Ariel, the BBC’s newspaper, ran an article on BeeBCamp today. (It’s on page 14 of the PDF). Feels nice to be mentioned. But it’s got me wondering.

It’s funny, isn’t it, that everyone likes to see their name printed on paper? Any social media/gaming type out there feels good when they get blogged about, linked to, or whatever. From what I’ve seen, that goes double when one gets written about in the actual cellulose newspapers. Which, if you think about it, is funny if it’s about people whose job consists in exploring the post-mass-production media world . . . Hell, even Clay Shirky and Jeff Jarvis, Angels of the Infocalypse, have published actual, paper books. Like all books, (and unlike the internet) the paper version of their thoughts is scarce, unlinkable, and flammable.

But paper is scarce; data is infinite. Paper is fragile; data is ethereal. I suppose the thing that makes paper interesting is that someone cared enough about what you’ve thought or done to make a thing.

It’s an expensive signal, and that gives it some authenticity. Maybe that’s why.

Must get back to work.