| Thursday, October 14, 2004 |
| blogging and what it's about |
What is a blog? Is it a personal but public (or private, depending on your software) diary? Is it a venue for dialogue? Is it a place for quiz results? Is it a way to practice writing (for the writer)? Is it a narcissistic way of looking at oneself? Is it a list of links? Is it research? Is it another venue to find out about more news?
It can be all of this, yes. But every blogger knows it can still be so much more.
Wikipedia.org defines weblogs as a web application which contains periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. Well, yes, technically. But it doesn't really say what goes on in a weblog. Personally, a blog is a venue where I can express my thoughts freely and where people are free to comment on it. But that's me. That may not be what other people think a blog is.
There have been talk about INQ7.net's newest feature, Talking Points where readers can give their comments about a given topic. Some bloggers have been saying it's not a blog but a Letter to the Editor column really. While I do agree on some of their points, I honestly believe that they overreacted. And I mean both sides.
Yes. As a blogger, I believe that Talking Points is not really a weblog. BUT it can still be a blog. Remember this is still the maiden issue. There is still room for improvement.
However, I do agree that INQ7.net still has the right to use blogging features to reach out to other people on the web.
In the end, I believe that no one can really determine what a blog is supposed to be. A blog isn't supposed to be this or that. It's this AND that. Just because one thing is not what we're used to doesn't mean that it's wrong. It could be wrong. But it could be right. Why limit ourselves to one thing? Are we not just contradicting the spirit of blogging? We hate it when other people say negative comments about our posts because we always say that they're judging us when they only know a little about us based on our posts. But are we not doing the same thing by judging prematurely?
Maybe instead of reacting "violently", we could stop and talk and learn from each other. Because isn't that what life is about? To learn. All the time. Everytime. About anything. About everything.
I honestly believe that a blog is a diary. It is a venue for dialogue. It is what you want it to be. There's so much more that can be discovered out there than what we're used to do. Let's think out of the box and realize that maybe what the other is saying may be right. In the end, remember the golden rule.
But anyhow, that's just me, stating my opinion. After all, that's what a blog should be, too, right? |
posted by Jax @ 6:53:00 AM   |
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