Friday News: Comic Con, copyright, sex emojis, and punctuation
Publishing NewsAdvertising / branding / Comic-Con / copyright law / dmca / emoji / intellectual property / punctuation / sexting / texting36 Comments
Brands and Fans Flock to Biggest New York Comic Con Yet – With 169,000 tickets sold for the New York City Comic Con, there was a lot going on at this year’s event. Lots of cosplay (as usual), a resurgence of manga (with Mavashi Kishimoto attending), and so-called “branded ‘activations,’” which consisted of major brands, like Progressive Insurance, creating “tie-ins” that would supposedly appeal to millennials. This frankly sounds like more rationalization for amped up advertising, but there doesn’t appear to be a lot of griping about it.
As in years past, the crowding didn’t crimp the enthusiasm of the thousands of avid fans who showed up for panels, signings and spectacle. Panels were standing room only and even with only five minutes left in the show late on Sunday, thousands of fans were still roaming the floor. Issues around diversity in comics–from race to gender to sexual orientation—drove a lot of programming. There were panels focused on gay manga and others targeting black, LGBTQ, transgender and Asian-American representation in mainstream comics, and the ones attended by PW were all packed with the lively and variegated face of a new generation of comics fandom. – Publishers Weekly
How Bad Copyright Law Makes Us Less Safe… And How Regulators Have It All Backwards – So if you’ve been following the Volkswagen scandal, you know that what the company was basically doing was adapting the software in their vehicles to change the emissions setting for official testing, making it seem like the levels were lower than they were. One argument is that because the software was considered unriggable, VW’s tampering was only belatedly discovered. One of the larger problems here is that this situation is indicative of the horrendous state of copyright law, and the limits that are imposed on things like car software, which not only makes research and innovation much more difficult, but can actually endanger the environment and, by extension, people’s lives. As Techdirt points out, there is a profound misunderstanding of how the DMCA, in particular, continues to undermine the long-term goal for copyright protection – to foster more, not less, creative production.
But, really, the fact that the FDA and the EPA are making these arguments is a real sign of just how broken our copyright law is and how little many regulators understand innovation, technology and intellectual property. The EPA and the FDA come from a world of “permission-only innovation.” They are both focused solely on setting up laws that “prevent bad stuff” usually through setting up testing regimes. But those regimes can be gamed — and they don’t seem to recognize that by allowing permissionless innovation to happen, it also opens up worlds of useful research and beneficial innovations, both of which could do a lot more to prevent the kinds of harm that the EPA and the FDA think they’re preventing by opposing these exemptions.
There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of innovation in this setup — where regulators think that the unknown must be “dangerous” and should be prevented until proven okay. But, as history has shown, such a setup only opens up all sorts of games that the big knowledgeable players can use to dance around those regulations, and no real way for outsiders to call them on it (or to create better alternatives). – Tech Dirt
These emoji celebrate your unique penis – Some of Flirtmoji’s new collection of 290 sexual emojis (and there are plenty of vaginas, too), seem made for some steamy sexting in Romance or Erotica. In particular, there are some “surrealist sex dream” emojis that are pretty creative. Secondary question: how often do people text or sext in contemporary romance?
Inspired by genitalia photos on Tumblr, cinematic shots in porn and a number of unusual Google searches, Flirtmoji’s penis emoji are an attempt to make a wide range of diverse and inclusive art. . . .
Launched in 2014, Flirtmoji is a way for people of many sexualities to communicate their desires through a variety of inclusive sex emoji, which can be copied from the website and pasted into a text message. – Mashable
Comma Queen: Space, the Final Frontier – So let’s do an informal poll here: do you use one space or two after a period? (I use one, unless I’m writing for someone who uses two). According to Mary Norris, only those over 60 still use two, but in my workplace, there are plenty of people in their early 30s who are still using two spaces, and some older folks who use one. So I don’t buy the generational thing. – The New Yorker
One space after a period.
One. I don’t recall ever even hearing of double spacing until a couple of years ago.
Two. I start to grind my teeth if I try to use just one space after the period. The text looks terrible. Over 60.
Two spaces and under 40. But I did learn to touch type on actual typewriters!
