So…blogging?

So after approximately seven weeks of semi- dedicated blogging, what do I think?

From a personal perspective, it was interesting to see how my mindset about blogging evolved during the semester and this incorporates two aspects.

Firstly, I was skeptical of blogs particularly as someone who wants to go into the journalism field. While I can appreciate the importance of citizen journalism and am also a fan of gonzo journalism, I’ve always felt as though the blogosphere somewhat threatens quality journalism as essentially, anyone can be a journalist. However, after reading Terry Flew’s article on ‘Citizen Journalism’  it became more apparent that while blogs comment on news, rarely do they break news or greatly influence the outcome. However,  the use of social media in the Iran election went contrary to this theory and I think given the strict censorship, this kind of citizen journalism was both needed and welcomed.

And secondly, I initially wasn’t inclined to think about potential blog posts(especially cafe’ related ones)yet I found as the semester progressed I was more keen to post ideas, reviews and thoughts on my blog and could see myself perhaps continuing with it. Having said this, I also had an urge to change my ‘niche’ topic two weeks away from submitting the assessment- mainly because I thought of another blog I’d actually like to begin and continue with. And now that I have the skills and knowledge to make it successful, (or more successful than previous attempts anway…) I can.

However, what I would be most interested in further exploring  is the potential to use blogs to influence social change and create a blogosphere community based around this idea. For example, I have another blog which focuses on a Kenyan based, grassroots project called; ‘The Elimisha Project’.

While this blog could be considered a niche topic and within the ‘long tail’ I’ve found that it receives very few views or comments. Because of this, I think the creation of a blogging community of social change projects has the potential to actually influence change by gaining a wider audience. 

An example of this is, ‘Conversations for a Better World’- a shared blog developed by the UNFPA. This  could perhaps be the framework for the kind of blogosphere community I think would facilitate social change particularly as it brings together different, but inter-related issues, and various opinions on these issues. However, as previously discussed in the blog on ‘Comment Cultures’, it is rare that debate can be aroused within the comments on a blog and rarely does opposition arise within the long tail; making it difficult to instigate social change when there is an absence of shared ideas to generate useful debate.

In terms of Net Communications overall, I enjoyed the course more than I had anticipated (I heard about the really hard html essay/website from 2009). While I was keen on learning how to design and use a word press blog, if the subject incorporated something like ‘InDesign’ (although it doesnt really fall into the ‘net’ category) it would also be a very useful and practical skill to have particularly in the media field.

But aside from learning about blogs, I have learnt to be more suspicious of privacy on the internet especially in terms of social networking as well as to be more critical of the idea that the blogosphere facilitates some kind of MacLuhan-esque, public sphere, when really it is debateable.

However, I have grown to like blogs and even my Coffee North of the Yarra blog. So I leave you with this little bit of history rehashed into some kind of new media message…

Sharing the love: Creative Commons

                 VERSUS

When it came to embedding a CC license on my own blog, I didn’t hesitate but upon further reflection, I’ve realised how divided my views are about copyright.

On the one hand, I notoriously download music, not via itunes, and have no qualms about watching pirated movies (although, I’m beginning to change my habits…)  yet I feel as though written texts particularly books, have some greater right to be licensed under copyright laws particularly to prevent others ‘stealing’ an authors work. This could be due to my love of literature or impartiality towards writers but I think it’s also quite telling of the kind of ‘free culture’ mindset that, my generation (Y?) has developed with the rise of new media.

‘Free culture’ or ‘freeculturalism’ as Matteo Pasquinelli discusses in his article; ‘The ideology of free culture and the grammar of sabotage,’  is very much based in the mentality that because the internet  facilitates peer-to-peer file sharing and downloading; music and movies should be free regardless of whether it is legal. However, when it comes to books, I think there is less of an inclination to download and read them online as this idea hasn’t developed in the same way music sharing  has for example, the pirate bay. Yet as I type this, the iPad has just been released as well as the Kindle, which are both set to change and shape the  publishing industry so it will be interesting to see how copyright and downloading evolves within this new sphere.

