I started typing this as a response to T-boy's objection to my use of the term 'blogosphere', but since it extended to 2 paragraphs, I decided to make it into a post (hey! It's my blog!).
T-Boy wrote:
"I don't use the word ‘blogosphere’. It sounds pretentious — not as bad as including and excluding people from the “Real Blogging Community”, but still. Hell, is there such a thing as a ‘blogging community’? It all just rubs me the wrong way."
T-boy, I have no intention of excluding anyone by using the term. I personally believe that the distinction has to be made between internet content of the previous era and those produced via blogging technology i.e. microcontent.
This is mainly due to the implications of such content. Previously, where internet content were churned out by 'gatekeepers' - marketing ppl, tech-savvy individuals, traditional news organisations, the rules of the game was not that far off from print media. Now that the technology has made it easier for the lay-person to publish, content has become more diverse, and in some cases, less reliable.
Rather than putting your trust (or what's left of it) into the organisation that produced the content, more and more of us are starting to rely on information from individuals. Yes, free speech is great, but the danger comes when the less sceptical of us put too much weight into content from blogs, rather than traditional or more 'official' media sources. In essence, blogs now have the power to provide validation to what used to be heresay.
Blogs also differ from the usual website in that it places some reference to a piece of information. e.g. this site is affiliate to another site because of my relationship to that person via this organisation which also produces this piece of space which has contributions from someone I know who helped out with this. All this will help create an Internet that is more relational and semantic.
I could list all the factors that makes blogs different from the usual website, but suffice to say that it's enough to necessitate a different search category in Google, because when I search for "How to Deploy Linux in an Enterprise", I personally would like to differentiate between personal content (typical of sites in the blogosphere) and corporate whitepapers.
Having said that, I am not contradicting myself in my belief that the lines WILL be blurred as the other side start moving towards blog-style content creation. However, the ultimate distinction between the old internet and the 'blogosphere' (with both as subsets of that space we know as the Internet), for as long as the distinction can be made, should be the rules which we publish by.
More info on blogs as a phase in the evolution of the internet:
1. Deep Thinking about Weblogs
2. Blogs as Disruptive Technology
3. Portals, Blogs and RSS: Why They Are Your Future
Very well said.
I think Najah and i share different "rules" when it comes to blogging. These rules do not necessarily juxtapose each other, but they are, for most intents and purposes, different.
The rules or "system", if you prefer, that apply to my blogging habits tend to be based around a structure that may sound exclusionary at first reading. But they aren't really, simply because i've mentioned often enough that its simply a prescription that can be taken if desired.
Just like when you have a headache. Some doctors give you paracetamol, others will give you something stronger such as ponstan. A pescription is hardly absolute: its just, like everything else, an idea.
Najah, i've noticed, is much more interested in the rules that govern "relationships" between blogs. That's why she agrees with me that embedded links are important (but not necessary) and why interactive tools are vital. She's looking at a set of rules that create, sustain and grow the "blogosphere". Much more macro as compared to my micro perspective.
Posted by: Aizuddin Danian at 2003年05月29日 10:43Comments on: Blogospheres
nothing serious but i think you meant "hearsay" and not "heresay", and surely not "heresy"...i hope.