Over at Wordsushi, Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff yesterday published a passionate call to arms to understand the importance of the current new media revolution.

This is a passionate argument to the cynical couch potatoes still sat embracing the old order of traditional, mediocre, brainwashing traditional media. Mark talks about how new media is a revolution, and enabler of creativity and the bringer of freedom from corporate restraints imposed by monolithic, suit-fueled, companies. Read the post and get ready for action.

But what Mark fails to cover is what new media also brings with it is a level of flotsam that can clutter the space to such a degree that forward, valuable, genuinely creative progress becomes like wading through treacle. New media is all about giving the masses the control over content, whether that be at the creation stage or the consumer stage - we might say that this is wrenching control away from the traditional media structures. But the masses are a mob, a pack, a less than intelligent combined force that swarms around the latest fad and consuming it in a very disengaged manner before moving on to the next. The swarm is more interested in what is around the next corner than it is about exploring the depths of what it has right in front of its collective nose.

Lack of engagement brings with it a sense of the temporary, and I in the literary world, I wonder if there is not a shrinking future for the one-off, great novel. Publishers are beginning to understand the need to brand and market an author over an above the works they create, for it is the author to which the mass swarms can be enticed back. There is nothing new here, but during 2007 we saw a distinct change in the emphasis publishers were beginning to give to author brands - many prominent authors now have their own strap-lines!

The importance of the new media revolution in instigating change within the industries it touches is undeniable, but - put it down to my classic British cynicism if you wish - we are still unable to see past the surge and noise to have any idea that what is on the other side will be a positive future.