8/27/07

Blog: strengths and weaknesses.

I came across this article by Rebecca Blood on "blog ethics". It 's from 2002 but it's new to me so I thought I'd share it with you. I sort of had a sense of some of the concepts she listed in the article by reading how other people wrote their blog posts. Yet, seeing it outlined in this manner is a good reminder that even though there are no official rules for blogging, there are still common sense guidelines so that no one get cheated or so that you, the blogger, don't come out as a cheat, a liar, an idiot or all of the above. If you ever felt that I strayed from these guidelines here, please let me know and I will rectify immediately (or tell you that indeed I am a lying, cheating idiot). Here is her take on blogging:
"The weblog's greatest strength — its uncensored, unmediated, uncontrolled voice — is also its greatest weakness. News outlets may be ultimately beholden to advertising interests, and reporters may have a strong incentive for remaining on good terms with their sources in order to remain in the loop; but because they are businesses with salaries to pay, advertisers to please, and audiences to attract and hold, professional news organizations have a vested interest in upholding certain standards so that readers keep subscribing and advertisers keep buying. Weblogs, with only minor costs and little hope of significant financial gain, have no such incentives.
The very things that may compromise professional news outlets are at the same time incentives for some level of journalistic standards. And the very things that make weblogs so valuable as alternative news sources — the lack of gatekeepers and the freedom from all consequencesmay compromise their integrity and thus their value. There is every indication that weblogs will gain even greater influence as their numbers grow and awareness of the form becomes more widespread. It is not true, as some people assert, that the network will route around misinformation, or that the truth is always filtered to widespread awareness. Rumors spread because they are fun to pass along. Corrections rarely gain much traction either in the real world or online; they just aren't as much fun..."
Oh, and because I am "the master of my own domain" (your free Seinfeld reference of the day), I demand that each post finishes with less words and more music :). Today, Oasis live "cold and frosty morning..." (I dare you to find a male in his 30's who did not wish he was one of the Gallagher brothers once)

7 comments:

  1. Hey,
    This post is fitting with my hobby this week-end "re-posting" my web.jogany comments. Since i s** at MySql I had to do it the easiest (dumbest) way " Manually! So I enjoyed censoring some spammers (you're officialy one of the best spammers over the blogosphère) and controlling my blog's orientations. Of course I put some BP and AJ references so people should know how cool they are and how smart my gossip-spammers are (Many's spams on Jessica Alba were the funniest).
    Of course our freedom is our strengh. Unlike official media (ok well ... all of us read NYtimes and LeMonde, no need to say there are serious stuff out there) we, bloggers, gives people the chance to share their point of view spontaneously and sprade it all over the world...it's so beautiful, the voice of the streets (ok ...I'm a streenet fan!)

    buzzz

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your post, je ne connaissait pas The weblog's greatest strength jusqu'ici, je lis et relis ce qu'ils disent ... et si tu veux mon avis.

    Tu es pour moi un grand bloguer car tu as toujours été juste dans tes mots tes analyses et tes actions et c'est comme ça que je te connais. All I can say in at this time is my 2nd most valuable asset, total respect mate.

    also I demand that each post finishes with less words and more music :)
    Thanks a million Lova

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Jo,
    Would "sir spam-a-lot" be a more fitting nickname now :) ? Streetnet is very intriguing, I smell an opportunity...;)
    @Hjk,
    (...misitrika ambany latabatra mihitsy fa be lotra marina... :) )
    je pense que mon choix de musique gagnerait a etre moins previsible :).

    ReplyDelete
  4. BlogDay is coming soon, ok? They want us to post 5 blogs blablabaabal, ....boooring. I have this GREAT idea! (what? what?)
    Selecting the 5 mosts selecting posts you can find on the blogosphere!
    No rules other that it had to be published on a blog before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. tin jsuis trop manl réveillée le matin je tue trop ds les fautes d orthographe
    bon vous avez pigé c INTERESTING
    ET YA PAS DE S A MOST ET encore heureux ke g pas ecrit en français le massssacre

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:27 PM

    @Jo,
    I might be out of town on the 31st but if I am here, count me in.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OUT OF TOWN? why oo why?
    Are you going to save the workd again? swear to me if you meet AJ you' ll say something nice and very very smart about me like "i know a girl who's obsessed about you and BP...."

    bizzzz

    ReplyDelete