Blogtalk: keynote David Weinberger

David is the first keynoter and immediately begs the question "Why do blogs matter?" (My first answer: because I enjoy it........)

"Internet is just at the beginning"
It's not about information highway, informationspace, nor commerce. It's about people getting voices, and having conversations. It's 600 million individuals engaging in conversations, in this new public space called Internet.

30 sec. History of Blogging:
1st phase: geeks, diary
2nd phase: after emergence of tools, teenager writing about their Angst
3rd phase: it's about links, blogs conversing through links, moving away from being columns or broadcasting outlets.

There is no definition of a blog, but generally an often updated site with short texts in reverse chronological order and containing links. Again links being the life blood of the conversation. One blog = one voice.
So it's not about technology.

Exciting aspects of blogs:
No time to rewrite your stuff, you're publishing rough drafts. This adds to the authenticity of your voice. Blogs make for persistant webpresences, and thus construct a public self.
Is this authenticity real? Can you fake it? The web is only public, so there might be a disconnection between the 'inner self' and its outer representation.

So which selves?
Blogs favor good writers
Pushes for self exposure
Favors the unemployed.......they got time on their hands :)

If we translate the discussion about self, to one about truth, with an inner truth and outer truth.
Journalists claim objectivity, but in fact they are humans too.
Subjectivity acknowledges the role of the observer (Heisenberger), but it could emphasize the observer too much, leaving you with raw data etc.

Now with blogs we get to multisubjectivity......we can build our own "objectivity" by filtering through the subjectivities of many voices, and looking at what the picture that emerges tells me. Might this change the things we will come to expect of journalistst? David thinks that we will get to see more of the journalist behind the news, acknowledging that it is yet another picture.

Why blogs matter:
They're persistent records of an individual voice in a new public space.

Permalink
(posted by Ton Zijlstra at May 23, 2003 10:09 AM)