But back on topic, in terms of my own blog, I decided to embed a CC license because I feel it is important to be able to share my works and the rights of reproduction of it with others, yet as I established when choosing a license, I feel it is important to keep the rights of acknowledgement to the original author (myself). I came to this  decision based upon two factors.

Firstly, within the blogosphere there is a community of sharing and collaboration that is almost necessary for an individuals blog to flourish and be quite active. If strict copyright was adhered to, blogs would fail at providing an alternate platform for commentary and media especially when ‘old media’ (for lack of a better phrase) is plagued by stringent copyright laws. And as John Donne said, ‘no man is an island’ and likewise, neither is a blog.

Secondly, I chose my CC license so that it included the options…

You are free to:

- Share and remix

Under the following conditions:

- attribution and share alike

While the majority of people assume that all content on the internet is not copyrighted and therefore ‘free’ content, CC confirms that a particular page is not copyrighted and therefore can be used. However  it is the final conditions that I feel are most important about CC. Attribution to the author is a means of acknowledging that it is someone elses ideas/writing that you are using and to some extent, incorporates the idea of Intellectual Property without taking it to a corporate level. Also, it’s just nice. 

Sharing alike is also important as in order for the blogosphere to function as an alternative to media such as newspapers or TV, there needs to be a  sense of reciprocity that neither copyright laws nor the idea of ‘free culture’ can achieve.

Dmytri Kleiner’s article, ‘Copyfarleft and Copyjustright,’ I think clearly explains the idea of Copyright particularly within the context of emerging new media.  Despite the significant socialist ideas behind the Kleiner’s theory , I agree with several of his arguments particularly the idea that Copyright and intellectual property is not a means of guaranteeing the musician is paid for their music, but rather the middleman whether it be the record company or producer, also gets a cut of the profits.  

And Kleiner’s comment sums it up: “Intellectual property is no friend of the intellectual, or creative, worker.”

Similarly, his point regarding ‘copyleft’ as being really relevant to software development but difficult to apply to ‘arts’ is also really interesting. In an ideal world it would be great to have a flourishing arts industry that was open to the four freedoms of Copyleft; use, study, modify, redistribute and at the same time ensure that artists can make a living. Yet in reality this raises the question of where will revenue come from, if not from copyrighted work, as the ‘iron law of wages’ still applies.

I think this is where Creative Commons and its relationship to new media plays a significant role in the copyright of online artistic work. As Marc Garcelon points out in ‘An information commons? Creative Commons and public access to cultural creations,’  CC ‘represents an attempt to roll back the intellectual property approach to copyright in order to facilitate more open access to creative.’ In this increasingly digitised world, I think this is the strength of CC and as artwork and literature continue to grow within new media we will eventually see the adaptation of ‘copyleft’ ideology and the growth of a system whereby an artist can share their work while potentially, also making money.

And if you wanna see a cool youtube video about Creative Commons, check this out:

What you can do with $5 in Reservoir.

This is a quick post as I’m slowly drowning in the pile of books, essays (and blogs) I need to do over the next week in order to pass this semester. But…

Having just come back from a hungover brunch with my good friend, R, I felt compelled to share my experience of having a coffee of decent quality and delicious breakfast.

‘Reservoir Bakery’ is a Lebanese bakery/supermarket/coffee shop that makes absolutely delicious ‘pizzas’ for around $2.50-$3.00 and coffee that is equally as cheap at a low $2.50.

The pizzas are the lebanese version of pizza and look more like these triangle pastry things filled with yummy goodness such as fetta, spinach, tomatoes, haloumi and meat if you’re a carnivore. They also have these flat breads rubbed with oregano, lemon and olive oil called ‘zaatar’ for $1. Seriously, one dollar. You can’t get much for a dollar nowadays, but here you can get lunch.

And the coffee ain’t that bad either.

