Generation DIY

Last weekend I had the opportunity to be on the PDX Gen-Y radio show way over yonder in Portland, Oregon (click on the November 8 show to listen). The show is hosted by Bret Bernhoft, GenYer extraordinaire, and the crew at InsYght Consulting. (I interviewed Bret on this blog recently.)

The show featured two big names in Portland's DIY community, Christina "Blue" Crow and Katie Ash, editors of Stumptown Underground, a zine collective, which publishes printable anthologies (such as comics, illustrations, writing, etc.). It was fascinating to hear about how thriving the DIY and zine culture is, and how artists and writers are self-publishing their work (on paper, no less!).

We ended up discussing zines versus blogs. In some ways it's like comparing apples to oranges (or digital music to vinyl records -- an excellent comparison made on the show). Of course, blogging is often seen as a little more mainstream and entrepreneur-oriented, rather than a characteristically DIY activity (artistic, underground, anti-consumerist, etc.), but both media of self-publishing can have some overlapping qualities. Like zines, blogs can represent a community that is more about building connections and sharing in culture than about having a direct return on investment.

Starting your own blog is like saying, "I am going to get the message out myself, rather than waiting to filter it through an established medium." Like zinesters and underground rockers, bloggers often operate without a "label." Aided by free Internet resources (which are admittedly very corporate), many "DIY bloggers" create and market their own content without monetary gain. While blogs might not be part of the indy aesthetic, I learned this week that aspects of blogging definitely come from the spirit of "doing it yourself."