Is Tumblr the New Commonplace Book?: Alan Jacobs in this article in The Atlantic points out an interesting connection between Tumblr and so-called commonplace books, which became popular in early modern Europe as scrapbook/notebook-type books that people used to copy down quotations from writers they liked with the hopes that it would imprint similar qualities onto their own writing, or at the very least be a source of inspiration. Francis Bacon and John Milton were apparently avid commonplacers. In a way, Tumblr is like a digital-age commonplace book. But does the action of just seamlessly copying and pasting, without the attention and mental absorption that comes with transcribing by hand, take away from Tumbling’s ability to inspire? The Atlantic
Megaupload Alternative: As you all know by now, file-sharing site Megaupload was shut down by the FBI last week amid mounting debates about SOPA and PIPA. Of course, hacktivist group Anonymous is not happy about this and is in the process of launching its own version of the site: Anonyupload. There is some skepticism on the Web about whether or not the Megaupload alternative will actually come to fruition. We’ll have to wait and see. Gawker
Sexting for English MA’s: Thank you, McSweeney’s, for some examples of hyper-literate sexting for those with an appreciation for the English language. McSweeney’s
Tumblr of the Day: Awww, poor little guys! Animals with Casts
Meme of the Day: Memeologists, here is your latest specimen: Can’t-Believe-It Koala. I Can Has Cheezburger
More in Media
BuzzFeed’s sale of First We Feast seen as a ‘good sign’ for the M&A media market
Investor analysts are describing BuzzFeed’s sale of First We Feast for $82.5 million as a good sign for the media M&A market — which itself is an indication of how ugly that market had become.
Media Briefing: Efforts to diversify workforces stall for some publishers
A third of the nine publishers that have released workforce demographic reports in the past year haven’t moved the needle on the overall diversity of their companies, according to the annual reports that are tracked by Digiday.
Creators are left wanting more from Spotify’s push to video
The streaming service will have to step up certain features in order to shift people toward video podcasts on its app.