How to Pokia

(If you’ve come here looking for instructions on how to make a Pokia then you may want to try my previous post or some of the links on the Pokia links page.)

I’ve been getting some comments on my Home Made Pokia post requesting extra information. It’s made me realise that there’s a marked difference between the “how to” and “how I” narrative. Historically, I think most DIY publishing was structured around the “How to”; “How to make a side table”, “How to fix a leaking toilet”, “How to knit a vest” (a detailed literature survey is really called for…) but with the advent of the internet (and in particular blogging) this seems to have changed. The various qualities of internet publishing (low cost, wide distribution, quick turnaround, reduction in specialised equipment and the possibility of responsive feedback) have moved the practice of publishing closer to that of personal speech. Everything is now a personal narrative, and in the DIY world “how I” has become the dominant theme.

To test out this speculation I did a quick survey with Google (a Googlvey?).
Googling Pokia and “How I” returned 274 hits
Googling Pokia and “How to” returned 22,800 hits
Speculation busted? Well, lets not jump to any conclusions. Many people think they’re writing a “How to” when it’s actually a “How I” (I was one of these people). But if I’m going to split hairs then I’d better set up some ground rules; my definitions for “How to” and “How I” are as follows.

A “How I”:
Is a first person narrative (lots of “next I”, “I decided”, “I didn’t want”, etc.)
Documents only the specific problems that arose during the procedure.
May require adaptation when applied to varied situations.
The objective may change during the narrative.
May contain elements of chance that affect the projects aim and outcome (such as chance encounters with source material).

A “How to”:
Is generally a second person narrative (it directly addresses the audience; “next you”, “you need to”, “if you can’t find”, etc.)
Discusses any general problems that may arise during the procedure.
Documents alternative procedures for varied situations.
Has a stated objective that does not change throughout the narrative.
May contain elements of chance but only in a manner that does not significantly affect the projects aim or outcome.

OK, I’ll agree that’s a fairly tenuous division but lets proceed anyway. This time I Googled pokia; I got 76,100 hits (does anyone else think that’s a lot?). I went through and divided up the links into various categories, when I reached link 867 I received the Google message “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 867 already displayed” (thank Christ for that). This is what I came up with:

not Pokia
(pages were the word Pokia refers to something other than a modified mobile handset)
191

no Pokia
(pages were there is no longer any reference to Pokia; 404’s and the like)
77

link Pokia
(pages that link to Pokia material but do not contextualize the link with explanatory text)
92

conversational Pokia
(pages that mention Pokia but only in passing; tangental to the main thread)
27

buy Pokia
(pages that advertise Pokia for sale)
113

I Pokia (without the “how”)
(pages where the author has built their own Pokia but with little or no information explaining how)
4

how I Pokia
(pages where the author explains how they built a Pokia)
4

how to Pokia
(pages that explain how to build a Pokia)
none

they Pokia
(pages that discuss Pokia, generally blog/news sites)
359

All 867 links can be found on the Pokia Google Survey Page.

Judging from the comments I’ve received on this blog and the numerous forum discussions on the topic, there appears to be quite a few people making their own Pokias but despite this activity I didn’t find a single “How to build a Pokia” page (probably the closest was my own post but I think even this is too specific to be termed a “How to”). This lack of a comprehensive “How to” may in part be due to the simplicity of the Pokia mod; most people manage it with little or no guidance. However, it may also be a consequence of the internets less structured relationship to knowledge. Perhaps there is no imperative for a centralised “How to” when internet search engines provide the mechanism for centralising and framing on an ad-hock basis.

The traditional “How to” provides a structured path for the novice through a field of specialised knowledge; it’s goal is not to turn the novice into a specialist but to provide the novice with safe passage though alien territory. It does this through a singular voice that speaks with “expert” authority. With the internet a reader can create their own “How to” from a collection of key words and the resulting knowledge clusters these words generate. As a reader navigates a path through the hyperlinked texts they become co-author of the text, generating a narrative which is inherently multi-vocal. Here authority is established as a mutual obligation between reader and text with the reader granting temporary authority to the text. This authority is a product of desire, arising from a willingness to follow another’s directions in order to advance ones own objectives. However, as co-author of the text, the reader also grants authority to themselves. The authority to be their own guide, their own “expert” in the singularly specific field of their own “How to”.

It is this granting of authority to oneself which distinguishes a self constructed “How to” from its more traditional forms. And it is access to information (in this case provided through the internet) which yields meaningful choice and enables someone to construct their own “How to”. The self constructed “How to” empowers the individual by allowing them to make informed choices about their material environment and helps them to enact these choices. Internet publishing takes this a step further by facilitating a voice for these actions, allowing an individual to turn their personal “How to” into a public “How I”.

Michel de Certeau argues in the introduction to his book The Practice of Everyday Life that;

"the steadily increasing expansion of... systems of "production" (television, urban development, commerce, etc.)... no longer leaves "consumers" any place in which they can indicate what they make or do with the products of these systems."

There is now doubt that this is largely true, however as new places of production emerge industry is forced to develop new methods with which to capitalise them. Within this development phase there exists a lag in commercial dominance and a possibility for the “consumer” to acquire their own space for their own voice. I think blogs are an example of such a space and the “How I” narrative is an example of a “consumer” voice that emerges not through prescribed consumption but through an act of personal production.