Tag Archives: new media

April 10, 2013 · 9:19 am

Scribbles from the Courtier

Taking a page from the multi-talented Margaret Perry over at 10kP, I felt it only fair to try to placate my readers with a few notes until I find a bit more time to write a proper blog post.  Looking at the last publication date I realize I have been remiss in writing, but when you do not write for a living – well, not this sort of material, anyway – often real life gets in the way of intellectual pursuits and ruminations.  Therefore please accept this small selection of thoughts until I have a chance to return to normal.

- One of the reasons things have been a bit out of the ordinary of late are the preparations for the upcoming wedding of a good friend.  There are many things that need doing, from the bachelor party to what happens while the couple are away on honeymoon, and this must all be completed in one’s spare time away from the office and other necessary obligations such as eating, sleeping, and attending church.  Some years ago, I rather unfortunately let down a friend of mine who was about to get married, and although our friendship had significantly faded by the time he married, it cam about through a combination of impossible circumstances which led to things ending badly between us.  So although I cannot repair the damage done there, this time I am making sure that I do things properly, hopefully with the maturity and thoughtfulness which I certainly lacked 15 years ago.

- It has been announced that there will be two – yes, TWO – Catholic New Media Conferences this year, sponsored by SQPN, the Star Quest Production Network.  For those who are unaware, for over a year now I have been a regular panelist on the “Catholic Weekend” show on the network, which is an often funny, occasionally serious, discussion of news and happenings of the week in the Catholic world.  This year’s U.S. conference will be held in Boston the weekend of October 19-20, and at least at the moment I plan to attend.  In addition, for the first time SQPN is holding a conference abroad, in Melbourne, Australia on the weekend of September 2-3.  I won’t be attending that one, but if you know of Catholics interested in new media and social media in Australia, I would encourage them to attend.

- Speaking of which, I did a major overhaul of my aggregate website, http://wbdnewton.com to try to make it more interesting, while still being a place to show what I have been working on.  Any feedback you can provide would be most gratefully appreciated.  I am still fidgeting around with some of the different photo choices.

- If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I am doing a series of humorous AVI’s – that’s Twitterspeak for “avatar” or “profile picture” – called “Superman at Home”, in which I don the famous suit and do rather mundane things.  For those of you who use Pinterest, you can now enjoy a gallery of these pictures for your re-pinning entertainment.  On the 1st of each month I change my Twitter avatar and pin a new picture to the Pinterest board, and so far we have seen Superman brushing his teeth, ironing his cape, and crushing his tax returns.  This all stems from my Halloween experience back in 2011, which I wrote about on this blog, though the outgrowth from that experience has turned into a great way to connect with people on social media.  So many of the things I write about on here tend to be rather heavy, and often get the comment that I was somehow intimidating when that certainly is not my intent in these pages, that I wanted to show that I do not take myself overly seriously.  I can and do laugh at myself all the time, and now you can too.

Bronzino

Detail of “Portrait of a Young Man with a Book” by Agnolo Bronzino  (c. 1525)
Private Collection

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December 20, 2012 · 10:14 am

Blog Post 1,000

Verily, these are fine arguments which you cite, and I do not see why you do not commit them to writing.

- Castiglione, Book of the Courtier, Vol. III.

Yes, you read the title of this blog post correctly: this is my 1,000th blog post on Blog of the Courtier.  Over five years have passed since I started this particular blog, centered around the ideals that Baldassare Castiglione put forth in his “Book of the Courtier”, from whence this project takes both its name and inspiration.  And the writings of the good Count still provide me with inspiration on a regular basis – though whether I cite, verily, fine arguments I will leave for the reader to decide.

It strikes me that this is a somewhat improbable milestone to have reached, for what in the end is a project which I work on simply because I enjoy it.  The fact that this regular writing habit happened at all is thanks in no small part to the initial encouragement of two very good bloggers in particular (and you know who you are, lady and gentleman.)  When I was getting going with this current blog, they made an effort to ask their readers to give me a look over; many have stayed and become good friends.

Over time, the readership of this blog has grown from a few dozen to a few thousand readers a month, something I find equally astonishing, since truthfully all I am doing is just scribbling down some thoughts to share with you, about things which I find important or interesting.  As with any activity, the more you do something, the better you get at it, until writing a blog post is something which I just need a few quiet minutes to do each day.  And I hope that over time my writing is improving, rather than otherwise.  In fact just this week, WordPress selected one of my blog posts again for their “Freshly Pressed” highlight page, after having done so for the first time earlier this year.  To know that a diverse community of fellow bloggers appreciates your work is just tremendous.

Naturally it falls to me to thank you, gentle reader, for your continued readership and support.  Whatever I choose to write about, you come along for the ride and allow me to explore a variety of topics, sharing with me your own thoughts and opinions.  The fact that you care enough to give me some of your time and attention, as well as to leave comments, is truly humbling.  It has been both a great pleasure and privilege for me to share these ramblings and ruminations with you, and  I hope to continue to do so through many more posts to come.

