is about patience and following the steps. If your glue can says "allow 10 minutes to dry", you'd better keep those components pressed together for 10 minutes. Not 9, not 9:30. That is, if you care about ever finishing your model.
• Painting requires you to have a vision, to identify the layers and paint them in the right order. And before that, you need to choose the right materials: support and paint must match each other and the sort of painting you intend to make.
• Writing prose (!) Ah, that's a tricky one. You need to learn about languages and audiences and communication. Fail at this, and nobody will pay any attention to you. Including computers.

Predictably enough, most people I know to be really good about computers are also good about one or more of the things on my list. And it's probably not a coincidence that the very first thing I ever learned about computers was to have patience.

Who would have thought.

What real life can teach you about computers by Felix Pleşoianu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.