Blogs
It’s an interesting fact, but it took me a very long time to even look at blogs because I dislike the word “blog”. There’s something about it that repulses me, I think because I am reminded of bogs, yuck. Nevertheless, I feel that I am over my prejudice against the name, which I now largely ignore.
I remember first hearing about blogs during the Iraq war. The ABC’s AM program ran a story about a blogger in Iraq who developed a large following by reporting on developments as he saw them. Clearly, this blogging thing has the potential to be powerful, thought I.
I didn’t have direct experience with blogs until much later when I started my freelance business. Having just had a baby, and knowing little about the Internet, I started my freelance career at the bottom, writing articles and doing bits and pieces development work through GetAFreelancer.com. Here, I encountered blogging as a means for making pennies through Google Adsense. While some of the blogs I saw were legitimate businesses, providing decent content to an audience (see Consejos de Salud for an example), I also encountered some very seedy practices (Blue Hat SEO, Black Hat SEO (”let your greed meet your imagination”) that scared me considerably until I realised that the Internet is just a microcosm of society. No one forces me to go to Kings Cross, and the same principle applies here: just stay away from bad neighbourhoods.
So, onto more savoury uses of blogs. In my travels, I see them used mainly for business: as means of building a brand, keeping search engines interested, attracting links from other websites and for providing information to customers. None of that is particularly exciting, unless you actually run a business.
I personally enjoy blogs that are written by people who know what they are talking about and who enjoy it themselves. Food blogs are usually good for this reason, I like Have Cake Will Travel and Anthony Bourdain’s Blog.
Last year, when the Haneef business was playing out in the media, I discovered that blogs can give you a voice. I had some things I wanted to say, and found that plenty of other people did, too. By reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, I was able to develop my perspective on the matter and make more informed commentary myself. And checking my logs, it appears the government was keeping an eye on the blogosphere. Andrew Bartlett, who actually has a real blog and not just a Facebook profile, had very many interesting things to say on the Haneef matter.
This poses an interesting question about “democratization” of Web content and the influence that the blogosphere can exert on public events. According to Andrew Bartlett, Australia lags behind the US in accepting citizen journalism through blogs, and frankly, I think there is some basis to this slowness. As Andrew mentions, the crux of the matter is the quality of content: Australians tend towards apathy (at least, we don’t get quite as excited as our U.S. counterparts) when it comes to politics, and perhaps we don’t have a sufficient number of quality political commentators in the blogosphere. It is likely, however, that journalists do consume political blogs to some extent.
For an interesting analysis of how the blogosphere exerts influence on the political domain, I recommend reading The Power and Politics of Blogs, by Drezner and Farrell (2004).
Overall, I’ve enjoyed writing my blog for this subject, although I’ve found it very time consuming and I’ve not participated in other students’ blogs as much as I would have liked. It’s been a great learning tool, to be frank, and I’ve spent many hours consuming material to help me develop and present my ideas. As such, I’ve found the blog format for the learning journal actually far more rewarding that simply writing in a book.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:42 am
I wonder sometimes wether blogs are worth it,and seeing many Fairfax Journalists weren’t used this morning,and some of the news was still worthy,rather than hyping commercial matters alone,on the online version at least,accept for Morris Iemma,I wonder about this new media belief in self.I am glad Andrew is operating still,as I hope he finds some way of repowering himself,as a worthy citizen,if not have another go at politics,with a stronger sense of fight.I dont find much on blogs I didn’t know already!Accept some peoples opinions,and how they tenaciously hang onto them often against,I am sure, the best they could do elsewhere! KeeleyNet.com remains the site,at this time that remains to be observed ,at two day intervals,and DavidIcke.com stirs up my need to be forceful sometimes in opinion.I am fighting a war of technology by just breathing sometimes,and little hope of not participating no longer in it,whilst mental symptoms can be ascribed by apparent physical bases.I await a more thorough insistence,sometimes,by larger numbers of people to know when they are not producing the stimulant that makes them hear words before they are described and defined by their production,in any form of communication attempt.At Infowars.com I see emerging physical conditions developing ,as they deal with something that,the mainstream journalists feel completely threatened about.I saw a young man speaking into his microphone and a shaking condition took over for a while.I was looking into the computer earlier this morning,dropped to sleep for about fifteen seconds,and was spun to my left two steps,at an angle of 45 degrees.Luckily I grabbed something upright.We havent got enough people interested enough in Australia,to define symptoms of disease,other than the obvious physical base pressing the conditions forward.Conventional thinking is more durable,pays well,and can survive,if ,you keep bloody quite.It is also true the physical basis of a malady will press in eventually,if it isnt unable to be treated at its cause.What I am experiencing ,calls upon a unconstructed Psychological Defence,I cannot defend myself,that is my only defence.That works to a point,because the technology as process repeats ,intentional matters.Hard Evidence magazine,and a writer by the name of Baird.. is the only one who is getting close to description malady.When prominent people claim matters similar to myself,they are already showing major symptoms,as in Yeltsin,with alcoholic problems,whilst discredited in a historical sense,I believe what he said about that,because what he said makes its own common sense.An alcoholic maybe a deeply self-aware person dealing with matters totally beyond any type of personal control, like having to disbelieve what one is thinking,whilst knowing even that has been stimulated to happen… as some new thought arises that is without any merit to self,and never would be.Humans accept their own madnesses too easily,and professionals will willingly hurry the process along.Looking at the U.S.A. today ,it is very easy to see,that maybe the technology accounts for many cerebral activity failures.The brainwashing self doubt accumulating or its unbearable opposite,is being dosed remotely right into the skull ,via, means as yet unable by me, to trace. Take this as you will.But do not accept any opinion forming in your head,until researched,do not accept any visualisation of me,or anything I have written,unless it is in the commonality of your own mind and how it normally works.Do not accept the conclusion I have made until,you can describe that in a way that isnt ,or cannot be a tracing left on you,by the progress of communicating I have tried to express here.That is,I am bound to be accident prone,diminish that threat in your life if,the uneasy conclusion occurs,that you have been remotely nobbled,like the rapist and the use of pills in pub scenes!