Rembrandt

“Sketch of Raphael’s Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione” by Rembrandt (1639)
The Albertina, Vienna

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December 14, 2012 · 10:27 am

Steve Nelson: An Appreciation

As many of my regular readers know, earlier this year I was asked to become a regular guest on the Catholic Weekend show on SQPN.  Having listened to a number of SQPN shows over the past several years, and made them a regular component of my weekly news and entertainment downloads, it was a great honor for me to be able to work with and contribute to their efforts to bring Catholic ideas and perspective to a wider audience.  And one of the best things that has come out of my experience to date has been the privilege of working with Steve Nelson, Executive Director of SQPN.

Tomorrow will be Steve’s last regular appearance on Catholic Weekend, as he will be leaving the network to head off to Papua New Guinea, where he will be teaching at St. Fidelis College, a diocesan seminary run by the Capuchin friars.  This is a bold and rather exciting step, but in a way it is not really surprising.  Steve’s love for the Church, for encouraging the solid formation of young minds, and for aiding the developing world are all well-known to anyone who has enjoyed reading his blogs or listening to him speak.

Although I have been a public speaker of one sort or another for many years, from acting to lectoring, lobbying to lawyering, I can tell you that being on a podcast is something very different indeed.   One of the things I have learned over the past year from Steve in working on Catholic Weekend is what we may call the Tao of Kenny Rogers:  know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.  Being a lawyer, a conservative, and a half-Catalan, with a particular love for St. Dominic, I freely admit that I can, from time to time, bring down buckets of fire and brimstone if I am particularly incensed over some issue.  It may very well be a genetic predisposition,  since two fellow Catalans, St. Raymond of Penyafort and St. Vincent Ferrer, were both well-known as somewhat outspoken members of the Dominican Order.

That being said, there is a time and place for that sort of talk.  What Steve has taught me personally from his example is the value of making an effort to take a breath and remember that a podcast is neither a courtroom nor a late night down at the pub.  Because I argue for a living, I am usually trying to nail my ideological opponent to the wall.  And in podcasting, while sometimes we can let loose and use the powers at our disposal, we also have an opportunity to speak gently but firmly in making our point, without shooting out our heat vision or the like.  This is something which our beloved Pope Benedict himself does so very well, and I am grateful for the same reminder and example Steve gives of calling that to mind when needed.

Thus I hope you will consider tuning in as we record the show tomorrow, Saturday December 15th, beginning at around 10:30 am Eastern over on SQPN Live, or that you will download the episode later or watch it online.  There will be many guests from the world of Catholic new media dropping in to wish Steve well, and sharing their stories of him.  Those who know Steve from many personal interactions over the years – for example from his travels and adventures in Rome, Haiti, and elsewhere, or in his efforts organizing the hugely successful Catholic New Media Conference sponsored by SQPN, which grows in size and scope every year – will no doubt have a number of their own memories to share with you.

For my part my favorite (if admittedly a bit silly) memory of Steve’s time at SQPN was what I refer to as “The Betty Rubble Incident” on Catholic Weekend, from long before I joined the show.  I will only tell you that you will have to go back through the show archive, and find that particular episode on your own.  As always, Steve handled a rather unfortunate turn of events with the good-natured balance of humor and maturity, fun and seriousness, which he so often brings to the show, even as those around him who shall remain nameless fell into uncontrollable fits.

While I am sorry to see Steve go, I look forward to hearing tales of his new adventures serving God and His Church halfway around the world: ¡Que Dios te guarde, Esteban!

Steve

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September 10, 2012 · 1:48 pm

Putting It Mildly

If like me you are a blogger who does not blog for a living, then you know that statistically speaking, you live for feedback and followers, when it comes to your blog posts, rather than for clicks and advertisements.  This particular blog has been online since 2008 and, while my readership is not gigantic, it is certainly regular, and has been steadily increasing as the years go on.  So when WordPress selected my blog post on collecting secondhand books to appear on their “Freshly Pressed” page on Saturday morning, I thought – well that’s nice. I might get a few more readers.

Now, after about 1,200 reads, 130 “likes”, and 50-0dd comments on that one post, and despite having blogged for some time and more recently become involved in podcasting, it still astounds me how powerful new media can be.  It brings a diverse group of people to your message, whatever that message may be, in ways which basic word of mouth among friends can rarely hope to do.  And some of these people who may not normally choose to read a blog like yours might actually want to stick around, and see what you are going to write next.

This creates both an opportunity for the author and a sense of responsibility he must bear to his reader.  For if you are reading these pages, it means you are not reading others, with the time you have available for reading such things.  There is, as economists would say, an opportunity cost in giving up some of your time to consider my thoughts, rather than someone else’s or indeed your own.

