Really tired this morning. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I didn’t get home until 8pm last night (my class finished early, at around 7:30pm). The class went well. Although I was pretty tired the adrenalin took over and I didn’t have the time to think about anything but the class.
Reading Mooiness’ Blogging Backlash post made me think again about blogging and where it will be in 1, 2, 5, 10 years’ time.
I’ve noticed other, similar sorts of responses to blogging out there. I’m not surprised there has been a ‘backlash’ – there always is, with anything that has had as much media coverage as blogging has had lately. (Some of the gripes remind me of the recent kerfuffle over Big Brother – if it bothers you so much, there are other channels to watch! Better still read a bl.. book!)
Is blogging is a bad idea if you’re looking for an academic job?
Is blogging good for business? Or maybe it’s bad for business…
Even in the (American) library world, there has been a bit of a hoo-ha over blogs, incited by the President of the American Library Association, no less. One comment during the debate, by Jessamyn West, was that “Gorman [ALA Prez] obviously has a lot to say. If only there were some tool available to him that would facilitate his putting it online, perhaps with a way for those interested in it to receive a notification when something new was available, and to respond with lively, rough-and-tumble comments… “. I think blogging is just starting to appear on the Australian library world’s radar in a big way; perhaps we’ll have a similar debate – eventually!
And why keep a personal blog? M still thinks it’s a waste of time self-indulgence [edit: this caused a healthy debate on the way to work this morning: is self indulgence necessarily a waste of time? Maybe a topic for a post!], although he is not as vehement as this person. (Of course, we might well say that all that effort reading, or writing, about something that you think is such a waste of time, could be seen to be a waste of time on your part…) Thinking about it, I don’t recall personal websites being labelled a complete waste of time or self-indulgent or pathetic. They can be all about cats or teddy bears. Or they can be deadly serious.
I can still remember the media ooh-aah over The Internet back then, and all the usual comments about how it was all about porn and bomb recipes, and all those people proudly proclaiming they were luddites. Where are they now, I wonder.
Perhaps blogging will just become as much a part of the mainstream as The Internet now is. Blogs are certainly a big part of the net! Conduct a search on Google, on any topic, and depending on the topic, you may find that blog posts make up a substantial amount of the results. Of course a lot of it is gumpf – just someone’s opinion or even misinterpretation of the facts – but that was the case even before blogs. All this means is that we as users of the net and readers of blogs, need to be discerning and careful about what we read and accept as The Truth.
10 Comments
Yes – a blog by another name is a “personal homepage”. ‘Homepage’ is such a quaint word, isn’t it? 🙂 It has just made it easier for ppl to post their thoughts: frivilous or serious, rubbish or legit.
I think “traditional” media has a way of overhyping stuff when it really is not that different from before.
The luddites? They’re in my office! … Oh, it just feels that way sometimes. *sighs*
I reckon blogging will become part of the mainstream. The only problem with it is that not everyone who blogs can write -i.e. blogging by its nature doesn’t have the exclusivity/quality control factor that books do. So there’s a whole lot of crap out there. Some blogs are written by people who only seem to express themselves in text-speak or LiKE Diz, yo! Fo’ SHiZZIeeee! – Du u lIke mAh BlOgggg, Man?!
I don’t mind if the subject matter is of no interest to me, but if the writer/blogger can’t do so grammatically, i drives me insane.
BTW, i reckon between blogs and homepages, are the online journals.
cherryripe: good point about the grammer and the inverted caps. I never understood it: isn’t it harder to type like that? bIg UppZZZ to mY pEEpS!! <-- that just took me a good 30 seconds. 😛
As per CW’s comment, there was a impassioned debate this morning on the misunderstanding of my comments and the subsequent posting to the world without verification.
I rate blogs as personal indulgences (much like personal webpages). CW equated personal indulgences as ‘waste’s of time’. On the contrary, I rate personal indulgences as critically important to and individual’s quality of life. I had hoped CW would understand this as I have always made a priority of encouraging personal indulgences. Even to CW’s protest.
This led to a discussion on ‘waste’s of time’. I think that much that we attribute as a ‘waste of time’ is not, but rather critically important to our wellbeing and also quite often critical to progress we make on things.
Also ‘waste of time’ implies progress and achievement as paramount and my core philosophies actually place happiness and equilibrium as paramount. Unfortunately we live in a ‘progress’ oriented society and compromises have to be made between my philosophies and the world that I live.
i’m sure CW will have more to say … 🙂
WOOT some impassioned discussion!! I need to ruminate some more on this, M, and am happy to continue the debate 🙂
It would make a good topic for a post though, wouldn’t it? What is ‘progress’?
Cherry and Mooiness, agreed on that l33t speak, it is too unreadable and just makes you look illiterate!
I like it that I was one of the first persons to see your blog up and running. It certainly is blooming like those wild flowers in your garden.
I find that it is actually quite hard to blog about personal things. You have to filter those things you don’t think would be appropriate for the general public. As a personal indulgence? Hmm maybe. But if it does make one feel good about one’s self, why not? In this day and age where everyone else is beating you down, it is a very good outlet, more so when you have readers giving you little encouragements and “pats on the back”!
Hi Israd 🙂 Yes, I will always remember you as one of my first readers. Good to hear from you, and I hope that flu is out of your system now!
Your point about the pats in the back is a good one, I think. Nothing wrong with a bit of encouragement! As well, I like the fact that blogging allows you to get to know others – by reading their blogs, and by the “conversations” you can have via comments.
Umm.. Cherry and Mooiness – sorry I think in my haste to respond to your comments, I was guilty of using sms-speak myself 🙂 (Actually I think I was using gamer speak. And here I was thinking I am a recovering gamer. Bah!)
All your base are belong to us. WOOT! 🙂