Earlier this week - just for a bit of fun - I downloaded the
Blender 3D modelling software.
The software has been developed in the open source manner, and I've been having a great time learning not to be frightened by the overly fiendish user interface.
I've been using the Wikibooks
Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorial-cum-reference book to help me learn how to drive the software. Like Blender itself, the Wikibook is a collaborative effort from people giving their time freely to produce something useful. Like Blender, the wikibook is freely distributed.
And yet the wierdest thing is that if I honed my 3D modelling skills well enough I could go away and get a proper job which paid me lots of money for my new skills and I wouldn't be obliged to pay the software developers or Wikibook authors a penny in conmpensation.
Though something tells me that the chances of me getting a graphics modelling job anytime before retirement are remote.
So, Rik. What's all this got to do with poetry?
Well, dear readers (and I hope you're both sitting comfortably), when I first decided to learn to write poetry I went to a real life poetry workshop, and paid a lot of money (relative to my income at the time) for the education I received. I also bought poetry how-to books. If I had wanted detailed critique I could have sent a selection of poems off to an editor or professional critic for their - renumerated - opinion on my work. If I wanted to enter my poems into a competition I'd have to pay an entrance fee. If I wanted to submit my work to a poetry magazine it was commonly expected that I would take out a subscription to the magazine (though a fat lot of good that attempt at bribery achieved). Creative writing courses were rare beasts in those days, but weekend workshops and short courses taught by "professional" poets were available - if you had the money.
The internet changed all that.
Today I can go to one venue to workshop my poetry for free - all that's expected of me is to offer critiques on other people's poems in return. I can go to other venues to just post poems and trade creative insults with trolls and lesser scum. I can submit my work to online magazines, and read online magazines, without the need to fork out wads of cash for the privelige. I can get an education for free from any number of poetry resources available - for free - on the web. I can showcase my poems in the way that I want them presented to the world. I can publish my poems in hardback. I can play poetry-related games with people in North and South America, Europe and Asia, Africa, Australia and even people living north of Watford! I can tape myself so people can hear me - even see me - reading my own poems.
All for free.
Internet poetry is not the same as traditional poetry. The reach of the internet is magnitudes larger than real-life poetry. The interactivity of the internet is changing the writer-publisher-reader relationship out of all recognition. It's not enough for an internet poet to understand, write and perform poetry: they need to understand about communications and information theory, web practicalities and PR opportunities. Poets are changing; audiences are changing; opportunities for the development of poetry itself are changing.
I
like this Brave New World. Every day is a Brand New Adventure!
