Censorware
I've never met Seth Finkelstein. I seriously doubt he'd recognize my name. But we disagree. We're in the middle of a time-dilated debate. He just doesn't know it.
If I do volunteer journalism, but it is not propagated by A-list gatekeepers, and not appealing enough for the popular sites, it'll be ignored. That's "audience". -- Seth Finkelstein
Seth has visited this site. But I don't think I convinced him that being on A-List does not equal long-term influence.
Without some sort of support from an attention-system, it doesn't matter what you do in terms of fighting censorship, you'll talk to the crickets! -- Seth Finkelstein
He has a point. What he writes is read by orders of magnitude less than what Cory Doctorow writes. What Doctorow writes is read by orders of magnitude less than what Daniel Pennac writes. And they've all been read by orders of magnitude less than some unknown scribe who first penned, "Your seat cushion can also be used as a flotation device." But what does popularity get you?
My wife is trying to teach college students that popularity does not equal validity. Neither does popularity necessarily equal influence. Cracker Jacks are popular. So is the National Enquirer. Once, I even told a joke on TV that was viewed by most of a large Southern/Midwestern city. No one quoted me in the paper the next day. But I was a hit with my friends. And from that day on I was the comedian of my neighborhood. Bob Newhart, I never became.
Try to find record of that joke today. Or even count how many times the Enquirer claimed JFK is alive. Can't do it. Because no one bothered to save and index them.
But look up "censorware" on Google and you don't see Steven King or Richard Pryor. Hell, you have to skip a page or so to even see Cory Doctorow. But, Page One finds Seth Finkelstein. Say it with me: censorware.
When some high school kid looks up censorware they'll find Seth Finkelstein. He is not an A-List blogger. But, neither are the A-Listers. This isn't 60s broadcast news. We don't have three grey haired men and no one else. We have millions of net circles with millions of combinations of influence. It isn't only how many people read your words today. It's how many find them interesting or thought provoking to link to them tonight.
The key to true influence is to change the direction of a group of people. It could be local or worldwide, but most likely it is a slow change. The bloggers who will be later known as the agents of change will be the ones who had a message with a valid reasoning, and who changed or inspired a mind or three enough so they would spread the message to a mind or four.
Seth Finkelstein is doing that. Whether he realizes it or not.