$1 goodness- zaatar

Comment Cultures

“Blogs create communities of like-minded people. Debates happen within homogeneous webclouds..Most bloggers would admit that it is not their aim to foster public debate. If you disagree with a fellow blogger, it is  even unwise to write a comment. Instead, it is much safer to post the remark on your own blog. “I blogged you.” The chance that someone will respond to it is almost zero. Herein is the limit of blogging.” ~ Geert Lovnik

And also, therein lies the limit of the longtail. As Lovnik stated, blogs create communities of like minded people and this is particularly true for niche blogs. Given their specific focus, it is more likely they will attract people with shared opinions and views who are unlikely to post provocative comments or opposition to the blog’s overall perspective.

In order to test this theory, I decided to try and insight provocative debate among Melbourne coffee drinkers. Seven Seeds is a trendy, newish cafe on Berkeley Street in North Melbourne- very close to the University of Melbourne. They are also a cafe which prides themselves on outstanding quality coffee, going so far as to even blend, roast and grind their own beans. Given the reputation of Seven Seeds and the adoring fanbase it has I attempted to provoke a debate about poor coffee and service at Seven Seeds by posting on two blogs  who had reviewed the cafe.

Can you provoke a blog debate? Experiment.

1. Melbourne Gastronome

The first comment was posted on a Melbourne Gastronome review of Seven Seeds. Given that it had a very active comment cultures, particularly on this post, I thought it would hopefully attract opposition.

The comment was as follows:

Over a week later, I have had no response. However initially, I thought it wouldn’t be posted on the blog as comments are moderated and a few days later it still hadn’t shown up. Moderation is another hindrance to blog debates especially because if the moderator disagrees with the comment, there is always the option of rejecting it, preventing debate among readers.

Another factor that could have affected the comment receiving no backlash, is the fact that the blog post had not been commented on since December 2009. The continuously updated nature of blogging and the speed at which information becomes ‘old’ on the internet is another factor that affects the prevalence and likelihood of an internet debate unless of course, there is something that makes an old idea new.

2. Melbourne Larder

Given this blog’s author (a former Age and Herald Sun reporter) and the fancy design of the blog (but is design everything…? Check out the previous post for more), I thought this blog would receive a substantial amount of net traffic and also has a moderate commenting culture. 

The comment reads:

   

Similarly, however this comment receieved no response- for or against. And likewise, I think this was more an issue of timeliness and also a lack of a substantial commenting culture given that threads went for a maximum of two comments.

The Verdict.

The obvious conclusion is that it is perhaps impossible to foster or provoke debate within the long tail world of blogging, especially when it comes to niche blogs. However, I also think this has much to do with the nature of most niche blogs in my case- coffee and cafes. No matter how fiercely proud Melbournians are of their coffee, it is not enough to make someone defend a cafe to which they have no allegiance (e.g. ownership) to. However, it also seems that many people are content on posting opposing comments if there is no personal blogger on the other end to receive them.  For example:

Urban Spoon- Seven Seeds Review

Urban Spoon is a quasi- cafe review blog that more or less depends on comments  from readers as well as linking to external blogs and reviews. It was here that I found the first anti- Seven Seeds comments. Such as…

” average and cold coffee. food is expensive for glorified sangas. service very slow.”  ~ spooner.

And…

“Coffee weak Food bland.. Needs more love less cream & marscapone.. Salmon baguette had half a kilo of creme fraiche on it.. French toast bland brioche with no syrup & another half kilo of marscapone.. All style little substance.. Nice location though Wouldn’t mind living here!” ~ RML

 This cafe review website however, differs from your traditional blog in the sense that there is no one author whom the commentor addresses their comment to, thus removing any element of personal attack or thought provoking comment debate.

Even in this case, while opinion was divided on Seven Seeds, there was no debate among commentors, merely just one comment followed by another one. And this, I think, is the nature of commenting  on niche blogs- everyone already has their own quite strong opinion on the niche topic, that by seeking out a specific website about it, they are more than likely to agree.

