Literally 2 Cents About Content!

Alex and Liz
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Literally 2 Cents About Content! Podcast

Literally 2 Cents About Content! is a podcast about content mills and the broader concept of labeling all creative work ”content.” Why do we call everything anyone produces ”content”? How does this ”content” frame affect us as content consumers? And what types of conditions do content creators labor under?

  1. JUN 20

    Unspoiled paradise of streaming content

    Liz and Alex talk about streaming, why its business model is so lousy compared to cable, the social aspects of watching TV vs the isolation of streaming, how sports holds linear TV together, and why it feels more sustainable to support individual creators than to pay for a bundle. Liz's website Alex's blog How the Criterion Channel works The failed promise of binge TV The life and death of Hollywood

    1h 24m

  2. MAR 24

    Our most hated "content" words

    Liz and Alex lay into their most despised words from the content mill industry, from "dynamic content" and "content management system" to "optimize" and "authentic." Also covered: video game DLC (that's "downloadable content," remember!), store brand sodas, and the 1990s web. Liz's site Alex's blog The “and yet you participate in society” cartoon Mastodon post on “data” Rob Horning blog

    1h 27m

  3. JAN 5

    A funny thing happened on the way to the AI forum

    Alex and Liz dig their claws into "AI," this time focusing on some recent hype-y conferences Liz attended in Chicago and Las Vegas. We also look at cyberlibertarianism, the difficulties that LLMs have with ambiguity (and why making them better at this could paradoxically make them worse overall), the costs associated with producing cutting-edge work, and the embedded biases of AI. Alex's blog Liz's site We don't need generative AI  At least the robber barons built things  Is a neural network like a pocket calculator? “AI” and epistemic injustice  Chatbot revolution?

    1h 19m

  4. 09/28/2023

    Digital content in the analog world: Snackable ideas while engaging with our lunch

    Alex and Liz talk about what really makes digital content different from physical and analog equivalents, and what distinctive ideological concepts—"everything's binary, monopolies are good, technology itself is the agent, users should be treated with hostility"— are uniquely embodied by it. And even though everything digital seems ethereal and immaterial, it requires tremendous amounts of real resources—water, electricity, space—behind the scenes. We also dive into Leo Marx's famous "Technology: The Emergence of a Hazardous Concept" essay, discuss Martin Scorsese's dislike of Marvel (and what it says about "content"), how the Hollywood strikes were spurred by the content-ization of movies and TV, and spew some weird facts about vinyl records. Scorsese pieces: NYT (2019), GQ (2023) My old "content"pieces: A spin on Marx's piece and the 5 core assumptions of "content" as a term. Emma Thompson thinks "content" is a rude term.

    1h 35m

  5. 09/03/2023

    The artificial intelligence is coming from inside the house

    Alex and Liz talk about the hottest topic out there—"AI," or "artificial intelligence" (quotes because we're a little skeptical of it being in any way "intelligent"), with a look at some recent essays that explore whether "AI" is agent or tool, its problematic uses in higher education, why Silicon Valley is so intent on building things ("AI" or otherwise) that they'd read about or seen in sci-fi (while also of course acting as if books, films, and other artistic endeavors are worthless, just like the rest of the humanities), and how Jonny Quest predicted the Apple Watch in 1964. Alex's recent blog post on "the economy." Liz's website. Check out Liz's book at Barnes & Noble. Rob Horning's essay, Pro tools. The Emily Bender profile in New York magazine. The empty brain.

    1h 24m

  6. 08/15/2023

    Ghost writing the cliffhanger ending to the private cloud

    Alex and Liz talk about their time at the content mill, how it was all about ghost writing, what techniques they honed by doing that (such as learning how to easily add 100-200 superfluous words to any article's intro), and how that overall experience influenced their personal writing. Liz talks about self-publishing her book and Alex talks about the histories and features of various blogging platforms. Alex's blog about social media post-2016. Liz's website. Buy Liz's book!

    1h 8m
  7. What’s Mastodon? What’s ActivityPub?!

    06/20/2023

    What’s Mastodon? What’s ActivityPub?!

    Alex and Liz talk about Mastodon, the open social network that uses a federated design that works somewhat similarly to email. We also explain ActivityPub, the W3C-sanctioned protocol that underpins Mastodon and other services such as Pixelfed. Ever wondered what an "API" is? Curious about what Facebook was like in 2004? We've got you covered on these questions and others!Alex’s site: content-lab.agencyLiz’s site: lizmakesstuff.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit toosolid.substack.com

    1h 24m
  8. Information overload is a type of censorship

    05/13/2023

    Information overload is a type of censorship

    Alex and Liz talk about Jenny Odell's "How to Do Nothing," this time focusing on how information overload and context collapse make it difficult to do what you want to do. We also make a brief detour into "This is Water" (and its roots in "Infinite Jest"), discuss the toxicity of fandom, and how even works widely seen as "great" in a moment (your Booth Tarkingtons of the world, essentially) quickly fade from popular memory. Get full access to The Content Lab at www.content-lab.agency/subscribe

    1h 5m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Literally 2 Cents About Content! is a podcast about content mills and the broader concept of labeling all creative work ”content.” Why do we call everything anyone produces ”content”? How does this ”content” frame affect us as content consumers? And what types of conditions do content creators labor under?

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