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Careers In Linux Journalism-- No Knowledge Required!
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Comments (15)
Seconded.
I second that second!
TC is there a reward for your head yet? Sorry but I am really broke and need some more RAM.
TC is there a reward for your head yet? Sorry but I am really broke and need some more RAM.
Now that's worth reading. I wonder what the meetings are like at these tech media outfits. Windows - Let's get someone with connections at Microsoft and a broad knowledge of the OS. Database - Let's get someone with at least ten years of SQL experience and a long career as a database administrator. Mac - Let's hire a former Apple employee. Linux - We'll have one of the delivery guys do it over his lunch break.
A big amen from me, Carla.
It's hard for me to write about stuff I'm not doing -- it just takes too much effort. I really can only write about what I'm waist-deep into at any given moment.
It's hard for me to write about stuff I'm not doing -- it just takes too much effort. I really can only write about what I'm waist-deep into at any given moment.
My initial reaction is typical and selfish:
There's hope for me!!!!
There's hope for me!!!!
It takes real talent to say so much with so little, and TA says it all with nothing.
TC, you should write a book about that.
Edit: Wrong initials. I was so impressed with my own humor, I ended up slighting tracyanne. Sorry about that.
TC, you should write a book about that.
Edit: Wrong initials. I was so impressed with my own humor, I ended up slighting tracyanne. Sorry about that.
Once again you have hit the nail on the head, Carla (not saying whose head -- but cluefull LXer readers can figure this one out!). I read *a lot* of Linux news, and if I see yet another article by an IT Professional Writer (I use these words advisedly) on how they "just discovered" FOSS and Linux blah, blah, blah, I'll need one of those airsick bags.
Everybody is at a different point in their "journey," to get all new-age mushy about it. For me, writing from my point on that journey is what I do.
As most of us know, if you don't belly up to the buffet, you're not going to be very good at writing about it.
As most of us know, if you don't belly up to the buffet, you're not going to be very good at writing about it.
@Steven, nice analogy. I liken Carla's article to vegetarians commenting on a bbq competition, without admitting to being vegetarians.
You know why FOSS journalism has this problem? Its because the 'average' Linux user knows more about Linux than most of the people who are paid to write about it. When I was at LinuxWorld back in August, I noticed that most of the other press core were running Windows on their computers. And like Carla I asked myself how they could write about something they are not using, or even familiar with. Its like pouring yourself a glass of water but you don't know what a glass is. Bad analogy, but its the best I got at the moment.
The 'average' Linux user is proactive about learning and knowing the how's and why's of their system. Users of Windows and Mac are not. And really they can-not because their systems are closed along with most of the knowledge of those systems.
The nature of using those systems creates passive users who are used to being told what is what by those "in the know". Passive users are not very likely to question or have the information to be able to refute what they are being told. So when an author who is used to a all but completely passive audience writes what they consider to be a good article, to the 'average' Linux user they come off as idiots.
A knowledgeable audience is the hardest to please. If any of you have ever been to a scientific conference and been to a presentation you know what I mean. They are absolutely brutal, each and every little mistake is revealed and debated. Now take a writer who knows relatively nothing about the subject (Linux) they are talking about and have them 'talk' (write an article) to an audience of 'scientists' (average Linux users) and you get a very similar result.
If we were all just more passive, we wouldn't have this kind of problem..
;-)
The 'average' Linux user is proactive about learning and knowing the how's and why's of their system. Users of Windows and Mac are not. And really they can-not because their systems are closed along with most of the knowledge of those systems.
The nature of using those systems creates passive users who are used to being told what is what by those "in the know". Passive users are not very likely to question or have the information to be able to refute what they are being told. So when an author who is used to a all but completely passive audience writes what they consider to be a good article, to the 'average' Linux user they come off as idiots.
A knowledgeable audience is the hardest to please. If any of you have ever been to a scientific conference and been to a presentation you know what I mean. They are absolutely brutal, each and every little mistake is revealed and debated. Now take a writer who knows relatively nothing about the subject (Linux) they are talking about and have them 'talk' (write an article) to an audience of 'scientists' (average Linux users) and you get a very similar result.
If we were all just more passive, we wouldn't have this kind of problem..
;-)
Great article, just as your other contributions are
Nikkels
Nikkels
Scott,
Very nice explanation and I agree with the scientist analogy. I guess it explains why some linux sites are much better than others. Lxer is full of intense users. LWN is run by a kernel hacker. Those seem like excellent niches for the DIY linux user. Before I get flamed those two sites are only two examples and are not exhaustive of good sites....
Scott is right. I only know what I read here on LXer.
Scott, you are most correct.
The question a lot of these journalists — and their employers' IT staffs — should ask themselves is whether or not a worker really needs a proprietary OS to accomplish his or her given tasks.
And for a tech journalist covering Linux, they could at least get their feet wet by either dual-booting or, better yet, shoving a box on their desk, figuring out how to burn an ISO and installing, installing, installing. That's how I did it. It sure ain't rocket science, because if that were the case I'd have no chance.
The question a lot of these journalists — and their employers' IT staffs — should ask themselves is whether or not a worker really needs a proprietary OS to accomplish his or her given tasks.
And for a tech journalist covering Linux, they could at least get their feet wet by either dual-booting or, better yet, shoving a box on their desk, figuring out how to burn an ISO and installing, installing, installing. That's how I did it. It sure ain't rocket science, because if that were the case I'd have no chance.
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