Somebody yesterday asked me what I do in my spare time.
"Blog, mostly," I said.
"What's that?"
This seems to come up at least once or twice a week, or at least so often that I have the speech down pat: "Well, it's journaling on the Web. Some of the 'Web logs' -- that's where the name comes from -- are merely personal diaries, meant for family and friends. Some are extensions of existing institutions. Some, like mine, are kind of a hybrid. Blogs represent what's happening in the communications revolution, with immediate transmission of information and instantaneous feedback and blah, blah, blah."
Usually, the listener's eyes start to glaze over before I get to the blah, blah, blah part. I do not get the impression that they are going to rush home, fire up the computer and get hooked on this blog phenomenon. So I wonder: Is this large group of people hopelessly out of touch, in danger of getting caught on the wrong side of the information superhighway? Or do those of us who are so caught up in blogging think it is a much bigger deal than it really is?
I don't know the answer, Grasshopper; that's why I'm asking.
Comments
But if you can snatch the pebble from my hand....
B.G.
It's a phenomenon but I'm not exactly sure how widespread it really is. Barely anyone I work with ever speaks of reading blogs. For one thing, how many can a person keep up with on a regular basis, let alone respond to. To read lots of them is to let your life be absolutely dominated by sitting in front of a computer and maybe that'll work for some who can fortify themselves into their home but at the expense of everything else. How many hits a day does your site get, Leo? And how many others do you read?
I read four or five on a daily basis and check on a couple more but that takes up a lot of time. Those of you who blog must devote even greater amounts of time but you who write for a living must not consider that a sacrifice. For others, it has to come at some cost.
A blog is a web page format and template offering its visitors various topics and inviting comments. A blog format is not all that different from a forum format. Often, the blog only has advantages over the forum format if its host believes it does, and carries through accordingly.
Only a few lines of code take you from being Moderator of a forum to being Host of your own blog.
The Host, unlike the forum Moderator, probably enjoys journaling (or, occasionally, pontificating), or enjoys getting to choose ALL the topics for discussion -- and write the first opinion on each subject.
There are obvious dangers in a blog, but there are also advantages when a blog is well tempered. Leo has proved herein that he can sustain his own vision of what his blog is about, and I think he executes his personal version of the blogging concept quite well.