Similarly, as Lovnik mentions, it is more likely that within the long tail, bloggers will go and post an ‘anti post’ voicing their opinion in retaliation. In this case, it would have perhaps been more effective if I had posted a ‘Seven Seeds Sucks’ blog, rather than attempting to provoke debate via a comments thread.

The only kind of web blog, other than a forum, that really facilitates debate would be news websites such as The Age or even Crikey which has quite a substantial blogging and commenting culture. This could be because topics such as politics, economics, movies or books are not a specific niche topic and allow more scope for blog.    

Thus, I think the culture of commenting is difficult to gauge when it comes to niche blogs as it is often the nature of the topic and the exact fact that it is a niche blog that renders heated, provocative or insightful debate is unlikely. 

___________________________________________________________

* Disclaimer: Seven Seeds was used only as an example, given the cafes popularity, I have nothing against them. And don’t want to rouse too much debate*

Lialina + Lui= web design

When considering the design of my blog, I was careful that I approached it with the topic in mind as well as usability; how easy it will be to navigate/read. Because of this, I opted for a simple and ‘sleek’ design that is aesthetically appealing but also straightforward and not over designed.

‘Cool’ vs. Uncool (Amateur)

In an earlier post, I criticised the Melbourne Cafe Reviews blog as being tacky and too ‘theme’ oriented, e.g. the overuse of brown + coffee cup idea, mainly because I don’t think this kind of design really adds anything to a blog or website. Despite this, I still think design is dependent on context and content. For example,  when considering the topic of ‘really good coffee’ and ‘cafes’ in Melbourne, I immediately thought of a snobbish, very niche clientle (for lack of a better description) such as the coffee folk at Sensory Lab. Thus, I thought the design of my blog, as being sleek and simple, would appeal to this audience and boost the number of hits it  would receive.

However, this isn’t to say that design is purely based on attracting readers. Rather colourful ‘amateur design’ as discussed in Olia Lialina’s article, ‘A Vernacular Web 2′  would perhaps appeal to a different audience who would appreciate the kitschy nature of the design and would be an added motive for viewing the blog. For example, design elements such as Translucency and Glitter, although being slightly cringe worthy, are also markers of amateur aesthetics and are fuelled by websites such as MySpace whose users are some of the biggest proponents of amateur design (especially when compared to Facebook users).

While I decided against adopting any of these design elements for my own blog layout, I can appreciate the kind of anti- ’cool’ web design movement it represents, particularly when so much of what is considered ‘cool’ is concentrated on complex graphics, flash based introductions and animation and often, minimalism to the point that blogs or websites are difficult to navigate. 

This idea is something that Allen Lui discusses in his book, ‘Laws of Cool.’ Although it was quite a complex read, what was particularly interesting are his ideas about web design particularly, ‘cool’ web design acting as bridge between work and home or ‘production and consumption’ therefore satisfying the ‘craving for form in information.’ This theory is also applicable to blogs for example,  ‘how to’ blogs can act as a tool for someone in a certain profession yet, it they are so different from mere instruction manuals, simply because of the design and layout in which information is presented. Lialina’s article  raises a similar idea about ‘garden gnomes (homepages)’ in reference to amateur design, as we want to feel ’at home’ on the internet and adopt these practices and design methods to do so, thus bridging the gap between work and play.  

WordPressThemes (for lazy people)

In terms of my own blog design, I decided to opt for a WordPress theme, ‘MistyLook’ and customise the header to reflect the content of my blog rather than leave it as a generic image. While this was a straightforward process my own inability to write or edit html and the absence of an option to edit the background colour of the theme, meant  I couldn’t change it. I would have preferred the background colour to contrast the page colour more, so that it looked more effective rather than white and somewhat clinical. 

Similarly, while there are over 100 themes to choose from, I struggled to find one that had both a customisable header and background colour that I liked. This could just be my own fussiness, but at the same time it is a means of giving people design options and also limiting these to a set structure and ability to customise.

And just for fun…

Jackson Dodds: the new guy in town

Fancy froth work

A few weeks ago as I approached the end of 112 tram line, longing for my before work coffee that wouldn’t come until I reached Fitzroy, I was suddenly hit with a smell- the sweet aroma of freshly grinded coffee beans.

