Re: <nettime> The banality of blogging

["Kimberly De Vries" <cuuixsilver@gmail.com>]

Blogs do offer some terrific opportunities for study and theorizing, and of
course you are right Eduardo, that they differ enormously from pens in their
ability to reach vast numbers as easily as just a few.

I think though that it's a little early to make claims about what blogging
is or isn't, especially without offering any actual examples or proof.  A
fairly recent preliminary survey by the Pew Internet and American Life
project (1) confirms that most blogging is personal, but there interesting
distinctions among motivations, perceived audience, level of importance, and
demographics of bloggers.  For example, people who blog are far more likely
to also create their own art, video, audio, and other writing that they then
share online.  They are more likely to make their own webpages as well.
Blogging may in fact be a "gateway" activity that will lead some people to
far more active and critical participation.

I feel it is very important to study for this and other reasons, and if we
are going to study it and hatch some theories, let's really do it, rather
than pigeonholing blogs as another exercise in banality.

(1) "Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers," Amanda
Lenhart, Susannah Fox
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp

Best,

Kim

On 8/10/07, Eduardo Navas <eduardo@navasse.net> wrote:

> While it may be true that blogs and pens are mere tools, both
> inventions have redefined the way people function, think, and
> attain knowledge. Blogs as tools open up new possibilities for Mass
> Communication, which, as many on this list may know, Raymond Williams
> categorized as a one way street, where people could only hear what
> those who defined media decided, with no possibility of immediate
> feedback (the radio and television).
 <...>

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