Writers Can Make a Difference by Posting Content that Actually Makes the World Better

New internet technology and online publishing services like Associated Content have become the electronic equivalents of giant megaphones.They amplify our noblest or most ignoble expressions for the whole world to read or hear. Almost anyone with internet access is now encouraged to publish online like a journalist; but such power is a double-edged sword.

Too many new writers, eager to oblige, respond by posting shallow personal blogs or feel-good posturings. They share stories like "my first pet," or "why I enjoy rafting in Maine." Some, more serious, struggle to bring a unique perspective to an article about loan consolidation, getting insurance quotes or hiring a rapacious personal injury lawyer.

We all have to wade through irrelevant content on the web; that's the bad news. The good news is that more writers than ever before can make a difference by posting content that actually makes the world better.

Such writers put themselves in good company, since every worthwhile project in history began with some individual finding a way to leverage words for better effect. With imagination, curiosity, connections, persistence and luck, many writers can become very productive change agents.

*Writing About Development*

Thinking about making things better equates to thinking about development. So create articles that focus on the development of an individual, a community, or even an economic region. Although these three subjects differ in scale, in the real world they're very strongly interconnected. Any writer with vision can help nurture projects on one scale by writing about related projects on a larger or smaller scale.

One very effective example of how we might foster development by writing about the possible connections of the apparently disconnected was published in the 1970s. In his book "A Pattern Language," Christopher Alexander shows how various architectural and planning elements might be connected in a comprehensive, modular way--from the placement of a bed to city and neighborhood planning (check it out at http://www.patternlanguage.com).