Without this getting a bit too meta I thought it would be interesting to discuss Blogging in general because the topic's been on my mind. For somebody who is only scraping the surface of computer literacy the medium of blogging via websites like Blogger is one of the best ways of getting your point across, ranting or just scratching a whimsical itch. It's a bit like talking to yourself in a crowd, most people aren't going to notice you doing it, some people might and pass comment and a small amount might actually be interested. In terms of readership and attracting interest it's a drop in the ocean, unless you're affiliated with the media in some other way or you're writing something new and exciting which snowballs into a phenomenon. Blogging can be private, intimate or just a day to day account of your life, but if you don't use any specific names or details it remains as anonymous and private as a physical diary/journal.
It's an outlet. The fact that there are so many people who feel the need to contribute suggests to me that we're a species that likes to be heard. I know I do. I have no illusions about my motivations for writing this, firstly I want to think out my opinion on something and secondly I want somebody to read it. Normally I blog stories (does it require a capital letter? I think it does), short fiction, comics, written/drawn doodles and scraps; ideas which normally would have stayed in my head have been expressed in some way and digested. For the last year or so it's been one of the things keeping me sane and I think in a wider sense the Internet and the process of interacting with it is playing a vital role in keeping others sane. In an article I'm going on to talk about in a minute, the writer refers to the hoards of people she imagines sitting at their desks reading her blog on their lunch breaks or cheekily between jobs. Here's a fact that doesn't get stated enough - working in an office is a completely unnatural yet entirely necessary human function. In a day to day, slightly pre-historic sense we're designed to run, live off the land and survive in all manner of environments. Snow, heat, rain, jungles. I think in creating the office space we, as a species, have finally stumped our capacity to adapt. Our bodies turn to mush, leaving us lethargic and prone to obesity and our minds wander like nobody's business. If the Internet collapsed on itself tomorrow you'd hear the collective screams of millions of office workers as they throw themselves from their fifth storey departments.
Anyway, I digress. I was going to talk about an article I read in the Independent Extra on the train earlier about Gawker, a site/Blog I hadn't come across until the article. Gawker in the words of the Indy is "New York's bitchiest, most successful gossip website,". Its author discusses how she came to work for the site, how she became its most popular bitchy commentator and how she ultimately came under the scrutiny of its own standards, was left wanting and collapsed in a pit of misery and prophetic irony. Suffice it to say my sympathy for the woman only extends so far. She gets egg on her face basically, starting off as a proponent of proto-stalking, really bitchy commentary and generally fuelling her own fire, she makes the mistake of going on a chat show to talk about the site, doesn't realise she's there to defend it and ends up making a fool of herself in front of millions. Unfortunately she doesn't realise that this has turned the commentary away from celebrities and onto her, having effectively made herself a celebrity and fair game for attack. (If you're interested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-avakrRUaU).
What did I take away from this? Well, basically the uncertain and unpredictable nature of such an ephemeral mistress as the web and the billions of minds who lurk there. It made me kind of wonder whether we were on the edge of a new revolution in communication and expression. From messages on cave walls to letters to telephones to SMS to Blogging. There's such a need to contribute and at the same time such a want to consume - you only have to look at the attention seekers on MySpace and Facebook to realise that at some point they aren't going to be as pretty as they were, they're a little bit older and a little bit wiser and suddenly they're all blogging their personal lives. Don't worry, the irony isn't lost on me.
As a species we like secrets, discovering other people's and secretly hoping other people will discover ours. Why do people take their diaries to school if not to be found? If it was that awful you'd leave it under the bed, surely. As the owner of a diary one should, I feel, be responsible enough to expect people to want to look in it. Luckily for me, I don't own a diary but if I did I probably would leave it lying around and then get upset if someone read it. I'm not really judging the hypocrisy, I'm just wondering vaguely whether the diary, for some people, was a stopover medium for the Blog.
2 comments:
The inherent difference between a blog and a diary is the soap box element, I’d say. Even the most basic of blogs will contain elements of the writer’s opinion. You’re less likely to do this in a diary, I feel, since then you’re mostly writing for yourself. I’ve kept several blogs and several diaries, and they serve very different purposes.
Like any form of writing, some blogs are more popular than others. Certain blogs are enormously popular, and these tend to be the right marriage of a good writer and good material. Good writers blogging dull material can be entertaining, and interesting material poorly written can still offer an insight – but what blog readers want are the right mix of both. This is why genuinely good writers either wait for something interesting to come along (say, travelling, or becoming a parent) or go out of their way to find something interesting to write about (like learning a skill or achieving a challenge).
Problem is, unlike novels or plays or television programmes, there’s no real difference between an amateur and a professional. They both sign up to Blogger, they both write unpaid. This means that awful writers with boring lives have delusions of grandeur, and thus you get MySpace-style blogging. It’s the equivalent of letting absolutely anyone write whatever TV show they like, meaning that 90% of series end after six or seven episodes as the writer loses interest.
Anyway, whatever the case, I’m very interested in your blog, and look forward to hearing your opinions as well as your experiences over the coming months. Good luck! And don’t give up after six or seven posts!
Yes, don't give up writing! It's a different thing again if you're writing a blog like this, because you've got a guaranteed audience! Looking forward to reading about your adventures! Don't forget to pack some string and a flannel...and a towel...everybody should know where his towel is... :-)
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