I read about the Jaipur Lit Fest, only thanks to a tweet from prolificd/roshnimo, this despite the fact that I fancy myself to be quite a voracious bibliophile. So, I wouldnt have been surprised to be asked ‘Have you been living in a cave?’.
I blame it on the information overload, and wonder if we have reached full circle. Once upon a time, the means of communication was so minimal that most people lived their lives without most of the information they’d have liked to have. These days, its the other extreme of communication means, but the effect is the same. Even if I have an interest for something, I might end up missing the information, simply because of the large amounts of data I’m plowing through in terms of Twitter, blogs, Facebook, news sites and so on. Don’t even think of saying noise, or filter. There are limits and it doesnt help if you have interests in the social web, Bollywood, puns, books, Formula 1 and so on.
The more interest I have in different verticals, and the more conversations I have in any one of these, I expose myself to being in a ‘cave’. Different people based on their interest areas and levels of interest, would thus create a hmm, long tail of caves!!
I’m getting by now by paying special attention to those whom I trust, in specific fields, to give me the latest, valid information. A sort of virtual look out. But I’m hoping for a better solution, like say, a few vertical networks?
until next time, wassup? 🙂
and on the blog today.. a bit about Tweetbacks http://tinyurl.com/bvnqk9 and the long tail of caves http://tinyurl.com/d8wgxj
Is the move to partial feed a deliberate move?
on the contrary, have been trying to get rid of the ‘summary’ feed for a few days now…just got it done… a template/rss issue… sorted 🙂
I was about to ask the cave question. Even as a visitor I knew of it. And then when I met Daniel Lak, he found me using the dust jacket flap as a bookmark in his book. So he gave me a bookmark from the book festival. 😉
I do not however believe that as a bibliophile, one MUST know of all festivals. I have experienced various levels of ‘book reading’ amongst audiences in these festivals. In Edinburgh Book Festival, I once heard someone in a Roger Penrose talk quip to another how ‘accessible’ Penrose’s writing is. Assuming this was a gathering of gushing fans, and not cynics, either that person is a genius or I have been reading some other Roger Penrose.
I prefer to meet authors and talk with them in more personal, smaller settings. Smaller gatherings allow more Q&A (although Dalrymple annoyed me and many others with his share of voice in the ‘talk with Amartya Sen’ about his Argumentative Indian book). They also humanise the author. The latter is a marketing trick most marketers miss – in their search for volumes. Once you meet an author, you can see whether or not (s)he wrote the book for money and money alone. You can also examine the depth of the author’s expertise and knowledge. Writing a review is then a more meaningful and I daresay less likely to be a harsh exercise.
On opinions, what can I say? You know my two columns, don’t you?
show off :p
I agree, i don’t need to know all, its just that even with the info overload I expected myself to know 😐