This is Just My Language

Those of us who are digital natives were just trying to live peacefully on our Digital Island. Then settlers—the non-digital natives—came over from the Real World and wanted to check out the digital terrain. My first encounter with a non-digital settler on the Digital Island went something like this:

Settler: What do you call that language you are speaking right now?
Me: Blogging
Settler: Well surely you just don't have important things to do, such as leisurely activities, or you must have too much time on your hands at your unimportant job.
Me: No, it's quite easy to include my digital life into my daily life, much as it is easy for you to take a ski trip.
Settler: Oh, how very exotic. You must be a voyeur.
Me: No, I am just doing it like most others on this island.
Settler: The others are doing it? How very self-absorbed...Will you teach it to me as well?

***

The most uncomfortable part about talking to non-digital natives—or new arrivals to social networking/digital culture—is this feeling that they view me as some sort of exhibitionist.

When, in fact, I am nothing but someone who fits in with the status quo of digital natives.

Digital natives are those of us who have developed into adulthood accustomed to both the digital life and the real life. My children will be much more accustomed to it than I am, considering I didn't have the Internet until high school. Let’s call me a first-generation digital native.

The New Yorker explained digital natives well last week:

One way to understand social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace is to consider that younger digital natives are not necessarily being exhibitionists when they post photographs of themselves and share personal details there. Instead, these users are living a life in which consciousness is spread out evenly over two platforms: real life and the Web. Rather than feeling schizophrenic or somehow pathological, digital natives understand that these two realms divide the self much as speech and the written word divide language, a division that humans have lived with for a long time without going bonkers.

Non-digital natives are people foreign to the digital sphere of life. It's not about age: Usually they are obviously older than me, but that is not at all always the case. In fact, the younger non-digital natives (that somehow missed the boat) stand out more than their older counterparts. And some older people, though not technically “native,” adapted much more quickly than younger people to the digital world. So basically, digitally inclined people are of all ages.

Upon realizing the broad cultural acceptance of digital life, non-digital natives might feel the need to do one of the following: (1) shrug; (2) judge it with I-am-holier-than-thou generalizations ("Whatever happened to talking face to face?"); or (3) misuse their newfound digital tools like a kid who wants desperately to play with the other kids (“Update: Now I am walking to my car.”)

As in the last example, non-digital natives that do try to adapt sometimes do not quite “get” the difference between real life and digital life, and the smooth transition between the two worlds. They are the type of Facebook users that do not have an innate sense of what should be showcased. But then again, I think we’re all still trying to figure that out.

We see the digital/non-digital natives’ gap in businesses as well. Newspapers are non-digital natives that are desperately trying to figure out where their digital lives fit in. Meanwhile, newspapers keep reporting about digital lives—I almost get a little sad every time I hear The New York Times talk about Twitter. Is that what newspapers do now, cover other information outlets? Someday those articles—and this one—will look as trite as a feature of someone following you around your kitchen while you make spaghetti.

Non-digital natives are colonizing the Digital World all the time. As a native, it is hard not to feel defensive about their snap judgments or to feel irritated when they muck up the digital irrigation. Despite the misunderstandings, we are all blending and learning from each other in an equalizing way; our Digital Island might not have welcomed in everyone that it should (a.k.a the digital divide), but once you are there, the class and generational divisions are not apparent.

And in fact, I just wrote this whole post calling myself a digital native, but maybe I am not even a native, and rather an original pilgrim. Pure digital natives like we have never seen before are just being born.

The 'Secret' of New Media: More Podcasting Thoughts

I have been thinking a little more about podcasting and the role it plays in new media development. It's like the new media tool nobody talks about just chilling in the background. I decided it's worth a separate post about its relevance. (Podcasting is the publishing of audio files on the Internet. Previous post about podcasting is here.)

Everyone always talks about online video taking over the world, but I think we should not forget podcasts. Of course the concept of podcasting can be applicable to "video-casting" as well. Two observations about podcasting:

1. Podcasts expanded the reach of radio shows. I suspect many radio shows would not continue to thrive without the development of podcasting for listeners like me who have yet to use the radio attachment for their iPod. I was just reading a Q&A with Ira Glass from This American Life, one of America's most popular radio programs:

Podcasts: Have you found that podcasting has changed TAL? I'm incredibly grateful to the podcasts, which give me access to TAL for my subway commute or running errands. I would imagine that there are lots of people like me, and that TAL's exposure has grown as a result of podcasts. But are there other ways in which the podcasting has changed the show?

Ira Glass: Interestingly, it's pulled in a much younger audience. The radio audience has stayed the same size - 1.8 million people a week - but now there's this extra half million people and they're much much younger than the public radio audience. Which is fantastic, of course. I know meet lots of people in their teens and twenties at our live events, and some of them aren't public radio listeners at all. They simply know us as a podcast.

