-- Leo's gemini proxy
-- Connecting to oberdada.pollux.casa:1965...
-- Connected
-- Sending request
-- Meta line: 20 text/gemini; lang=fr
In this digression-filled rant I will eventually explain why I started a new blog.
The web and gemini remain complementary, partly overlapping because of cross-posting and proxy services in either direction. This capsule, for instance, is mirrored as a web page even though I use it primarily to interact with the geminisphere. Anything missing on gemini is available on the web, which I have not forsaken. Let me just mention one trivial thing and a more substantial issue:
There is no inherent support for textual nuance by emphasis or italics.
Also missing is a wider community interested in some of the things I'm writing about.
I'm not complaining about either, precisely because of gemini's complementary role. I get the idea behind the simplistic structure of gemtext. As for the community and its interests, this may change over time and I can't say I have a feeling of shouting into the void, even if nobody responds directly to every post. If I find myself checking out obscure programming languages you know exactly whom I'll blame for that. And yes, I know there are people here interested in art and music, and I appreciate those who have reached out with comments.
Yretek raises the question whether gemini is a community or not.
After having read this and a few other posts, I have come to realise that my command of Spanish is limited. However, I don't necessarily skip reading something just because I don't understand everything. For example, I had to look up the word "herramientas" on the LibreTranslate service which I just heard about, itself an example of a herramienta. Autotranslation without being data-abused gafam style is all good, except its vocabulary still has quite a few lacunae and ghostery says they talk to Google's tag manager. Even Firefox recently offered to translate web pages in a language I don't have as much trouble with. I shuddered and declined. Besides, I often find it a stimulating experience to read in a language I don't quite understand.
Inasmuch as there is a community around gemini it consists of more or less like-minded people who might get along well if they met in person. In fact, I do think there are enough of shared interests and world views that many of us might feel a lose sense of community. Presumably many geminauts are united by their disgust with the bloated web and surveillance capitalism and an enthusiasm about simplicity. But there is no reason to assume that everyone agrees even on those issues. Then other things like different aggregators, pubnixes, special interests, and language barriers lead to the emergence of subcommunities (or "actual communities" if that semantic distinction needs to be made). These communities might not engage much with each other or even know about each other. Also, as adiabatic reminds us, people can post gemini pages without in any obvious way interacting with other gemini users, in other words, without taking part in activities we usually associate with a community.
For the last two years or so I have been writing on a book of art theory. I had to sort out a few questions that were not clear to me, some of which I have touched on in previous posts here. So far I have not been able to attract any funding for the project, nor do I have a publisher. Nevertheless, writing a book really is the easy part; the practical matters of publishing, distribution, and marketing is quite another challenge. As I write in my new bigweb blog, and sadly it's not hyperbolic by any means:
> Publishing a book is easy. You begin by being a celebrity, then the rest will sort out.
Yes, it ended up on substack of all places. I apologise for the entry page that prompts for an email address, but you see, it's not an accident. If I knew how to turn it off I probably would.
I will neither discourage nor encourage anyone to sign up on substack. I took a reasonably informed decision after reading their terms of service, or at least skimming through that standard fare of legalese. Many excellent journalists use it after mainstream media have blacklisted them, which speaks in their favour. Their business model affects the way their writers and readers interact with each other and with the site, nothing that should surprise a smolnet dweller. Suffice it to say that they like to send email. Lots of it. An overwhelming number of settings can be tweaked to customise the site to something more sufferable, such as turning off each and every notification. It also must be said that they like to encourage writers to attract followers through all the social media platforms they habitate. Yeah, which ones, exactly? I have thought about expanding my fediverse presence or joining some fringe alternative social media, precisely for the sake of outreach, but I'm not convinced that these environments are so much better than their corporate models.
Shufei, writing about the ambivalence of social media and the "Gargantunet," hints at some potential fixes.
> The trick, I think, is to sternly exorcise the attendant devils of social gamesmanship: likes and boosts, large audiences, and avoid at all costs the petty chest-thumping dramas which pass for politicks in our era.
> The main demon of the Web is fame, the parasocial gaze which slyly looks to a third party audience. I have no use for that, and have felt much better in removing myself from such economies.
Couldn't agree more. However, my goal being to publish a book in a paper edition I need to have some means of reaching out when it finally arrives from the printing press. If I'm lucky I'll find a publisher, otherwise I'll self-publish. I have already published an experimental novel through a company that offers their services at a cost. As I soon discovered, after my twenty friends had purchased the book there was no longer much interest from any corner. Convincing a book store to take in such literature is nearly impossible. Some do, grudgingly, knowing it doesn't sell. Advertising is too expensive. The publisher tells their potential writers all the success stories of how many copies some of their authors have sold, and how much better their contract is because they offer a fairly large share of sales revenues directly to the author. True, but makes no difference when break even is far out of sight and ever remains so.
(Just in case you read a Scandinavian language, I still have a few copies.)
Hence, for the current book I'm aware that it needs a few readers before it ends up as another door stop. However, in contrast to my novel this one is written in English and should interest many readers, whether they dabble in art as amateurs or are professionals, or just curious. I know that some would suggest to simply release the text as a free pdf in order to spread the thoughts far and wide. But I think this kind of text should live in a printed and published book.
From now on I will spend some time writing on that capital B blog, but I will continue posting here too.
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