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The Touchstone of Original Content
Day 16, Monday 2nd April 2018
What is original content? Is this article is original? Never before in the history of mankind has a person put this collection of words and punctuation together in exactly the same order, to create precisely the same meaning. Some people may have written similar pieces, perhaps the narrative or underlying message has been virtually identical in other posts on the internet, but no-one has ever written this exact same article before.
Is it unique? That carries a different meaning. Original would imply that it’s the first of a kind, whereas unique means there is nothing exactly the same. Articles can be unique without being original, if they are expressing a well worn sentiment, but in a different way. If their motivation is a popular topic but approaching it in a different perspective, then it could be unique, but since the topic has been covered before, it would not qualify as original.
This etymological consideration comes from my desire to write original content, to create work that no-one else has ever been close to. That path is hard work, because creating work that is truly original requires a helluva lot of background study, research and brainpower. The easiest way to understand this is by realising that to produce original work, I need to have a massive understanding the work…