In terms of content this hasn't changed the show but in terms of reach, it's really nice.

2. Podcast listeners seem to be growing.

The majority of Americans do not listen to podcasts, but the number of Americans who do has grown from 18% to 22% of Americans, according to a recent study by Edison.

Interesting, the study discludes "the download of program-oriented online audio (such as a talk show or a hosted music program), usually as an automatic download that can be listened to at the user’s convenience.” I'm not entirely sure, then, what didn't count for the study; but the number of Americans listening to non-musical audio content on their iPod could be higher.

The study also found that more Americans are aware of podcasting (43% compared to 22% in 2006).

I like what social media expert Anna Farmery says about the study in The Engaging Brand Blog:

As much as people keep saying that podcasting is dead, I wonder whether in the long run podcasting will be one of the true winners of Web 2.0. Often steady year on year growth is worth much more than rapid growth followed by rapid dis-engagement.

Conflicts of Having a Voice in the Digital Age

>narcissism vs. having useful things to say:
When I write in a blog, is it really helping anyone but myself?


>standing out vs. fitting in:
Is having a digital voice just another way to blend in?


>having an appropriate digital persona vs. lacking a digital persona:
Which is better: risking that your professional image is tarnished by your blog or risking not having a blog at all?


>being balanced vs. lacking a strong voice:
Is it possible to have an effective online voice without others pigeonholing your views as one side or the other?


Those are the conflicts of the digital world that Gen Y will experience for the rest of our careers. My hope is that this is a transitional time and resolving our digital lives with our real lives might come more naturally in the future.

Recession Love in the Air?

Several stories have caught my attention about the love lives of Americans during these tough economic times. We just love attributing trends to the Great Recession these days. There seem to be three (somewhat contradictory) main themes:

1. Bored and poor during the recession, Americans have taken to staying in more. Therefore, contraception sales are on the rise (Portfolio).

I did see one study that might contradict the trend, although I can't say it was a very serious study: I recently wrote a lighthearted story for PLANADVISER.com about the effect the recession is taking on the personal lives of Americans. A survey by personal finance site Minyanville found that 17% of the surveyed Americans find the recession has negatively effected their loves lives, while 9% say they saw a spike in their love lives. (Most said it hasn't changed.)

2. Despite the financial pinch, Americans are willing to spend on finding a mate. Dating sites are on the rise, because everyone wants someone during hard times. I'm reminded of Rose clinging to Jack as the ship goes down. (Nightline segment about online dating is here.)

3. Marriages could feel the strain during bad economic times (New York Times commentary about this here). So, let me see if I got this right: Even though everyone who doesn't have someone wants someone, everyone who already has someone is going to get annoyed by that someone? Kind of sounds like regular economic times to me.

The 'Secret' of New Media: The Perfect Podcast

Finding the right length and format for your audio content is key to getting anyone to bother listening to it.

As introduced, I am doing a series about how editorial Web sites can employ new media, and decided to start with audio content. Audio has gotten lost in the video craze, and that is understandable. Video will probably always have more attraction, especially as more people receive video on portable devices. But there is still a market for audio content. Some people enjoy not watching every once in a while, whether they are doing the laundry or taking a jog, or so jammed on the subway that they can't even watch a video.

Audio can be streaming and/or put into a podcast form, so that listeners can subscribe to it via an RSS feed (usually through iTunes). To stream audio on your Web site or to make a podcast, you first need an audio player on your site. I'm not a Web programmer, so those are not the areas where I can provide a how-to. Creating and editing your own podcast is pretty simple. I'll talk about the equipment and software you need to do that in an upcoming post.

Editorially, there are many ways to create audio, and you don't have to be a professional sound editor, although it can't hurt! The length of time you make your audio content has to be determined by your judgment -- but oftentimes it depends on what type of editorial format you choose for your content (listed below). Every type of podcast has a "sweet spot" that listeners will tune in for. I'm a podcast junky, so let me offer a few examples of successful ways news outlets are using sound content:

1. Interviews: The good old-fashioned interview is always golden. NPR's Terry Gross is the best at long-form interviews, but other podcasts use short interviews. The New York Times does Backstory, featuring 5- to 10- minute interviews with their reporters. Sweet spot: If you are Terry, 45 minutes, but for everyone else, about 7 minutes. (Really it depends on the show.)

