- What are the contents?
- Structure and content of a text
- Form and content in art and literature
- What is a content creator?
- digital content
We explain what content is in a general sense and its meaning in art and literature. Also, what is a content creator.
What are the contents?
In very general terms, when we talk about content we refer to the essence of things, as opposed to their form or container. For example, if we consider a glass of water, the glass will be the container, while the liquid will be the content. It is a word from Latin, the result of the union of the voices with– (“completely”) and I will have ("to hold back").
However, we use the word “content” on a daily basis with a myriad of different connotations, depending on the specific area we are talking about. For example, when we say that someone "is very contained", we are saying that he is restrained, cautious, prudent, that is, that he stays as much as possible in his right mind or within the limits of things and situations.
This same sense is used when we refer to containment. Suppose a child comes to us crying uncontrollably, and we hug him and listen to him to make him feel comforted. In psychological terms, this is known as "giving support", since the child has, figuratively speaking, his feelings placed "outside", and by listening to him and hugging him we help him return them to his place. This does not mean that the feelings must necessarily be repressed, but rather that it is a metaphorical, figurative use.
Something similar happens when we look at the end or the beginning of a book for the “table of contents” or “index of contents”, which refers, precisely, to the information that is in the pages of the book or, in other words, to the information that the book contains. In this case, the container is the book and the information is the content. This same logic can also be applied to films, whose content would be the plot (the narrated story) or sometimes the subtext of said story, that is, the "message" or the interpretation that a person makes of the film.
Structure and content of a text
When commenting on text, generally, distinguishes between its structure and its content. As we have said, the content is the total of the information contained in the text, that is, its words and the meanings of those words. On the other hand, the structure is the way in which these contents appear in the text, that is, the place we assign them and the order in which the reader usually reads them.
Thus, the structure of a text has to do with things as simple as the order of its paragraphs and the sequence of prayers within each. A well-structured text, therefore, is a text that provides the reader with a reading orderly, logical, sequential, without jumps or breaks in the discursive thread. It is a text that has, so to speak, things in their right place.
On the other hand, a text with good content is more difficult to define. It is possible that the content of a text seems good to us simply because we liked what it says, or we found the topic it addresses interesting. But it is more difficult to propose a universal definition in these very subjective terms. In any case, we could say that a text with good content is one that meets the expectations of the reader.
Form and content in art and literature
Since classical antiquity, literary texts and other forms of art they have been thought from their form and content, and the difficulty of separating one thing from the other has become evident, as it can be done in texts of another nature. This is because, in art and literature, form and content tend to constitute an indivisible unit.
Let us think, for example, of a poem that we like What is the form? Undoubtedly, the arrangement of the verses, the way of ordering them, the structure of the poem. And what is the content? Possibly what those verses say. But at the same time, would it be the same poem if we alter the form, that is, if we change the order of appearance of the same content? No, it wouldn't. Because that poem exists only in its form and with its content.
This becomes much more evident if we think of a painting, whose form would be the framework of colors and whose content would be what it was decided to paint, or perhaps the colors with which it is painted. It is not so easy to separate one thing from the other. The same goes for a Beethoven symphony: can we separate the form (the order of the notes) from the content (the notes themselves)? No, we can't, because precisely the symphony exists when those notes are in that order, that is, the form is the content.
In addition, in artistic and literary works, the "message" of the work, if any, tends to be mysterious and left to the interpretation of the reader or spectator, or the specialized critic. So the supposed content of the work is not always obvious or may even vary from person to person.
What is a content creator?
A content creator is a person dedicated to the trade of generating information for mass consumption, generally through Internet or others communication channels contemporaries. Said contents can be stories, reflections, images, animations, videos or anything else that may be, precisely, contained in this type of platform or service.
There is, however, a difference between a content creator and an artist or writer. In general, the artist is thought of as a craftsman dedicated to the production of unique and singular pieces, unrepeatable and of profound aesthetic value. A content creator, on the other hand, pursues more mundane aspirations, such as feeding a Web page, entertain a public, or provide useful information to an audience. However, the limits of this distinction can often be blurred.
The creation of content is, at the beginning of the 21st century, a common and booming trade, especially on the Internet and in the services of streaming, whose popularization has changed the terms in which we speak of cultural consumption: instead of speaking of "works" (a term reserved for art and literature), we speak of "contents", despite the fact that many of them may be as original, interesting and aesthetically valuable as a work of art.
digital content
Digital contents are those that are contained on digital platforms, that is, on the internet. It is a term that has become very fashionable since the explosion of social networks and the calls ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) at the beginning of the 21st century. Therefore, digital content can consist of information in various formats: text, audio, video, animations, etc. software, video games and various combinations of all these categories.