Editors' Picks
The blogosphere: Are blogs worth the hype?
Editors' picks
No longer confined to the technology subculture in which it grew up, Web logging is going mainstream. So much so that bloggers even received invitations to attend the Democratic National Convention in Boston last month. But their performance wilted under the glare of the spotlight. That kindled a debate about the real prospects for blogging's future. Will blogs truly revolutionize the way people consume media?
August 10, 2004
August 10, 2004
The DNC debut
- CNET News.com Cybertourists in Boston
- CNET News.com Blogging breakthrough in Boston
- Bricklin.com What we learn from Convention blogging
- Hyperorg.com David Weinberg video blogs a response to Coop's column
- Conventionbloggers.com Convention bloggers uber-site
- John Robb Bloggers too busy being the news to report the news
- The New York Times Blogged in Boston
- Camworld.com Thinking Outside the Box: Participatory Politics and the Democratic Convention
- Aaron Swartz Aaron Swartz: Why is Big Media losing viewers? Because it sucks
- Online Journalism Review Online Journalism Review on convention blogging
- Mother Jones The revolution will not be blogged
Critics' corner
- The Atlantic Monthly Former NYT executive editor on the "unsourced ranting of Internet bloggers"
- Fresh Air Blogging in the global lunchroom
- Wired News Fark sells out. France surrenders
- Wired News Bloggers suffer burnout
- PC Magazine Co-opting the future
- Wired News Thousands of blogs fall silent
Support system
- trAce Online Writing Centre Show Me Your Context, Baby: My Love Affair with Blogs
- BuzzMachine Toward a new definition of diversity
- The Gadflyer Conservatives have talk radio, progressives have the "blogosphere"
- AOL Journals A Defense of General Purpose Journals
- Polite Dissent 10 reasons I like comic blogs
Audio and Video
A brief history of Weblogs
Technology
Mark Cuban: former Broadcast.com CEO, owner of Dallas Mavericks
Lawrence Lessig: noted cyber law professor
Ray Ozzie: inventor of Lotus Notes
Scripting News: Dave Winer, since 1997
Scobleizer: Microsoft geek on all things Windows
Daring Fireball: Mac nerdery, etc.
Better Living Through Software
Corporate
Jonathan Schwartz
Planet Sun: Sun Microsystems employees
The Microsoft Developer Network
Jerry Bryant: on Microsoft security
Sells Brothers: Content Strategist, Longhorn Developer Center
Politics
Drudge Report
Sports
SportsBlogs.org: All sports, all blogs, all the time
Sportscolumn: The Revolution in Sports Journalism
Does this make a difference? After all, any person can start a weblog and have their say.
However, when you have articles such as this, or the DNC and RNC issue passes for bloggers based on how well known they are, it does make a difference.
There is more to weblogging than middle aged white guys.
hoopla is "who chose the bloggers?"
The truth is, select members of the DNC chose
who would be 'credentialed' bloggers. After
watching the pageantry of the DNC and presuming
a well orchestrated RNC, I think it's safe to
say neither side will be willing to let some
loose cannon with an axe to grind into their
midst.
By most accounts there's a lot to lose in this
election for either side. What neither one wants
is a blogger that capably calls BOTH to the
carpet for their actions, and here we have the
crux of the problem:
While Ted Koppel might get away with soft and
medium questions, or even questions we know
won't get answered, a good blogger with real
aspirations may ask questions wherein the
answers create a political jeopardy for whatever
party. The fact that this discomfort level is
raised by "a normal person" --ie, someone that
might *really* resonate with average joes-- only
intensifies a potential voter's distaste to
un-liked answers.
Also overlooked is how much the parties are
entreating the computer culture with talk about
doing something about outsourcing. Nevermind
that promises have been made and broken for the
manufacturing base that is now largely
outsourced (who do you think makes all that
cheap Wal-mart Product????), having a GOOD,
critical amateur reporter that understands the
medium and the audience poses a real threat.
In my opinion, the only really good blogger
we'll ever see at any event is one that doesn't
care about press credentials. The need for cred
to gain entry only means there are some willing
to sell themselves for glory.
Still, I think blogs or other forums similar will be the driving force for investigatory journalism (thank you Derek Zoolander) in the future. News is too commercial and too efficient to really dig, so it will be up to the amateurs to dig up facts, frame the story and build it up to where it can't be ignored.
"News.Com asks if blogs are worth the hype. I loved the comment from the former NY Times editor, Howell Raines, calling blogs "unsourced ranting." A few years from now we'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. When it's all shaken out, it'll be clear that, far from being unsourced, bloggers are the sources. When the pros stop thinking of us as competition and start seeing us as tools, it'll all just work out. Sure, some reporters will lose some power, because we'll be able to find out if their quotes are accurate, and get more points of view, but why, if they have a passion for news, would that bother them? Answer: It doesn't bother real journalists."
"BTW, thanks for the link to Scripting News. But why not point to our convention coverage, and why use the Wired article about weblogs.com hosting, the one that didn't get the accurate story. It's things like this that make me question the independence of the News.Com editors. They're picking at us, not informing their readers. Don't they see they have a conflict of interest in this discussion, and as a result should bend over backwards to be balanced. Their piece is lousy journalism, imho of course, one big cheap shot."
As luck had it, Dave was in town today and dropped by to discuss the issue in person. It was a good conversation. I guess the only thing I would add here is that I (we?) don't see bloggers and journalists as being in competition. Rather, I see an evolving complementary relationship. Dave rightly pointed out that many of our sources are going to be out blogging in their own right. Many already are.
Charlie Cooper
CNET News.com
I also was called to give a one minute speech around the same time as the development of my site. I spent seventeen minutes. I stumbled, stuttered, stammered, sweated (a lot), and wandered off topic. Needless to say, I've gotten better since, but I don't speak in public unless it's absolutely necessary to a job or I'm passionate about the topic.
Consider, it probably took you a minute or two to read and get the gist of this posting. It took me fifteen or so minutes to write it.
- Much ado about something
- by Catgic August 12, 2004 1:50 PM PDT
- The proliferation of blogging is much like the proverbial 100 monkeys at 100 typewriters typing out the complete works of Shakespeare.
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(13 Comments)In the aggregate, Web logging does produce golden nuggets of wisdom and truth often missed or ignored by the mainstream media. It is up to each cybercitizen to tweak their Blog filters so these golden cybernuggets are properly identified and separated from all the cyberfool?s gold that is out there. The heuristic setting assigned to any blogger "credentialed" by either the DNC or the RNC would be "Probably Blog-Spam" with their Web log entries routed directly to the Spam Folder.