Toronto Life online has an article by Robert Fulford about blogs. Once he gets through the seemingly mandatory intro phase (blog is short for Weblog) including quotation marks around words like “blogosphere” and (heh) “posts”, he gets into some interesting detail on bloggers with extra-internet writing cred.
[Terry] Teachout writes books, magazine articles and drama reviews for The Wall Street Journal, but he also adores his blog; it provides “immediacy, informality and independence that you can’t find in the print media.” Although he’s paid for his theatre criticism, he tells us for free about every concert or dance performance he attends, apparently every record he hears and even what deadlines he’s in danger of missing.
These full-time professionals have turned themselves into part-time amateurs, in the root definition of “amateur”: someone who acts out of love. Because it’s so economically independent, blogging encourages freewheeling individualism, which has affected mainstream journalism. In Foreign Policy, an influential American journal, two scholars recently noted that “What began as a hobby is evolving into a new medium that is changing the landscape for journalists and policy-makers alike.”
They also have a side feature here of local bloggers (including yours truly) picking their favourite other local bloggers.
Sally, what you are doing is absolutely inexcusable and Fulford leaves me unconvinced that this new fangled "posting" that all the kids are so crazy about is of any consequence. (But just in case, I vow to destroy your forum, with it's evil hierarchy of "posts" and "comments", from within.)
hey, wait a minute! "moronic musings", "asinine and fatuous", "ill-considered political ideas" ???
Any of those quotes could be my middle name. I've changed my mind, now I vow to preserve those characteristics from within.
*oh, never mind.*
That's another thing people can't seem to get over the fact that anybody can blog. But reading blogs is no different from reading the internet, or the library. You don't just wander in and pick up a book at random...and then complain that the author hasn't written what you want to be reading. You go looking for the content that is relevant to your projects, and sometimes you might find what you want on a blog, sometimes in an article, sometimes in conversation at a tea party, etc. But Fulford is clearly writing for people who are not really using the internet yet...I'm related to some of them ...and eventhough that people-writing-online-is-kooky-and-new stuff is tiresome I guess its still forgivable in certain circles. Like Toronto Life.
I'll kvetch here away from my own page, if you don't mind, God knows I do it enough there.
You've got the Doogie Howser guy saying on a TV sitcom "This is totally going on my blog!" which just sounds ridiculous.
I had an artist engage me in a private conversation recently, I'd only just met him and mentioned I had a blog, and he felt comfortable asking me, as long as no one else was around: "Why do you do that?"
I instantly sized up that question as "My sister sent me a link to some of those there blog things and it was just people going on about what they were wearing and what they ate and can you say BORING so I can't wait to get one of these guys alone and ask "Why do you do that?"
As in "Why the fuck do you do that?"
With infinite patience, I went into my usual spiel about how it's a new, alternative form of journalism and that mine isn't like your typical Livejournal but rather takes on a variety of topics in a serious yet personal way and I'd been doing it for almost five years and even gotten some recognition for it.
But what I really wanted to do was walk away from the guy for being so ill-informed at this stage of the game. Wasting my time, and with a slightly accusatory tone yet. I get this ALL THE TIME!!
In fairness, I keep asking myself, if I hadn't met this group of people and started "posting" a few years ago, would I know about blogs by now? Would I have found the good ones so I knew it wasn't just some weird fad like CB radios? I think the answer to both is yes--many of my friends read Kos, Gilliard or just Gawker without themselves being bloggers. I attribute some of the hostility to spillover from artists generally hating critics and the printed word and imagining themselves pure beings who don't immerse themselves in verbal culture, pop or otherwise.
Or that are baffled by the Net and don't have any inclination to follow links in search of what's new, cool, or interesting.
I can't relate to that any more than they can't relate to me.
My biggest surprise has been the varieties of sub cultures (that I stumble upon) that communicate in this format. It's part of the big adventure of figuring out how the world works. You can get a glimpse at how other people think and approach their interests or areas of expertise. I've always loved listening in on arguments and discussions from professions that operate in a distant galaxy from my own, but those opportunities are rare in the real world. (my two faves are lawyers and journalists because both groups are big fat gossips when they socialize and talk shop)
I'm surprised you've found lawyers talking shop online--usually they're fearful of litigation themselves and concerned with leaving a trail. I've seen blogs where jurisprudence is discussed but not much gossip.
