HOW YOU CAN MAKE MYSPACE YOUR SPACE....a 2-part interview with John Pospisil, author of the new book "HACKING MYSPACE" Wiley Publishing by Joyce Schwarz, blogging at Hollywood2020.blogs.com.
HACKING MYSPACE -- 
HACKING MYSPACE...new book by John Pospisil from
Wiley Publishing www.wiley.com.
EIGHT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT HACKING MYSPACE
Every month Joyce Schwarz goes over to Amazon.co and looks for the coolest upcoming books. Last summer, one that we discovered before almost anyone is HACKING MYSPACE....so we wrote to the author immediately and did a set of 8 questions and answers with John Pospisil who is located in Australia and is the founder of Cogent Insights (www.cogentinsights.com) and was the founding editor of Computer CHOICE --launched by the Australian Consumers Assn in 1995.
Finally we got a copy of the book in October right before Digital Hollywood Los Angeles and now we're able to reveal the answers to Joyce's questions to John. So without further ado -- here they are. PART 1 of 2.
1) Question -- Joyce Schwarz from HOLLYWOOD2020: You say your agent in the United States came up with the idea for HACKING MYSPACE in a note on your site. Was that the name she came up with or did you guys create that name? Tell me more about how you did the proposal etc.
ANSWER: HACKING MYSPACE AUTHOR JOHN POSPISIL:
helping MySpace members customize profiles....
Last year Wiley Publishing was casting around for a proposal for an “ExtremeTech” Book on MySpace and my agent suggested that I submit a proposal, given my background as an established author with an interest in Social Computing. Wiley was looking for something that would help MySpace members customize their profiles.
identifying needs of target readership
I came up with a proposal that covered the technical dimensions of profile customization, as well as the more creative issues, such as design, photography and content. I also included a chapter on helping bands promote themselves. Basically, developing the proposal was about identifying the needs and interests of the target readership, and coming up with something that would satisfy those needs and interests.
more about customizing rather than vandalizing...
The publisher came up with the name “Hacking MySpace”. “Hacking” has a negative connotation in some people’s minds. In this context it’s more about changing or customizing, rather than vandalizing.
2) QUESTION 2 Joyce Schwarz from HOLLYWOOD2020 ASKS ARE YOU A HACKER?
Meaning do you do mash-ups etc kind of stuff?
Or are you a writer who just found the right subject matter?
ANSWER John Pospisil, author, "HACKING MYSPACE:
I wouldn’t call myself a hacker, but I have passion for New Media, and areas such as Blogging and Social Computing. As an author/journalist I have strong research and writing skills, with a sound knowledge of HTML and CSS, which are the keys to “hacking” MySpace.
3) Myspace is thought of for kids -- 12-20 something
--so okay tell us, how old are you?
Do you have a Myspace of your own--
did you before you wrote the book?
ANSWER JOHN POSPISIL, author HACKING MYSPACE: Yes, the target demographic for MySpace is late-teens and twenty-something.
I’m 34, but not so old that don’t understand what it’s about.
I’m relatively new to MySpace, but I’ve blogging for the past eighteen months, and I’ve been involved with various web sites for the past ten years.
QUESTION #4 Joyce Schwarz-- just skimmed GOOGLE entries for HACKING MYSPACE
and we found that other than listings for your book,
lots of the postings say how DIFFICULT it is to 'hack'.
Do we need to know HTML to 'Hack MySpace"?
ANSWER: John Pospisil, author HACKING MYSPACE :
You don’t need to know HTML to put codes into your MySpace profile, but having an understanding of HTML and CSS, will certainly make it much easier for you to understand what you’re doing.
Part of the book is devoted to helping readers develop HTML and CSS skills – it’s not as hard as you might think.
to be continued in upcoming post on www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.
Meanwhile check out John's blog posts about writing the book at: http://www.pospisil.com.au/2006/05/20/hacking-myspace-mods-and-customizations-to-make-myspace-your-space-extremetech/
