I was browsing around for some web hints and tips to add to my teaching resources, and I came across this quote from Jay Rosen:
Division of labor is the key creative decision in acts of distributed reporting. Grok the motivations or it can’t be done. Watch for ballooning coordination costs as ramp up succeeds. Where the small pieces meet the larger narrative the alchemy of the project lives. Shared background knowledge raises group capacity. Extant communities already coordinate well.
I have no idea what that means. Who talks like that?
Grok?
It’s Martian.
No really, it is. It so happens I know that because I read Robert Heinlein when I was a young SF fan.
If I didn’t, though, I’d assume it was a typo.
As for the rest of it…it’s straight from the HR Guild Guide to Good Writing. [Motto: I trust I make myself obscure? (Robert Bolt)]
It’s a shame. Rosen is interesting and insightful on the subject of online journalism.
But there’s no excuse for this kind of thing.