No, not on line, I meant in the real world. (big fat gossips!)
At the risk of sounding hopelessly behind the times I have to admit to only newly reading and sometimes engaging in blogs. I appreciate the spontaneity it offers, the open forum, the 'everything goes and everyone has access' but in fairness, for those of us not so quick on the internet it is also arduous to find sites, blogs, information, etc. without having to spend a great deal of time negotiating all kinds of uninteresting things. The rapid development of all web related things have made it less easy for those of us who do not spend a lot of time on the internet.
Having said that, I do go straight to Sally's blog every morning now, rather than, say, the Globe and Mail, to check up on all things more interesting to me right now than any mainstream news or information site. Still, unless there are some links or hints at other blogs I'm not exactly surfing the net. But I'm learning.
Most weblogs have a list of links--those are trusted sites, which lead to lists of links of other trusted sites. After a couple of hours, spread out over a day or two, you find the important ones everyone links to and a few that fit your personal preferences. There's no reason in 2005 for "negotiating all kinds of uninteresting things." I negotiate far more uninteresting things these days standing at a magazine rack. I'm not a kid either, I figured all this out in my ossified late adulthood.
Referencing links and hints from other on line sources is analogous to how I remember exploring literature when I was a kid. (an unbearably irritating kid with crackpot theories and an annoying precocity largely ignored by her family, which is actually a good thing, now that I think of it) Initially, I did pay attention to book cover design for clues (still do for totally different reasons now), but I did go from writer to writer because they acknowledged and referenced each other.
I don't think I've ever surfed the net in the way that you are thinking, C.G., that's supposing that you mean a random ride, clicking links to see where you go.
I started by treating the whole thing as an encyclopaedia: searched for the info I thought I needed and then the A.D.D. kicks in and I'm off on a tangent or two (or twenty). The pleasure is finding the info that I never thought I needed (until I read it.)
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Toronto Life online has an article by Robert Fulford about blogs. Once he gets through the seemingly mandatory intro phase (blog is short for Weblog) including quotation marks around words like “blogosphere” and (heh) “posts”, he gets into some interesting detail on bloggers with extra-internet writing cred. They also have a side feature here of local bloggers (including yours truly) picking their favourite other local bloggers.
- sally mckay 9-29-2005 8:17 pm
Sally, what you are doing is absolutely inexcusable and Fulford leaves me unconvinced that this new fangled "posting" that all the kids are so crazy about is of any consequence. (But just in case, I vow to destroy your forum, with it's evil hierarchy of "posts" and "comments", from within.)
- L.M. 9-29-2005 8:47 pm
hey, wait a minute! "moronic musings", "asinine and fatuous", "ill-considered political ideas" ???
Any of those quotes could be my middle name. I've changed my mind, now I vow to preserve those characteristics from within.
*oh, never mind.*
- L.M. 9-29-2005 9:39 pm
That's another thing people can't seem to get over the fact that anybody can blog. But reading blogs is no different from reading the internet, or the library. You don't just wander in and pick up a book at random...and then complain that the author hasn't written what you want to be reading. You go looking for the content that is relevant to your projects, and sometimes you might find what you want on a blog, sometimes in an article, sometimes in conversation at a tea party, etc. But Fulford is clearly writing for people who are not really using the internet yet...I'm related to some of them ...and eventhough that people-writing-online-is-kooky-and-new stuff is tiresome I guess its still forgivable in certain circles. Like Toronto Life.
- sally mckay 9-29-2005 10:17 pm
I'll kvetch here away from my own page, if you don't mind, God knows I do it enough there.
You've got the Doogie Howser guy saying on a TV sitcom "This is totally going on my blog!" which just sounds ridiculous.
I had an artist engage me in a private conversation recently, I'd only just met him and mentioned I had a blog, and he felt comfortable asking me, as long as no one else was around: "Why do you do that?"
