I don’t normally “reblog” here but I thought this story from Boing Boing illustrated rather poignantly something I love about the internet.
“Bacn” is email you want, just not right now. The term was coined durinfg PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 on Sunday and is already clogging up our already bulging tubes.
“…according to Technorati, there are over 350 blog posts containing the word, and it’s the 14th most popular search term of the day.”
Why is this relevant to this site? A couple of weeks ago I made a comic with Wesley Crusher in it. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, so I emailed a copy of it to Wil Wheaton. What the hell, right? He might look at it and get a laugh.
He emailed me the next day and told me how much he liked the comic. The Bacn incident and Wil’s email both say something about the unparalleled options for accessibility and connectivity that the internet allows us. Ideas travel at the speed of thought and reach a wider audience in a shorter amount of time than ever before thought possible.
<off topic> It also says something about Wil Wheaton. He knows why he gets to do the things he gets to do (pro-blogging, cons, speaking engagements, writing books). He knows the fans are the ones that keeps his fire burning. I appreciate and respect that. Wil’s not a major Hollywood celebrity, but I would certainly rather have a cup of coffee with him than some douche like Matthew Mcconaughey.</off topic>
You’ve nailed it. In this universe, we are now enabled to build our own stuff that’s on par with “official” stuff. A term that spun out of PodCamp Pittsburgh becomes viral practically overnight. You can reach Wil. We have people-connection ability like never before. Doesn’t that ROCK?
Cool about Wil Wheaton.
@ Chris
Its rock’s indeed. About 7 years ago I wanted to be a “cartoonist.” I wanted to be someone who’s comics were published in newspapers so the world could see them. I did some research and found out that you had to be in one of the major 2 or 3 syndicates and they only accepted something like 4 new comics a year (out of 10’s of thousands). I completely gave up and stopped drawing almost entirely.
This year I thought, its time to do something. Im going to make a comic and people are going to see it. I’ve been doing this for about 3 months and I’m seeing 1000’s of visitors each month (many from outside the US). This wouldnt have been possible without the social infrastructure of the current internet.
Looks like you know a thing or two about this:
http://grasshopperfactory.com/cbc/how-opportunity-really-works/