š¬ Quotes
āThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.ā
Issac Asimov
Paul Krugman
āThe world is not as impressed with Silicon Valley as Silicon Valley is with itself.ā
š¬ Scott Galloway
āGive a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world."
Tyrell Wellick (character from Mr. Robot)
… many thanks for the research @nitinkhanna
John Bercow: Iāll stop Boris Johnson breaking the law on Brexit.
There is a spine in politics!
āHow did a man you wouldnāt trust alone with your own sister come to be trusted with the entire country?ā
Jeremy Paxman
āIf property can be infinitely reproduced and instantaneously distributed all over the planet without cost, without our knowledge, without its even leaving our possession, how can we protect it? How are we going to get paid for the work we do with our minds?ā
[John Perry Barlow](https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1338&context=dltr)
Friends Don't Let Friends Write Content
I have had versions of this article on a number of different blogs and publications for years. The time has come to formalize it, since content, its ownership and how we think about it, is central to the principles of People First.
A recent question from someone in one of my many groups ...
"Why is it so difficult to find a freelance writing gig?
My reply ...
Because the people who pay for writing have no clue of the value, which is why they call it ācontentā which we know has no value and is homogenous āfillerā that can be swapped out at a moments notice.
My Content Rule ...
'Don't Call It Content'
.... book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph, image, graphic art, poster, fine art ā¦ anything ā¦ anything but ācontentā.
If you want a general catchall phrase, how about material? It's the words that creative used to use - it meant something. Stood for something. It had value.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Why?
Because as long as āwe the creatorsā fall into the trap of using low cost, homogenous, non-descript words like 'content' to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs then our work will continue to be viewed as āfree - to - cheap - to - low - costā, as āhomogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodderā. Moreover, we then only have ourselves to blame and the resultant payment for your art, your thinking, your ideas, will continue to race to the bottom.
It is not in the interests of any creator to allow that, so why allow their interests to define how we think?
Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, 'anything will do' kind of word. Which is why 'content' has no value. It is also important to know that it is in the best interests of the buyers of our sweat, labour, thought and time to keep their price down. But our costs are not kept down. So our net earnings suffer. And they are suffering badly.
And it has to start with you - the creator, because it isnāt in the interests of buyers to change their behaviour and vocabulary - 'they' want great work at no cost.
From a while back now - but well worth repeating ....
Ā
It's the amateurs who make it tough for the professionals
š¬ Harlan Ellison
I wonder if that is how this kind of thinking comes about? As I wrote when I first saw this ...
For all those of us attempting to get paid for value by people who wouldnāt get value if it smacked them between the eyes.
š¬ John Philpin
Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, āanything will doā kind of word. Which is why ācontentā has no value.
āI draw and paint on paper using pen, ink, and watercolor. I then scan and publish my work on this web site. People then visit and read this graphic novel, or if you prefer, webcomic. Occasionally, I write a blog post like this one. There is art and there is commentary, but there is no content and there are certainly no consumers.ā
š¬ Don Macdonald - August 24th, 2011
All Creators Should
STOP using THEIR words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR passion. OUR beliefs.
A N D
STARTĀ usingĀ OURĀ words to describeĀ OURĀ work.Ā OURĀ soul.Ā OURĀ passion.Ā OURĀ beliefs.
Work-Life Balance
Trading my time for the pay I get (up!)
The Vogues
Living on money that I ain't made yet (up!)
Gotta keep goin' gotta make my way (up!)Ā
But I live for the end of the day (up!)
Written in 1965 - and nothing has changed. This newsletter introduced you to the 4P model of People First ... Pay, Purpose, Play and Passion.
With a more open, enlightened recruiting process there is so much more that people could do in any company if they were given the chance. The answer is to stop job filling and start fulfilling.
Paraphrasing someone - Doc Searls I think.
āTo suggest that by adding up the total set of known and unknown data about an individual provides an understanding of that person is akin to suggesting that by adding up the components that make up a car means you understand the car.
The Valueā Of People
There's someĀ fuckingĀ guy, scientist or something. Real sick bastard. Says he measured out the remains, the cremated remains of a dead man. Measured out the, uh, minerals left behind, you know? The iron phosphates, the ... whatever it is we're made up of. Says heĀ addedĀ it all up to the cost of $4.40.
$4.40. Burnt down man'sĀ worthĀ less than aĀ fuckingĀ Big Mac.
Michael Grey played by Liam Cunningham in The Numbers Station
I caught The Numbers Station over the weekend, and that is the opening dialogue. It resonated. I know nought of the truth - but it does seem about right.
After last week's newsletter, and the responses, I have thought about it more and more. How we as a society spend so much ... too much ... time reducing anything ... everything ... to a value based on the component parts.
We know that the click bait mongers of the internet write stuff like this - to save you the click through itās all about adding together the cost of the sum of the parts of an iPhone - and thus by extrapolation conclude that Apple is - as we might say in England ... '
No - this is not a defence of Apple - but to ask a question.
Isn't this exactly what businesses do every day week, month and year to people. You earn a salary or wage based on what they consider is your worth to them while they rent you for the 40, 50, 60 hours each week that you are in their service?
But it's worse. The value is not just for the sum of your component parts, but actually for the sum of your component parts that they think they need, and everything else is ignored. Your component parts are what they have defined are needed to do the job that they have defined needs to be done. Everything else is of zero value.
Thinking Allowed
This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. Itās a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.- More about People First
- Other People First Posts
(not just from the āother domainā ā¦ all of them.)
You donāt often see truth in straplines but I just did …
āThere must be security for all, or no one is secure.ā
āEveryone, weāre changing everyone,
you name them all,
weāve had them here,
and the real stars are still to appear.
šµ
š§ Our Greatest Assets
Our fourth Newsletter just dropped. The focus this week .. People!
Hamid Ulukaya - founder and CEO of 'Chobani Yoghurt' presents his plan - 'the anti-CEO playbook'. A fascinating journey through the early days of the company - and how it's
Secondly, A reminder that when you build systems and make changes in your organization, it's
Finally, for a while now, I have been writing about why we should stop using the word 'Content' to describe our ābook, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph ā¦. you get the point.
This week Om Malik and Khoi Vinh have both written about that very topic. Personally delighted if finally this message is catching on and
As long asĀ āwe the creatorsā fall into the trap of using ātheirā words to describeĀ our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefsĀ asĀ ācontentā, then our work will continue to be viewed asĀ āfree - to - cheap - to - low - cost, homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodderā.
John Philpin - People First
āGeorge RR Martin writes on an ancient program called Wordstar 4.0 on a dos computer. He is selling more books than nearly anyone on the planet and his computer canāt even send an email. ā¦ So often we think that we need more to be successful.ā
Kyle Westaway
āThere will be ways to protect against being āfakedā by doing things like wearing a live cellular automaton tie.ā
Stephen Wolfram