More to the point Count Castiglione, the patron of this blog, would have commented that it is not the popularity of a blog in and of itself which necessarily assures us of good content, but rather the continued effort of the writer to try to get better at it.  We can all think of bloggers whom we have read in online publications, and wonder who on earth encouraged them to start writing – let alone paid them to do so.  Yet as Castiglione observes in The Book of the Courtier that “those who are not thus perfectly endowed by nature, with study and toil can in great part polish and amend their natural defects.”

There is nothing whatsoever to be lost in admitting that one has a great deal to learn about something, for this is in fact the way by which we can begin to try to improve ourselves.  If I walk out into a football game having never actually played football, I am probably going to end up carried off on a stretcher, unless I admit that I need coaching and training.  Or if I want to try to cook a paella having never actually made one before, by simply using a recipe book, something is almost certainly not going to come out quite right – the rice will be underdone or the seafood will have been overcooked into pieces of rubber and so on.

WordPress has certainly sent a large number of new readers my way over the past 48 hours, for which I am deeply grateful.  Yet at the same time I admit that I am by no means an author who has perfected his craft.  There is still a great deal to learn, and when you are both writer and editor of your own material, sometimes the results are decidedly uneven.  Thus, while my opinions on certain subjects may remain strong, and at times even be viewed at as outspoken, as a scrivener I remain deeply convinced that while my writing talents have improved, there is still much to improve upon.  Fortunately with feedback and interaction, such improvements are not only possible, but likely.


Detail of “Portrait of a Man Writing” by Jacobus Eeckhout (c. 1840)
Southampton City Art Gallery, England

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August 27, 2012 · 12:07 pm

Social Media and the Sluggard

If you’re a regular reader of these pages you know that I often look at new and social media in the same light that I do art, film, and so on, questioning whether there are some problems we need to be aware of.  To wit.: a friend recently shared this rather lengthy, but very much worth-reading article from The Atlantic, which asks what anyone who uses social media asks themselves, at some point, if they are honest.  Namely, are sites like Facebook actually making us feel more lonely? As a jumping-off point for a bit of reflection, the question is extremely useful in the broader consideration of whether social media actually makes us lazier than we ought to be.

What do most individuals put out on social media sites like Facebook about themselves, as opposed to their simply commenting on the events of the day? As the author of The Atlantic piece points out, most of us tend to share happy pictures of ourselves, family and friends doing wonderful things.  The net effect of this, intentional or not, is to say, “Look how wonderful things are for me!”  Rarely does one see pictures of babies waking up covered in their own excretions at 3:00 a.m., and screaming until the entire house wakes up, for example.

There are certainly people who use their social media accounts to one-up other people, by saying, “Isn’t my boyfriend/job/lifestyle/car/etc. more fabulous than yours?”  There’s even a half-joking hashtag on Twitter, #BeJealous, which is quite literally daring people to despise the person using it.  The intent may be humorous, but unless what is being talked about is so awful that it is clearly meant as a burst of humor – e.g., “Fixing a hair-clogged drain #BeJealous” – sometimes we can’t help but indeed feel a bit jealous, and perhaps a bit less well-disposed toward the person who made us feel that way.

Going to social media to find some support and comfort can be a good, temporary means of pouring balm on our wounds when we need it.  Yet the more time people spend focused on their unhappiness via social media, the more unlikely it is that they will act to improve their life.  They will become more and more sluggish, the more they find an audience willing to indulge them in their unhappiness.

I should point out that we are not talking here about people suffering from clinical depression, who need to seek professional help. Rather, I mean the kind of people whom Kyle Scheele talks about in his book, those people who need to find a way to turn off the television – or indeed, the social media platform – and actually interact with the people whom they live and work with, instead of criticizing their life or the people on it (or not in it.)  For there is a definite escapist element to social media which can reinforce some of the worst aspects of our personality, if we are not on guard against it.

It seems many people are creating a world of broader but shallower friendships in social media, as The Atlantic piece rightly points out.  We spend more and more time talking to more and more people whom we do not actually know, about all sorts of things. And in the process, perhaps imperceptibly at first, we are spending less and less time in the company of people whom we do.  For those already susceptible to this sheltering aspect of social media, i.e., people who are shy or lonely by nature, it may at first seem to be a wonderful outlet, but this is only the case if they use it as a tool to create with and build upon, rather than as a substitute for human relationships.

Life has its wonderful moments, but quite a good deal of the time it is simply a slog.  And like that fact or not, social media is simply no substitute for action on what needs to be done in life, however unpleasant or difficult it may be. We do not win any real points in the human race by having more followers, or more posts, than someone else, but rather by the quality of the relationships we develop, and the people whom we help and interact with in real life.

Social media can connect people who can aid and encourage each other, but it can also encourage lethargy, envy, and self-absorption. Taking a step back every now and then, in order to make sure your real life is in order with respect to the people actually in it, is a good thing.  Indeed, it is going to be more beneficial than reinforcing the tendency to sluggishness which all human beings have, and which can be reinforced by an over-dependence on social media.

Detail of “The  Sluggard” by Frederick, Lord Leighton (1890)
Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts

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