Writing the Great Change
...in Wales
Smai, Rhodri ap Dyfrig ydw i, a dwi’n gyfryngi a diwyllgi sydd angen rhywle i sgwennu a thrafod.
Haia, my names is Rhodri ap Dyfrig, and I miss writing. Particularly writing about media and culture.
Why am I starting a blydi newsletter?
I once had blogs. A personal one, a film one, a tech one, then another personal one. Little by little Twitter stole away the need as the network there expanded - the connections were so much greater then blogging. I also felt that the shorter more direct medium was more impactful (at the time). I started my own online publishing platform along the lines of Buzzfeed with Ffrwti in 2014, and also wrote more for magazines like Barn, Tu Chwith, Golwg, as well BBC Cymru Fyw whilst I was a social media producer there. I had a short lived TinyLetter thing going on looking at media and tech around 2017 which was fun but I felt I couldn’t really write about my work as I was, well, right in the middle of it at S4C and it felt too conflicted. Within a year of joining S4C I had taken on a commissioning role (online content) and was responsible for some news and current affairs content. I was therefore bound by editorial guidelines to keep my opinions to myself. I was also in the midst focused on the doing, rather than the discussing. At that point I started writing some science fiction bits to satisfy my need and had a go at podcasting (great but editing took too long).
I don’t think there’s a medium that I haven’t experimented with (even did a bit of radio in university on X-Press FM), as I always feel the urge to try out the new forms of communication and storytelling. But it has now been 2 years since I left S4C and I want to write again about the media and cultural landscape in Wales, and hopefully have a few things worth saying.
I have also left Twitter/X, and see only more fragmentation happening in social media. In that context, I’d rather build some longer form text content once more which I know I can easily port somewhere else if y’know this fragile US tech platform also becomes a shitshow (highly likely).
Pam Saesneg? Why is it yn Saesneg?
Dwi wedi treulio y 23 mlynedd dwetha yn creu cynnwys Cymraeg, yn trafod cynnwys yn Gymraeg ac yn galluogi eraill i greu cynnwys Cymraeg. Dwi’n meddwl bod yna le i fi wneud chydig o hyn i gyfeiriad arall am ychydig. Nid er mwyn cyrraedd ‘cynulleidfa fwy’, yr hen anwiredd yna. Mae’n bur debygol y bydd llai o gynulleidfa na phe bawn i’n sgwennu yn Gymraeg. Ond oherwydd bod y wendid yn y drafodaeth am gyfryngau yn benodol yn fwy yn Saesneg yng Nghymru nac yn Gymraeg. Mae’r edrychiad tuag at Lundain yn anferthol o gryf yn y Saesneg yng Nghymru, sy’n golygu yn aml iawn nad oes a) neb yn trafod pethau pwysig am gyfryngau Saesneg Cymru yma, a b) does neb llawer yn trafod cyfryngau Cymraeg drwy gyfrwng y Saesneg oni bai yn arwynebol iawn.
I have spent the last 23 years creating Welsh language content, discussing content in Welsh and enabling others to create Welsh language content. I think there is room for me to take another direction for a while. Not to reach a 'bigger audience', that old fallacy that mires so many Welsh speakers considering creating content online. It is quite likely that there will be a smaller audience for this newsletter than if I were to write in Welsh. But rather I wish to write in English because the weakness exists in the discussion about media through the medium of English than through the medium of Welsh,. The look towards London is immensely strong in English medium media and culture in Wales, which means that very often a) not many places discuss the important issues around English-language Welsh media , and b) no one much discusses Welsh media through the medium of English except very superficially.
What will it be about?
Media, culture (in the widest sense: arts-culture, digital-culture, Welsh-culture, pop-culture) and the ways that technology and language interact and intersect with them. I will probably avoid the heritage elements of culture as that is the area I work in at present, but inevitably that will also make appearances.
I have created, studied, and strategised around media, culture and tech for the last few decades and want to try to help people understand stuff whilst I’m trying to understand them too.
There is too much of a black box nature to media in Wales, which is different to say theatre and art which are more often reviewed and analysed, and the British media press rarely do more than spit out some press releases. My aim is to make that black box a little less opaque.
How often will I post?
Whenever something is worth writing about, and whenever time allows.
Why Substack?
I do like articles coming into my email inbox, and and I’m intrigued as to how this platform creates a network. I’ve really enjoyed Cwlwm magazine recently via Substack which also pushed me in this direction.