Two. Under 60. Hate how it looks with only one space.
When did indenting the first line of a paragraph go away?
I started out doing 2 spaces after periods as a teen (somewhat over 40 now) because submission guidelines wanted that. I switched to one space after getting my first stuff published by a gaming company that had (still does) very strict rules for formatting the work so it would pour quickly into their layout program.
Now putting 2 spaces after the period is eeeeevil.
Two, although trying to train myself out of the habit because my publisher only wants one. But it’s so haaaaarrrd.
My workplace splits around the 30 age point, not 60. I think it depends on what you learnt to type for. When I learnt to type at school, our IT teacher was keen on minimal spaces, no indents, space between paragraphs, because he thought on-screen reading would become the norm to conform too, while my manager (only five years older than me) was taught to type on the basis everything would be printed and read, so indents and double spaces.
I’m 52, and just missed computers in schools, so we were taught to type the old-fashioned way on typewriters, and the rule was two spaces.
But that was school, and when computer keyboards came along, I didn’t try and revive my dodgy touch typing skills. So it never crossed my mind – until this post – that maybe the two-space rule had a more universal application than you-must-do-this-to-scrape-through RSA Stage 1.
I’ve always used one space.
I’m over 50 and still using 2 spaces after the period. I still indent at beginning of paragraphs unless it’s a business letter. I learned touch typing as a summer course during high school and am so very grateful that I did; I wince when I see the hunt and peck method. I didn’t start using a computer until I my first full-time job after grad school, so all my college and masters degree papers were typed on an electric typewriter with double spacing, double spaces after periods, and indents at the beginning of a paragraph.
Two spaces, and I’m under 60. Two spaces is still standard for business documents for the industry I work in.
One space most of the the time, unless I forget. I’m under 60, but not by that much.
The article on NYCC missed a couple of things — Progressive sponsored the con’s mobile app, so most folks probably didn’t give it a second thought. They didn’t mention one of my favorite advertising bits I saw mentioned in the run-up to the con: the free wi-fi at the center was brought to attendees “Courtesy of LexCorp.” It was Warner Bros. doing promotion for Batman vs. Superman next year, but I thought it a clever bit.
2 spaces – under 60 – and, like autonomous – still fairly common in business. Even more, my 12 year old daughter’s paper was redlined in school for only having one space. So who knows what the rule is
I’m 37 and I learned to touch-type with 2 spaces, but have retrained myself to use 1, due to the internet.
So…. which contemporaries ARE using texting and/or sexting? I’ve been on a contemporary kick these last few weeks and now I’m curious.
2 spaces and under 40. My IT husband tries to tell me that it’s not necessary anymore, but it’s a habit that goes back to High School keyboarding and business communication classes.
I like two spaces after the period, but I once had a critique partner “fix” pages and pages of my writing and then get pissed off because I wasn’t grateful for all her work.
One. I’m over 60 and work on a computer all the time. Two spaces would give my old mind time to wander off.
I’m 45, I learned to touch type on a typewriter in high school and I learned two spaces. And that’s what’s comfortable for me.
I used to work with a lot of graphic designers and they introduced me to the one space. When I’m writing for the web, I try to do one space, but it doesn’t feel natural.
Hmm – texting / sexting in contemporaries. I think I’ve seen it more in NA and YA, but I remember some texting (not sexting) in Erin McCarthy’s first sports car book.
Heidi Cullinan uses texting a lot in all of her NA books – there’s actual sexting in Fever Pitch – not sure about the others. Brigid Kemmerer also uses texting in her YA paranormal series (Elemental?) – I remember it the most in the third book.
My biggest problem with texting in contemporary romance is that it’s kind of like writing dialect – it’s hard to hit the right balance. I hate it when txts don’t read like txts but read like author carefully composed them. But a lot of “idk, how r u?” gets old too. And of course texting styles keep changing.
But my Boyfriend Is isn’t my fave KA Mitchell, but it had some of my fave texting moments, because one of the heroes thinks the other hero txts like he has a stick up his butt.
I really haven’t noticed a lot of sexting – phone sex still seems more popular in romance, maybe because it’s more like regular dialog and is easier to write? Or more interesting to read?