2. Chatter: Sometimes audio just takes getting together a bunch of minds and a loose outline of topics. Slate's Gabfest is probably the most popular of those type of podcasts. The editors are smart and informed enough that you actually care about their opinions and reflections on the week's political news. Sweet spot: 30 minutes

3. Round-up: Sometimes audio is an effective way to tease a print or online product, while offering a useful round-up for busy people on the go. It doesn't take the place of the product, but can solidify the relationship with the reader. I offer a podcast that rounds up the top news of the week for the readers of PLANSPONSOR.com. I try to add some context and reflection, which I think warrants a little bit longer than a straight reading of the week's news. I don't think a lot of people want to hear a straight summary taken from the written word (more on that later). A bare minimum round-up does seem to work for the New York Times, which offers a preview of its front page/top news every day. Sweet spot: 5-7 minutes

4. Summary: These might be my favorite kind of show. They combine news round-ups with chatter and interviews. BusinessWeek does an excellent job with its The BusinessWeek podcast (now offered in video as well). The host Jim Ellis delivers news in a conversational style, then includes interviews with reporters, as well as journalistic stories. Another good one is the NYT's Tech Talk and CBC Radio's Search Engine. (Leave it to the tech geeks to do good podcasts.) Tech Talk combines interviews, chatter, news and regular features such as a technology term explanation. Search Engine is a sweet radio-show-turned-podcast that employs a variety of methods to speak to those fascinated by the sociology of the Web (a.k.a. computer nerds). Sweet spot: 20 minutes

5. Narrative: There is, of course, the opportunity to put together a narrative through audio, like the radio shows that have still remained popular in in podcast form, such as This American Life (bow down). Maybe some others should be in this category that I've already mentioned, but these categories definitely overlap. The average person isn't going to throw together a huge narrative show -- let's leave that to NPR. Sweet spot: 55 minutes

6. Rehash: I'm not sure about this one. Despite what many respected news outlets have done with audio content, they still continue to simply read aloud the written word. And I'm not sure why; no podcast is really going to be stellar by doing this. I can give a nod to a few columns that are slightly entertaining in four-minute vignettes, but normally I don't think it works.

The reason why is that regular written word does not translate well to multimedia. Audio "columns" should not be the same as their printed sister. If a columnist wants to put their column in the audio form, he or she should adjust it for the audio form. Even though I'm not a fan of simply the spoken form, someone must be listening to it, because these book-on-tape-type podcast are still made. Maybe it's OK when offered in conjunction with other types of podcasts. I guess I'd be willing to listen to David Sedaris or Miss Manners read aloud snippets of their stuff. Except the latter doesn't offer any podcasts. Sweet spot: 4 minutes

7. How to: Sometimes simple tips can be an easy and short podcast to offer, if it fits with your content. If I were a well-being magazine, I'd offer a weekly meditation. A personal finance magazine can easily offer some tips about personal finance (maybe also in the chatter format with two people sharing the tips). I don't listen to many of these, but I think they are a fun idea. (Note to self: Seriously, write to Miss Manners to see if she will please do a podcast.) Sweet spot: Totally depends, but I'd say generally 5 minutes.

There are some podcasts that I never stuck with because, while I thought they were interesting, they didn't hit the sweet spot -- such as NEWSWEEK On Air and The Wall Street Journal This Morning. Some podcasts might be well-suited for radio, but are too long to want to download and listen on your own time. So that's another important point: Successful Web audio content and successful radio aren't always one in the same, unless you are Ira Glass.

If you can, offering a variety of podcasts might be ideal. But if you aren't trying to do anything serious, perhaps doing a combination that includes a little round-up, a little chatter, and one interview is a start. I know I geared this toward news outlets, but the general formulas are still pretty transferable to any company thinking of doing a podcast. The interview, how-to and chatter topics are particularly good for non-news sites.

Am I forgetting any editorial format for audio content/podcasts?

Once You've Got the Interview

Here are a couple good resources for what to do after the job search successfully landed the interview.

Salary:

I’ve known about salary.com for a while, but a new job salary site called JobNob.com seems like another good place to investigate your future salary. It breaks down specific job titles and actually shows what some specific companies pay. Of course what I like about salary.com is that it shows that vast geographical differences of certain jobs. Read more about JobNob.com at Alexandra Levit’s blog, Water Cooler Wisdom.

Interviewing:

Don’t leave home without being prepared for some of the most obvious interview questions. If you are like me, you hate providing trite interview answers, but job experts always say you better say the right answer and not just wing it. Of course, being honest is obviously a good thing too. EmploymentDigest.net offers some examples of good answers to common questions.

Materials:

It's hard to decide how many resumes and materials to bring to an interview. If you already have a Web site, you are set. Another good idea is to make sure your resume is easily accessible on Google Docs or on a jump drive so that if you need to print more copies, you can. Also, if you have a portfolio to showcase, CDs are a good thing to bring along.

Any one else have good tips for being prepared for the interview?