fitzroyalty

The best works of street art are those that blend in with their environment, and these are some of the hardest to find! These are in a short dead end laneway off Fitzroy St near Alexandra Parade.

I love reading about economic theories and how they relate to and describe the internet and the information economy. An article I read some time ago called Bad competitors are ruining markets everywhere helped clarify my thoughts on the industry. The article makes me even more impressed by the founders of Craigslist than I already was.

It describes how their interest in the utility of information (specifically classified advertisements) has contributed to the collapse of the business model of classified advertising supporting newspapers. According to the English Times newspaper: “Craigslist is a public service as much as a private company. For [founders] Newmark and Buckmaster, the internet has a higher calling than money-making.”

A more recent post Elitist journalism and bad competitors quotes Phil Meyer of the University of North Carolina, who says that “The future of journalism is going to lie with ‘bad competitors.’” Steve Yelvington says that “elitist journalism will belong to those who care more about public service (or perhaps influence, depending on your point of view) than about profit.”

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This was on Johnston St Abbotsford near the train station and the petrol station, but sadly it’s already been covered over. Street art is zen. It is in the now and then in another now it is gone…

Goodbye cafe 328. You have been closed for a while now. While I never came and ate at your place on the corner of Nicholson St and Leicester St because you looked a bit sad and scruffy, I now worry that whatever replaces you will paint over the groovy mural by Phibs and colleagues. Nicholson St is perhaps the least loved side of Fitzroy. I hope something new and exciting finds a good home here.

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