(Aparently I have been noticing texting in romance for quite awhile now and was just waiting for someone to ask me about it).
@cleo:Quick correction – I remember the texting playing a key plot point in Brigid Kemmerer’s Secret, which is number FOUR in the Elementals series (I loved the 1st and 4th books, but don’t really recommend the 3rd because she Nicholas Sparked the ending)
Back in the day, I learned touch typing on an IBM electric typewriter in high school. There it was two spaces, indents of .05, one-and-a-half line spacing. Then, I went to college where English 101 decided that we needed to do everything on computers with one space, one-and-a-half line spacing, and indents. The upper level “desktop publishing” class used one space, one-and-a-half line spacing, and no indents (which was really confusing) while the typewriting course copied my high school class. Talk about confusing as all hell. By the time, I really got involved in the internet, I was done to one space as my standard. And I’m now in my mid-forties.
But, much to my happy shock, I still have my one hundred words a minute with no errors typing speed from back in my high school and college days.
Under 50, 2 spaces. I sorta trained out of it be default, but YEARS ago, I made a macros to fix it.
F/R 2 spaces with one + save. I do that every time I save my document.
@cleo: I’ve heard about ‘Nicholas Sparking’ a plot but have never been sure of what it refers to; girl leaving her stable fiance for an obsessive man? MC dying of cancer? someone else dying of cancer?
I dislike it when characters type their names at the end of every text, which has happened in quite a few contemporaries I’ve read. Who does that?
Btw, I’m under 30, learned typing on a PC and MS Word, and have always used one space after a period.
Before I had a computer, I put two spaces after a period. In the first year of having a computer, I continued that until someone told me (an editor, I think) it was correct to put only one. I got into the habit of putting one instead of two and now that’s what I do. I’m currently training my spouse to do the same thing.
I’m 53.
I’m in my mid-forties and used two spaces after a period until a few years ago. It’s been hard to change the habit but MS Word corrects it for me. I learned to type roughly 30 years ago and that was standard then!
@Jo – For me, Nicholas Sparking an ending means that one of the lovers dies tragically. I haven’t read much NS – just two, both with tragic deaths at the end – so I didn’t realize he had a range. I suppose it could also mean the love story ends really badly / there’s no satisfying hea / hfn.
@cleo: Thanks for the clarification!
Just over 40, use two spaces all the time. I work in an office that is very pro two spaces. To the point that it will be corrected by reviewers when drafts are circulated, and is expected to be two-spaced when a final draft is published. Even when texting…although that’s probably more because I hate text abbreviations and stuff like ur for you’re or your.
Another one here who is under sixty but still uses two spaces after a period. I learned to type in high school; there was a room with manual typewriters plus a couple of electric typewriters.
I’m 43 and use one space after a period; I learned to touch type on an electric typewriter. Once I started posting fanfic 10+ years ago, I got even more used to the onscreen format: One space between sentences, no paragraph indents, one line of white space between paragraphs. Once I was in library school (2005), I used the same formatting for my papers, and none of my instructors said anything, so I guess it worked.
I’m 61, learned two spaces under penalty of death, but only use one now; two spaces make me crazy. And paragraphs aren’t indented if the typist is using what we were taught is the “block” method of formatting.
Slowly breaking myself of the two space habit. I’m 44 and learned on a manual typewriter starting in junior high school, and worked in a field that didn’t care as much about formatting as content. A stint of technical writing and just plain watching the trends (plus being married to a technical writer who’s a bit rabid about the subject) have combined to convince me that one space is the way to go.
Even though it looks wrong and always will. ;)
43yo double spacer here.
I was taught to use two spaces. I’ve transitioned to one space as that’s what I saw happening everywhere.
Two spaces. I’m under 60, but learned to type on a manual typewriter. I adhere to the Government Printing Office Style Manual, which used to require two spaces until more recent editions, but it’s too ingrained in me at this point to change and nobody seems to care much either way.
Two spaces, over 60. However, DH is over 70 and he uses only one space. Both of us use indents, and as we are both librarians we were trained to use “library indentions” when manually typing catalogue cards back in the 70s.
I’m 26, and I’ve always done two spaces!