Ok, so ironically the topic of this weeks blog is ...well, um, blogging! :)
So why all the fuss about blogging? Surely keeping a diary is nothing new - the practice of keeping diaries went out with letter writing and penmanship, didnt it? Or did it? Maybe what's new is that those secret thoughts and reflections are now in cyberspace for the whole world to see? Or maybe there is more to it.....
It seems blogging is so much more. There are different types of blogs. Personal blogs are probably most similar to the traditional diary format, although thankfully most (not all) focus on a particular are of interest, rather than the stereotypical 'Dear diary' entries commonly associated with love-struck teenagers. There are microblogs, which as you expect from the 'micro' precursor are very small blocks, restricted in length, the most well known of which is twitter, which answers the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less (tweeternet, 2011). And then there are corporate blogs, photo blogs...even podcasts can be considered an "audio" blog (Leaver, 2010). You get the picture.... :)
What is interesting about blogging is the new context in which it has taken journal writing. Rebecca Blood cited in her article about the history of weblogging that a community of bloggers started to spring up after introduction of blogger in 1999, resulting in conversations and debates about topics of interest between blogs "Full-blown conversations were carried on between three or five blogs, each referencing the other in their agreement or rebuttal of the other's positions" (Blood, 2000). Now that is something you would not get in a tradition pen & paper diary! :)
Although probably the most exciting concept to come of our blogging is the idea of participatory / citizen journalism. This fit in perfectly with Tim Burners-Lee's idea of a social interactive internet and one of the key elements of a web 2.0 technology. People could report on what was happening the minute it happened, giving real life personal accounts, not jaded by any corporate media loyalties or commercial arrangements. Nowhere is this more evident than in the blogs which sprang up during and after recent natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and, even more recently, the Queensland floods. James Surowiecki describes the Asian Tsunami of 2005 as "the turning point for social media" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010) and goes on to describe how blogging provided a whole new dimension to the knowledge and information made available compared to what we had come to expect from traditional media sources. "We also now could get a complete and powerful picture of what had happened in a way that we had never been able to get before" (TedTalks Director, 2008). Surowieki also advocates the power and knowledge that can be shared when a group of people collaborate, i.e what he terms ""the wisdom of the crowds", the idea that diverse groups of individuals can, in some cases, make better decisions and/or predictions than can individual experts" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010).
So the potential and tools are there - we just need to tap into this wealth of knowledge that exists in the "blogosphere" and share some of our own...well, hopefully this blog is a start!
Next week ...wikis!
References:
Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: A history and perspective. Retrieved from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Leaver, T. (2010). Module Topic 2.1 – Blogging. [Course notes]. Retrieved from http://lms.curtin.edu.au
Tedtalks Director. (2008, November 5). James Surowiecki:the moment when social media became an equal player in the world of news-gathering. [video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Xm4ufnoxY&feature=player_embedded
Tweeternet (2011). What is Twitter? Retrieved from http://tweeternet.com/
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