Why is Blogging getting all the limelight?
I do not wish to seek the subjectively obvious answers to why blogs, bloggers, blogging are almost synonymous with netizens of recent years. I'm more concerned on why other similar forms of virtual discussion/personal/etc. dialogue/word/media spaces in cyberspace didn't get as much hu-ha. Without much research and out of laziness I blame the actual word blog and its associates (blogger, blogging, etc.) First off it sounds apparently much cooler than weblog (web+log = blog) and hence (perhaps) easier to use/incorporate. Weblogger, weblogging, may not sound too bad but I'm almost positive that I'd be ridiculed should I claim myself to be an advent internet forum-er, and I do a lot of internet forum-ing. Same goes for bbs-er, bbs-ing, guestbook-er, guestbook-ing, web diary-er, web diary-ing, etc. I personally despise blogs for the sole fact that it's just too easy in may more ways than its ancestors. Add to that I don't like the word blog so much. It sounds all too fake, pretentious and overrated. Then again I guess that works very well for (many) bloggers who share the same traits. Here's a quick ref to the history of the blog: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog. In no way am I putting this link to insult the very informed/educated bloggers who alreay know about it. Why are we blogging again? Oh yes, I remember now.
posted by z at 8:10 am
3 Comments:
Z (can you sign your real name, please?) - interesting post/entry/blog (what's in a word?) But do I detect a hint of techno-elitism here? Blogging is for the Johnny-come-lately netizens, and it's too easy?! Is that another way of saying it's just too democratic?
it's a global use of free speech, to the people of the world which are either too lazy to write letters to the editor or pick up a pen cause typing is way faster and more accessable, as many are well aware not every article sent to an editor at the New Zealand Herald for example is published, it is only the ones that give them an edge that gets published, where as in a blog everything is published no matter what the content is about. Just a comment about signing the comments and blog entries with our real name, it worries me somewhat that we're required to sign it with our real name, it will allow potential employers to identify us and to expose us to critism which would otherwise be ignored.
As I said before, it matters that we can identify you, not the rest of the world, so a first name followed by an initial would normally suffice. You do not have to provide your full name so long as it's clear to us who you are. If you (or anyone else) has a problem with this, then let us know and we can agree a pseudonym for you if you'd prefer. But the intention is that you are not anonymous within the group (but you can remain anonymous to the outside world). Does that answer your concerns? Finally, I would also add that if you're worried that something you might say could somehow 'mark your card' then don't say it, just as you wouldn't say it in any other public arena. It's called self-censorship and the idea that cyberspace is some pure domain of free speech is a myth!
Post a Comment
<< Home