The Shitwork of Blogging
Have you noticed how many commentators out there are trying to label what is "good" blogging and what is "shit"? How amusing. Those who fantasize that they are in power, on top of the heap, "real" writers verified by "approved," isolated writing communities, seem to be trying to replicate those very same (false, yet not) power structures here in hyperspace.
I read one review that compared some bloggers to little children who hang elementary drawings on the fridge with magnets.
Can we sense any insecure gatekeeping?
What happens if a form of communication begins to question our very epistemology, that is the way in which we understand the "origins" of our knowledge or how we count what is knowledge and what is not? What if we, as a society, begin to value other forms of knowledge that aren't neccessarily institutionalized by the "approved"?
What if, for example, I start to understand what the lives in Cameroon experience from first hand accounts, from an "oral" tradition if you will, rather than polished excerpts from academic texts that have been "approved" by the gatekeepers?
Wow--can blogging be seen as a new type of (high-tech) oral tradition?
If so, I call the copywrites on that idea, 04/10/05.
Yeah yeah, life is full of ironies and people trying to make a buck.
But you have to admit: that idea is better than the simple dichotomy of good/bad blogging.
posted by SquirrleyMojo @ 12:01 PM
6 Comments:
Yay! Very well said, let me be the first to congratulate you.
:o)
I read this post at just the right time. Isn't it odd how that happens sometimes?
I've seen those types of blogs as well. Personally I like hanging elementary posts on the fridge with magnets..
blogging can't be an oral tradition, as it's written, but it is a new type of record keeping and, if somehow all these ones and zeros last a few hundred years, will be a great way to learn about how things were "back then."
as for the "real" writers passing judgement, that isn't just here in the blog world, that takes place in just about all sectors. old dinosaurs who think the way they did it back in 1950 is the only way.
great post you wrote, i wish more people would read it...
They are on top and they do have power and they do have influence both on and offline. It has to do, in part, with how search engine rankings work.
And blogs have already had an impact on how information is regarded and weighted. Again, through search engines.
I wouldn't worry about a group of people saying blogs should do this or that. They're taking advantage of current search engine methods, but they don't control them. Even experts on search engines can't say for certain how Google works. And, ultimately, it's Google and other engines that determine which sites are actually read (and which information actually gets out).
The real gatekeepers are the search engines, and they don't care about what your site says so much as whether it's relevant to a search term and/or popular.
Do not meddle in the affairs of search engines, for they are quick to drop you and slow to rerank.
As long as bloggers retain the ability to comment on one anothers blogs, they will be able to find one another. Interesting blogs bubble up to the top of the rankings, eventually, through linking. That's why it's important to put links of blogs we enjoy reading into our blogs.
There are many types of blogs out there. I don't always enjoy the blogs I'm "supposed" to enjoy, and I really prefer the quirky little blogs that no one else seems to know about.
hmmmmm, now the real question, "Was this an example of good blogging or bad blogging?"
Bwah hahahahhaha
Ok, not funny.
Joke fell like a lead balloon.
As with everything personal, it is entirely subjective.
As with anything subjective, it becomes entirely politicized.
The personal as always is the political.
And this line of rhetoric is entirely too nebulous... okay, this is me quitting.
I'm not ahead... I just know when I'm rambling.
In my head I had a much more finely polished response.
If you could just read what I had meant to say rather than the drivel above, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
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