Can a tweet change the world? Can a blog? A book? A line of poetry? In the era of insta-communications, with keyboards clicking, touchpads texting around the clock, what is the role of writers in evoking viral change, stoking the flames of ideas into online dialogues and actions?
For the past year, I have been developing a project exploring creativity and social change which recently took form as TheViralMediaLab.org. Through this project, I met some fabulous new writer/producer/activists who are using their spark-ideas, Facebook pages and twitter feeds for social change, all the while manifesting new spins on ways to write and communicate. As SheWrites Guest Editor this week, I will feature posts by ace tweeter Stephanie Spiro (@stephspiro), featured in Huffington Post's #twitterpowerhouses series: "Rise of the Female Geek"; Emilia Giordano, a blogger who recently launched a human rights project on Facebook, Burma Know; and Arwen Dewar, an animal rights activist.
Today's featured post comes from SheWrites newbie Rachel Aydt, a widely published magazine writer and blogger (and colleague at The New School) who has a soft spot for one-of-a-kind bookstores, a dying breed in the era of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble superstores. This year, community efforts aided by social media buzz and petitions saved the historic St. Mark's Bookshop from closure. Check out her post: "Collective Voices Save Bookstore"...
More to come on the power of the word to inspire change evolutions!
--Kathleen Sweeney is a web content producer, media artist and author of Maiden USA.
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The photo is an image I took during the Omega Women and Power conference in upstate New York last year...it is a fountain located in their new green building...one of the most green buildings in the country...a fascinating place...
The project you're developing is fascinating, indeed. . . and I look forward to updates re: your own work, not to mention the writers, ideas, etc., you introduce here and on your website. The photo at the top of the page says it all.
Today I dove into some books in a pile by the side of my bed after days of video editing and social media networking and blogging. What a relief and a vacation of print and paper to flip some pages....I must agree that I will never stop loving books! And I do not think they will ever disappear....look what happened to vinyl!
Thank you so much for signing. I truly appreciate your help. Have a fantastic day.
I do like having a physical book in my hands. I like the smell of books, and the feel of the paper. I remember the first day of school each year -- one of my get-started rituals was to open and smell the books. LOL A bookaholic, my friends said. Nowadays, nearly all my books are ebooks. I hold them in my hand on my reader (I use a PDA), and I can take a stack with me everywhere I go. I still buy paperbacks, but a reference book that I'll use for years to come ... no. I want an eversion that I can access instantly, search with a keystroke, and have resident while I'm writing. Not sure bookstores can be saved. When no one is printing new books and only used books are available, will there be a need for them? Perhaps the small ones will come back as a niche market when that happens. I'm sorry to see them go, but it's from nostaligia, rather than the practical need to get my hands on a book.
That said, if there were no internet, only those who had books would have access to knowledge, and knowledge is power.
You're right. It is diversified. I read Shadow of a Whisper by Carlos Zafron on and nearly missed that half of it was a novel that was supposed to be written in the past by a fictitious author named Julian Carax. My friend loaned me the book and I'm really enjoying it.
I just signed your petition, BellaVida!
Rochelle, I think that plenty of people are still buying books but it's now diversified into eBooks and other forms of media storytelling...we are in an interesting cultural moment of flux. But writers have always bought books...I think it's akin to art supplies...we just need to be surrounded by them in order to create word worlds!
I am now using social media to create positive change.
Why I created the Petition to ask ABC to stop Perpetuating Toxic Stereotypes
Actually, just bought a bunch of books--used--in Hoboken--new on Amazon. Are we writers alone in buying books?
I still buy books! Don't all writers buy books? I think the issue comes down to the bricks and mortar outlets versus Amazon (which is only recently being called upon to pay taxes due to the persistence of online loopholes)...What are your thoughts?
How can bookstores be saved if books aren't being bought? (except used ones.)