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\nWRITING IN (AND ABOUT) THE FUTURE
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The journal-turned-magazine CREATIVE NONFICTION celebrated its
\ntransformation by organizing a one-day symposium, held at the Writer’s
\nCenter in Bethesda, Maryland, focused on how writing, reading, and
\npublishing may be transformed in the decade ahead.<\/p>\n
On the program were two futurists: Jay Ogilvy, co-founder of the Global
\nBusiness Network, who described the usefulness of scenario thinking for
\nweighing both optimistic and pessimistic visions of the future, and Dan
\nSarewitz, director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes
\nat Arizona State University, who warned of the unexpected consequences
\nof human enhancement that many enthusiasts are hailing as a golden age
\nof prosperity, pointing out that the greatest example of that
\nenhancement is the soldier.<\/p>\n
The bulk of the conference focused on how writers fit into this future,
\na time when people may be reading fewer books but communicating with
\none another and, yes, reading via a wider variety of platforms–e.g.,
\nblogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the multimedia digital Vook (video book)
\ndescribed by Jack Sallay, the company’s vice president of marketing.<\/p>\n
Writers of the future will bear more of the responsibility of reaching
\ntheir audiences, as publishers’ economic models become less supportive
\nof traditional functions like marketing and promotion, many of the
\nsymposium participants argued. The good news is that there are more
\ninnovative new ways of doing-it-yourself, like building a community of
\nsupporters around an author’s blog.<\/p>\n
As long as the written word is still valued (whether it is ultimately
\nread, viewed, or listened to by the audience), writing has a future.<\/p>\n
DETAILS: CREATIVE NONFICTION, http:\/\/www.creativenonfiction.org<\/a>
\nThe Writer’s Center, http:\/\/www.writer.org <\/a><\/p>\n