There is nothing quite as awkward as finding out a family member has looked inside your diary. And even worse if they found out something you never wanted them to know.
They might have discovered a silly cartoon of themselves surrounded by expletive adjectives, or secret evidence of your true sexuality. So many scandalous sightings all point to the same thing – the diary was not meant to be read by others.
What a different world we have entered. The blog, in some perspectives is like an online diary, but in complete contrast, it demands to be read. It is representative of a world where we have become increasingly connected, and wish to communicate more and more. We no longer wish to be the muted receivers of information from so-called “gatekeepers”, the all knowing Journalist. We wish to make and spread information ourselves. Voyeurism has entered all mediums and issues.
All this has been made possible by the arrival of Web 2.0. Although coined in 2004, the term represents a complete shift in the last half a decade in the way the World Wide Web works. It describes changing technology and functions that have enhanced creativity, collaboration, sharing, and the ability for the average consumer to create the Web without needing to learn complex and chaotic codes. It has led to the development of such features like
- Social networking sites (like the famous Facebook)
- Video Sharing Sites (the monopoly being of course, YouTube)
- Wikis – online encyclopaedias, which can be edited by anyone.
- Folksonomies – the ability to tag content to organise and direct traffic to certain things and maximise hits when something is searched for.
And of course the great online splurge of thought –
- The Blog.
In this intriguing article, the rise of the blog has created a paradigm shift in the world of journalism and information. Now Mr Random IP can create his own “publishing empire”, and the traditional gatekeeper faces competition.
Yet do we really care what the common layman has to say about the world? Why should we? It seems the blog has evolved to become far more important than anyone could have anticipated.
Wayne Hurlbert explores in an article here how one popular purpose of blogs is to be activist, or promote societal change in areas that may be traditionally ignored by mainstream journalists and politicians alike.
Activist blogs are many and varied, including topics like feminism, birth, libertarian politics, to the legalisation of weed.
It has become more and more common for issues to become popular in the “blogosphere” even before they reach the mainstream. If enough tens of thousands, or millions of people read the issues, a shift in the power relations of information occurs, in the direction of the grassroots.
How does the mainstream media compete? Well, by admitting “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. The old traditional gatekeepers have embraced blogging. Most online versions of major news organisations will have a series of blogs. Here is one of the most popular, seen by millions across the world. The author, like many others, knows his ramblings may be scrutinised as much as his evening broadcast, so quality standards remain vital.
Even so, the more informal style, and comments system are the precise point – they create a more real-time, 2-way, communicative style of information, to be complained about and commented by the audience.
The new information world is dawning, and nothing symbolises it better than the blog. No longer are we scrambling to hide our leather bound secrets under the bed. We want to read, be read, hear and be heard.
We have things to say and we are saying them.
I agree. And it is far more telling to read comments on the blog than to wait for the occasional trickle of letters to come in.
ReplyDeleteEngaging in online communication has a number of levels where it starts as a straightforward post but then becomes a conversation, provided that we join in - otherwise the conversation happens around us and we are apart from it not a part of it.