From the creators of Small Block, Cameron Willis and his wife Jackie, comes  Jackson Dodds,  a cafe’ which threethousand described as somewhere ‘where everybody knows your name.’ And after my first experience there I’m thinking that maybe Jackson Dodds is my local.

Given its address, Jackson Dodds, caters for the young mum,  the cool indie couple, the book reading chick and even your average Reservoir bogan.The atmosphere was friendly, albeit busy and slightly frantic during lunchtime, but for a cafe in walking distance of my house, by far the best of what’s on offer.

After walking in and scoring a sunny table by the window I was greeted with a ‘hello’ and  a glass of water by a friendly waitress sporting the same Brunswick Street haircut as my sister. After glancing over the drinks menu which includes milkshakes, tea and Phoneix organic beverages, I decided to stick with a cappucino. 

By this time it wasn’t super busy but there was still a bit of a wait from the unhappy looking barista who had perhaps had enough babychinos and soy lattes in one day.

While waiting, I admired the decor which is friendly and homey without being too messy and uncluttered. The assortment of both stools and chairs as well as benches and share tables mean there’s lots of options and is perhaps one of the reasons Dodds is able to cater to such a wide demographic (not to mention the little wooden kids table). The open kitchen and coffee area is inviting without being intimidating and allows you to have a peek at your food and coffee being made. It reminded me a little bit of a cross between ’Seven seeds‘ and ’Babka ‘- another two great cafes’- but with more of its own personality. Plus they have newspapers and magazines to read which is great if you’ve left your Kafka or Austen at home. 

When the coffee was brought over to me by a friendly barista I was immediately impressed by the presentation of it- a perfectly formed love heart/flower shape made from creamy and smooth froth. But the actual coffee was fairly average and unimpressive.  While it looked amazing, it tasted slightly bitter, which could have been the brand of coffee (i forgot to ask and couldnt see a name) or just poor barista skills. The milk however had the right amount of froth and dusted chocolate so that it wasn’t overpowering and was just right.  

For $2.80 for your regular latte/cappucino/flat white and for cafe that I can crawl to on a Sunday morning, I would definitely go back and have been back since  because it isn’t the worst coffee; it just also isnt the best.

Rating: three and a half coffee beans.

Jackson Dodds

611 Gilbert Road

Preston, 3072

Phone: 9471 1900

Sugardough- sugarey indeed.

Sugardough cafe is the kind of place I feel I could go to for breakfast in my pyjamas despite even the trendy indie kids and yuppie mums that frequent the Lygon St cafe.

After many a failed time, craving for a Sugardough breakfast only to find it’s closed (you really need to remember the open days) I finally went there after a nearly 6 month drought. And as usual, among the teapot plants,, messy counter of delicious cakes and pastries and communal tables, I felt at home.

But the breakfast was something I would fail dismaly at  making myself. Imagine baking fresh bread, cooking eggs, roasting vegetables and then putting them in a little dish and swirling creamy goats cheese and the perfect mustard sauce through… impossible right? Well The Vegetable Strata at Sugardough manages to achieve all of this modestly and is quite literally, delectable. 

But this blog was meant to be about coffee! And mine was a little disappointing. I should explain, I enjoy my mocha covered in  a creamy froth and lightly dusted with good quality chocolate.

“I have no time for froth,” said a friend the other day. And apparently either do Sugardough. Both the froth and shake of chocolate were MIA and instead I was left with a mug of coffee that looked like slightly watery mud. However, I will add that it did not nearly taste as bad and in the end washed down my Vegetable Strata quite well.  And as my sister received her soy latte and took the first sip, she smiled and said something along the lines of, ‘this is amazing. and just made my day.’

My verdict: go for the soy latte, stay for the vegetable strata.

My rating: four coffee beans

Sugardough

163 Lygon Street, East Brunswick

Open: Tues- Sun (varying times)

Contact: 9380 4060