The reading for class, Chapter 2: The Blogs in Society, had a lot of interesting insight on the ideal of the blog. Yet these ideals were from the vast majority of the public who seem to mostly look down upon blogs. According to Barlow, the author of Blogging @merica, believes that the community is the heart of the blog. Ultimately I concur on that thought. There are countless blogs out there on the web that have gained so much recognition, not because of their content, but because of the people surrounding the blog.
But this chapter goes on to speak, albeit briefly, about what occurs when just one person in that community starts to upset the norm and starts issuing death threats to the blogger – the person writing the blog. According to Barlow, Chris Clarke of the Creek Running North blog had to step away from the blog for a short time after he received death threats against his dog.
Threats of course bring into question how much of yourself do you want out there on the web? Most bloggers seem to accept the ideal that you cannot please everyone and attaching anonymity to your blog only lessens the material present. Since the blog is an extension of your being and only benefits from your offline experiences, as much as your online experiences. But some individuals like Tim O’Reily, coined Web 2.0, have come together with others to form a “Blogging Code of Conduct” to finally bring some structure to a structure less environment.
I happen to believe that blogs are a great source of information. Most of the time these sources of information are able to post new stories far faster than traditional news outlets and by having that community aspect, and being able to read those comments on their views it only adds to the blog.
Reading:
Barlow, Arron. (2008). Blogging @merica: The New Public Sphere. Westport: Praeger
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