Reiki Music. Video Marketing

Mash Ups the quest for ethical content

I don’t know about you, as you haven’t told me yet, but some days even a moderately simple task opens up a big can of worms. What should have been a simple product idea, becomes a life challenging quest for answers.
OK maybe I’m exaggerating very slightly, but here’s how it goes.

There’s what seems a sudden propensity for mash-ups to come up the web. Now a “mash up” is supposed to be defined as a composite (or aggregate) of several different types of information in to a new “more useful” thingy.

So someone might make a web widget that takes a postcode you enter and combines Google Maps of restaurants in your area, to reviews those restaurants form a review site, to calorie count of the meals on the menus, from a dieting site. Yes, it has probably even been done ! But maybe only for restaurants in East 93rd street in Polski

Any way, we can see the principle is fine. Take disparate data and make it "more useful" for a specific task. Hence the terrn “mash up” as in making turnip, suede and potato mash. I forget the "fancy" name for that right now. My mum used to make it. Probably because we didn’t even realise it had those vegetable things in it

Now the Internet in its infinite wisdom (or chaos) is full of “lists”. Lists that people make of things that are important or relevant to them.

Like on Amazon you can read somebody elses recommended (or wish) book list, to expand your “related” reading, in the vein hope that your tastes and needs may be even remotely to theirs. Or it could be they just recommend some really crap book, as those are the only ones they have ever read so far. Yeah. Mash can turn out badly !

So today I’ve started to wonder if the world really has gone mad. Or more correctly whether I have had a blip of sanity.

I mean who on earth wants to read or see all these mashups. If everyone creates their own mashups (and why wouldn’t they), probably 1000 each, who is left to read them?
More importantly WHY should they read them?

And then we have the even more interesting business and artistic expression of HOW would anyone find the "best" ones even if they wanted to?

Now reality re-enters and we have the recent propensity for one trick pony marketing types to promote the use of “mash-ups” a s a cheap (free) way to “promote” (sic) your business, using other peoples free data, but putting your businesses "stamp" on it and getting the SEO credit.

But does putting the CNN news ticker on your blog, make you a credible journalist?
NO, “I” don’t think so!
In fact doesn’t it raise an issue?
If for some ridiculous reason I decide to get my news from your blog, rather than direct from CNN, I am totally relying on your editorial policy. What you filter in. What you filter out. What you edit in. What you edit out. My view of world news, is now YOUR view of world news.But it has a CNN credibility badge on it.

Yes sure we already have conspiracy theory ideology that the news is government, or mafia, or business mogul controlled, already anyway. And it may well be in parts. But now isn’t the time to discuss the merits (yes there are some) and cons, of such a scenario.

But is the fact that little Johny, and little Mary can re-write the news on their own personal blogs, complete with some [Source CNN] stamping for credibility, an empowering and good thing? Or are they just another potential source of "Propaganda". Their own and their own bias and views.

OK so I’ve taken it to the extreme with “the world news” where torture and war and corruption and abuse and health plagues and the end of the world, all may be reported.
The news as our “social conscience” may not be worth very much at all, but at least we can go “oh dear” as someone as murdered, and then move on with our oh so important knitting (yeah sarcasm, yeah right). Of course we can’t all change the far corners of the world, let alone our own street, or bother to vote for someone who could. I’m not sure why that is again, maybe you can remind me?

Anyway the collapse of society isn’t what is important there. (Can you believe I just said that?)

The point I started with, is who cares about mash ups other than the person who creates it?
Yes of course! When several (thousand) other people agree with it, like, it, find it entertaining, or useful.

So now we are suddenly back to the age old problem of society and the contribution to it of the individual. When we lost the “tribe” we really lost a lot more than a place to hang. And we can soon see why "gangs" and groups of thugs can become a haven for less self willed individuals. Church doesn’t seem like quite such a bad idea sometimes…

So where are we going with this?

I think my personal; conclusion is that YES life really is just one big mash up. Nothing is original and all any of us do is regurgitate mutated (clean version) stuff. But we are “lucky” if our personal mash up is even interesting to ourselves, let alone to a close kit circle of friends and family and co-workers. And in business terms, yes I guess "customers".

But who’s mash-up do you want to buy? Or read? or use? or even care if it exists?

Well there must be some magically threshold, where a thought of an individual becomes a spark and becomes voted as interesting by others. I guess we all personally strive and dream of reaching that goal of recognition.

The Reiki in me says that I should only worry about my own list, for the sake of myself.
The artist in me says I should have something interesting enough to shout from the roof tops.
The business entity within me says I should be able to capitalise on that service to others (cough), or on other terms be able to eat (with a roof over my head) from the toil of my labours, even if they are mental, and not physical.

So life IS one big giant mash up, but we can only expect to have ours read by ourselves.
Do the majority of mashups matter in the least. No probably not, other than in the flow of universal energy.We have to be doing “something”, even if it is nothing.

So I started this post, wondering if I should “ethically” release a business tool that automates the process of information mash-up and stamping, but which should do it in a genuinely human way, even possibly adding its own value to the mix.

As a sword maker, I can’t disown that my tools can kill. But they can also defend.
Can I realistically control WHO my weapons fall in the hands of?
Probably not efficiently. So does that mean I should make swords or not?

I admit it’s not a situation I am happy about. And I will continue to ponder.

It may only be a mashup tool and not a sword, but if it creates 1000 pages of "original" “quality” content every hour and I even sold 10 copies, that’s 10,000 more pages to add to the Internet noise. And that’s in “1″ hour.
Over a year full of hours, well you do the maths…

How unique and original a content could it produce?
Well the concept of AI (Artificial Intelligence) for me is not a light one.
How much content could Shakespeare or Leonardo Da Vinci produce? And they were just human.

Is it art? Doubt it!
Is it legal? Certainly!
Is it moral? I have no idea!

Is it necessary? Well no one is going to pay me to NOT make it!
And naturally I am not the only one who can make such a thing…
So now it comes down to self preservation and survival.
So maybe I need to make a sword for myself, at the very least.

I hope you can now see why such a simple project becomes such a heart wrenching life problem!

You can comment below.
Simply say PRIVATE if it is a message, rather than you are happy for it to be published and shared.
(SPAM is 100% nuked, so don;t even waste your won time)