I instantly sized up that question as "My sister sent me a link to some of those there blog things and it was just people going on about what they were wearing and what they ate and can you say BORING so I can't wait to get one of these guys alone and ask "Why do you do that?"
As in "Why the fuck do you do that?"
With infinite patience, I went into my usual spiel about how it's a new, alternative form of journalism and that mine isn't like your typical Livejournal but rather takes on a variety of topics in a serious yet personal way and I'd been doing it for almost five years and even gotten some recognition for it.
But what I really wanted to do was walk away from the guy for being so ill-informed at this stage of the game. Wasting my time, and with a slightly accusatory tone yet. I get this ALL THE TIME!!
- tom moody 9-29-2005 10:41 pm
In fairness, I keep asking myself, if I hadn't met this group of people and started "posting" a few years ago, would I know about blogs by now? Would I have found the good ones so I knew it wasn't just some weird fad like CB radios? I think the answer to both is yes--many of my friends read Kos, Gilliard or just Gawker without themselves being bloggers. I attribute some of the hostility to spillover from artists generally hating critics and the printed word and imagining themselves pure beings who don't immerse themselves in verbal culture, pop or otherwise.
Or that are baffled by the Net and don't have any inclination to follow links in search of what's new, cool, or interesting.
I can't relate to that any more than they can't relate to me.
- tom moody 9-29-2005 11:12 pm
My biggest surprise has been the varieties of sub cultures (that I stumble upon) that communicate in this format. It's part of the big adventure of figuring out how the world works. You can get a glimpse at how other people think and approach their interests or areas of expertise. I've always loved listening in on arguments and discussions from professions that operate in a distant galaxy from my own, but those opportunities are rare in the real world. (my two faves are lawyers and journalists because both groups are big fat gossips when they socialize and talk shop)
- L.M. 9-30-2005 12:35 am
I'm surprised you've found lawyers talking shop online--usually they're fearful of litigation themselves and concerned with leaving a trail. I've seen blogs where jurisprudence is discussed but not much gossip.
- tom moody 9-30-2005 12:47 am
No, not on line, I meant in the real world. (big fat gossips!)
- L.M. 9-30-2005 1:19 am
At the risk of sounding hopelessly behind the times I have to admit to only newly reading and sometimes engaging in blogs. I appreciate the spontaneity it offers, the open forum, the 'everything goes and everyone has access' but in fairness, for those of us not so quick on the internet it is also arduous to find sites, blogs, information, etc. without having to spend a great deal of time negotiating all kinds of uninteresting things. The rapid development of all web related things have made it less easy for those of us who do not spend a lot of time on the internet.
Having said that, I do go straight to Sally's blog every morning now, rather than, say, the Globe and Mail, to check up on all things more interesting to me right now than any mainstream news or information site. Still, unless there are some links or hints at other blogs I'm not exactly surfing the net. But I'm learning.
- C.G. (guest) 10-01-2005 6:02 pm
Most weblogs have a list of links--those are trusted sites, which lead to lists of links of other trusted sites. After a couple of hours, spread out over a day or two, you find the important ones everyone links to and a few that fit your personal preferences. There's no reason in 2005 for "negotiating all kinds of uninteresting things." I negotiate far more uninteresting things these days standing at a magazine rack. I'm not a kid either, I figured all this out in my ossified late adulthood.
- tom moody 10-01-2005 7:59 pm
Referencing links and hints from other on line sources is analogous to how I remember exploring literature when I was a kid. (an unbearably irritating kid with crackpot theories and an annoying precocity largely ignored by her family, which is actually a good thing, now that I think of it) Initially, I did pay attention to book cover design for clues (still do for totally different reasons now), but I did go from writer to writer because they acknowledged and referenced each other.
- L.M. 10-01-2005 8:16 pm
I don't think I've ever surfed the net in the way that you are thinking, C.G., that's supposing that you mean a random ride, clicking links to see where you go.
I started by treating the whole thing as an encyclopaedia: searched for the info I thought I needed and then the A.D.D. kicks in and I'm off on a tangent or two (or twenty). The pleasure is finding the info that I never thought I needed (until I read it.)
- L.M. 10-01-2005 8:49 pm