Cup of Story

To Stand or Sit?

There's been a lot of talk about how standing at your desk is better for you. That NYTimes opinion piece brings up some interesting things to think about. We writers and editors sit on our tookuses for hours at a time. We're either writing, reading, or "doing research" (aka playing Angry Birds or looking at Icanhazcheezburger cats).

And we snack. And drink coffee. And eat lunch at our desks (which is also supposed to be a big no-no--crumbs in your keyboard begone!).

Because I have adjustable legs on my desk (I have to because I'm really short), I thought, "Why not make it a standup desk and see if there's any noticable difference?"

I sit and stand and sit and stand rotating throughout the day. I think if I had a flat surface to stand on instead of living room carpet, I might like it more. But my legs and ankles strain in funny ways. I tried standing on a piece of wood, but then I'm lifted higher than my desk, which causes awkward keyboarding and mousing (I'm at the maximum height for my legs). It's about a 3/4" difference with the board, so it makes a huge difference when typing.

All in all, I like standing. When I feel fatigue, I sit on a barstool-height chair. When I feel like I'm slouching or when my ass gets numb, I stand up. I can stretch, stand on one leg, rotate my stiff ankle and still surf the web.

It also makes it a lot easier to go for more coffee.

Here are some other links to standup desk setups: Standing Desk Jockey, DiY platform for desktop

Machine writes story

A trade publisher and sports journalism site are using software to write stories so they can save money on writers.

Here's an excerpt generated from an article:

“Wisconsin jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 51-17 win over UNLV on Thursday at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers scored 20 points in the first quarter on a Russell Wilson touchdown pass, a Montee Ball touchdown run and a James White touchdown run. Wisconsin’s offense dominated the Rebels’ defense. The Badgers racked up 499 total yards in the game including 258 yards passing and 251 yards on the ground.”

It's seems to have all the facts most people want to know--scores, runs, yardage gained, and players. What's lacking is the human element--the voice. 

I'm not a journalist; I work with fiction writers. But in all the news stories and non-fic articles I've read over my lifetime, there's always a point of view, a human voice relaying information. It's not a listing of facts and figures--there's always a reason behind why that data is relevant to the story (STORY!).

If you want a piece of software to gather data and blurt it out in a more user-friendly way (rather than a spreadsheet or graph), than I can see how this might be useful. But as a means to tell the story of the event or process or historical moment? Not even close to the human element.

 

Greg Bear's multimedia art

Greg Bear, Neal Stephenson and others are creating a serial novel. There's video, art, all sorts of neat stuff.

 

Print-on-demand instantly

The University of Washington Bookstore, a great indie place to get books in Seattle, has an Espresso Book Machine. The machine prints books on demand. You plug in the title chosen from their catalog and badaboom! You've got a book.

You want a hardcopy of your own work, maybe to carry with you to show that you're a bonafide writer, and ba-bing! You've got a book.

Okay, so you have to live in the Seattle area to take advantage of this, but think of the possiblities! Kiosks at malls! Little boxes for books at the grocery stores (like a Red Box for books). Neat, huh?