Breaking news! Blogosphere invented in the 1840s…

No responses to “Breaking news! Blogosphere invented in the 1840s…”

1. 
   Darlene

   January 16, 2007 at 6:28 am | Permalink

   The furious growth of the blogosphere, despite the difficulty of making a living from the practice, should also remind us of the rich range of motivations for writing that go beyond immediate financial reward.

   Perhaps writers and readers are drawn to blogs—and were drawn to the popular print forms of the 1840s—because they offer a sense of belonging to a public, a self-organizing group of strangers without discernable boundaries, which can loosen the bonds of race, gender, status, class, age, or geographic locale.

   These are good points, I think. I also like the term “sockpuppetry”.

   I wouldn’t substitute a magazine habit for a blog habit. More time should be spent on the former because more time is generally spent on them by the authors, editors etc They can compliment each other, of course.

   The impact of blogs has been positive and negative. I blog because it’s fun and it keeps me writing. However, I would never use blogs as a primary source of information. That they allow (mostly) unmediated input from anyone is both a plus and a minus as well. As in all things, balance is the key.

   Camille Paglia’s ideas about the impact about blogs are worth reading.

2. 
   lynn white

   January 16, 2007 at 7:48 am | Permalink

   Thanks Mark – what a clever essay by a clever, historically-minded person. Darlene’s reservations are clever too, but I think with blogs that mediation is something coming – group blogs show this developing. Early periodicals were particularly unmediated.

3. 
   glen

   January 16, 2007 at 10:13 am | Permalink

   surely there is a difference in the temporality in blogging publication versus reprint magazines? Blogging is arythmic, not weekly or whatever. Reducing it to the promise of the “new” is side-stepping the problem.

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